Lo scopone scientifico

One of the previous respondents compares Commencini's work on this film to Billy Wilder, and I can't agree more. In fact, this yarn reworks Sunset Boulevard into a full-bodied Italian comedy about how the tyrannical rich use their money to string along the poor and humble.

Remember, there was a card game in Wilder's film too! Here, Bette Davis, as poised, professional, and grandly self-assured as ever, is the Norma Desmond character. She's shrewd, not crazy, but she's got everyone twisting their lives out of shape to humor her in much the same way. Joseph Cotten is the Max von Mayerling character - the artist who threw away a brilliant career to serve this imperious creature. The twist is that Commencini replaces William Holden's wry screenwriter, Joe Gillis, with Alberto Sordi and Silvana Mangano as the poor couple who've unwittingly staked their lives on whatever they can get from the old lady. Ultimately, of course, it's not just them, but their entire neighborhood who Davis is leading on her merry chase -strictly for her own amusement. The twist at the end is just as perfect, in its own, thoroughly Italian way, as the finale of Wilder's film.

Absolutely delightful - especially the wonderful body (and facial) language of all four principals at the cardtable. They could have kept it up twice as long and it would have been just as amusing. Four expert screen actors, directed to perfection.

Can the bizzers-in-charge PLEASE find a decent print of this and DVD it right away?

nice, sad, predictable. gray, salted, seductive. a great cast. an ordinary story. crumbs from Visit of Old lady. and scene for extraordinary performance. a film about laws of poverty and people as toys. about power, cruelty and different worlds. about a game as root of so many feelings, emotions, hopes. and about the cold death of dreams. it can be a parable. or slice from reality. in fact, it is itself. a picture of a place. few characters. Bette Davis , Silvana Mangano , Joseph Cotten and irresistible Alberto Sordi around a table, playing cards. so, a meeting. a rite. shadow of life ashes. and strange image about your world. because it can be, in many senses, a manifesto. not about sins or fall, but about borders of gestures. cold, nice, seductive, bitter. a source of reflection. and testimony about a way without end.

Poverty and wealth confront each other over a (not very) friendly game of cards in this often nerve-wracking black social comedy. From her luxurious Italian villa overlooking the ghettos of Rome, a rich, miserly American widow extends her annual invitation to a poor young local couple for an evening of Scopone, the regional variant of bridge. Every year it's the same story: the old widow lends them money before ruthlessly winning it back, building their anticipation and then dashing their hopes for victory and a quick fortune. But this year the desperate Italian couple has been practicing their strategy, unaware that their pragmatic young daughter has been doing likewise, with different motives and with chilling consequences. The casting of Hollywood veterans Bette Davis and Joseph Cotton is relatively meaningless since their voices have been (poorly) dubbed into Italian, but the film is both sharp and lively, and the climactic showdown at the card table generates surprising intensity, too much to be simply funny.

It was Bette Davis last great film and in the States we don't even know it exists. I think it was released in secrecy under the title "The Scientific card-player" and if I'm not wrong dubbed in English, I wonder who was the marketing genius behind that move. The film is a tragicomic gem. Bette Davis speaks a few words in English and the very few words in Italian she utters where dubbed but, I swear to you I thought it was her. The work of the dubber is astonishing. Totally seamless. I hear she didn't get along with Alberto Sordi, what a surprise. She referred to him as "Mr. Sordid". But beyond those little trivia things, let me tell you, it's a wonderful film. Alberto Sordi, one of the greatest but practically unknown in the States, gives a sensational performance. A brutally comic, full of pathos tour de force. Silvana Mangano playing an under proletarian is a delight and Joseph Cotten is Joseph Cotten in the loveliest possible way. I haven't mention what the film is about and I'm not going to. I couldn't do it justice. Try to find it somewhere. You'll thank me, but don't bother, the pleasure was all mine.

Another of those Alberto Sordi black comedy's which reveals his acting excellence ! As usual it always the poor,humble and(too) honest Italian trying to get rich the easy way,(to satisfy more his wife's ambitions than his own) but his efforts has disastrous consequences !! As the previous commentator wrote, it is the usual fable of the little Italian who 'dares' to challenge the high and mighty, but ultimately fails miserably.....the moral being everyone must remain to their stations, if you're born poor don't reckon you can fight the rich and get away with it !A typical Italian way thinking especially in the 1950's and 60's. The quality of this film is only further confirmed by the presence of such high calibre Anglo-American artists as Bette Davis and Joseph Cotton.Surely they would never play in a rubbish European film ! European films (as all U.S. actors know) pay poorly , bur often offer great roles....surely good for their future careers ! A great film....but best appreciated if you are familiar with South European more's and culture.A 8 vote from me.