Le miroir aux alouettes

I have many of Georges Marchal's Sword & Sandal movies in my collection and have files on all of his OTHER movies as well. One was WILDCATS ON THE BEACH which I had never seen. I noticed it on Y/T and watched it. Great color and lots beautiful people. Rita Gam and Georgia Moll were two of the most attractive women of that era. Lots of girls in bikinis and welcoming pools and shopping areas. George Marchal looked elegant in a suit. Just a pleasure to finally see it. Ihad FILE on this title for 50 years and finally got to see it. Some things take a lot of time.

It seems that in the 1950's it was customary to divide up an Italian film in various separate stories !! As is the case of this film. Alberto Sordi's little 'story' is certainly entertaining..... as an aspiring actor, whose prospective film gay film director tries to seduce him !! But the other little stories are deciding very dull, perhaps interesting to see the social mores and ways, of 'jet setting' types the 1950's, ....but apart from that, not worth to see ! I definitely pressed to fast forward button of my VideoRecorder until the next scenes of Alberto Sordi !!

Another curiosity, which I noticed also in the 'Vitelloni' film of Federico Fellini.....whenever there's a scene where a homosexual tries to seduce another man, the public is made to understand this situation indirectly, no direct mention of the word 'homosexual' (or other slang words for it) is ever said !! Perhaps the censorship of those times didn't allow it.... they only say (as in this film) that the man in question, behaves 'in a strange way' !!

Here it becomes clear that Alberto Sordi is certainly a great comedien: he is without doubt the most funny character in the entire movie. His moviestar-dreams and his "c'est si bon" are unforgettable. There is even a great scene in which he dances with a gay director! The other crew make it a wonderful romantic comedy too, on the beautiful Cote d'Azur.