Les Aventures de Pinocchio

This is a charming, funny yet dark adaptation of Carlo Collodi's story of Pinocchio. The basic plot will be familiar to anyone who's seen Disney's version, but the story is much richer than the cartoon format allowed for. The actors in this version are superb, particularly Manfredi as Gepetto and Franchi and Ingrassia as the cat and the fox. It's well worth renting, if you can find it -- and it's probably better for adults to watch with older kids, given that some of the villains in the story are portrayed in a pretty scary way that the Disney cartoon glossed over.

First time I saw this series in the seventies I was fascinated by everything on it. I felt as if I was Pinocchio´s character and I felt the love of his golden heart father Geppetto (brilliant and sentimental performace by Nino Manfredi) and guided, protected and loved by the fairy (Gina Lollobrigida), in to me her most charming performace ever. Andrea Balestri (the human Pinocchio) performance was to me very nice; I remember the touching moments of him crying beside the fairy grave, and the happiness of him and Geppetto when they realized that Pinocchio would be human forever. Fiorenzo Carpi´s score is very nice, and I never forgot it.

This is the 300 minutes version of the best TV-adaption ever made of "Pinocchio", a co-production of several European public TV-networks. Directed by Luigi Comencini, with Nino Manfredi as Gepetto, Andrea Balestri as Pinocchio and Gina Lollobridgida as the fairy. Great actors and a subtle poetry make this adaption a real masterwork of Italian television. The mini series consists of 6 episodes, each about 55 minutes long. See also "Avventure di Pinocchio, Le" (1972), there you have the very much edited one part-movie version, which in Italy (for example via internet) is available on VHS and DVD.

It is always tricky and very hard to turn a (great) novel into a movie with good results. So many times the result is quite bad. But in this case this rendition of Carlo Collodi's wonderful novel (read it! And have your kids read it!) by one of the greatest Italian directors will leave you totally delighted and moved. The actors are superb and the atmosphere is absolutely perfect. Andrea Balestri (Pinocchio) is... well... THE perfect Pinocchio. Geppetto (the great Manfredi) is unforgettable, and so Lollobrigida, and so Franco Franchi e Ciccio Ingrassia and... well, try and find a copy: every effort you will make is worth, trust me. I have to say that Disney's version (after all a cartoon. A great one, but a cartoon) disappears if compared to Comencini's Pinocchio. I watched Comencini's Pinocchio when I was a kid and many times since then (I am Italian so I have had more opportunities to watch it) and I do think that this version is a masterpiece.

This Comencini version of the adventures of Pinocchio is the most fateful to the original novel and also perhaps the best, including some of the biggest names in Italian comedy of the seventies, like Manfredi, Lollobrigida and Vittorio de Sica. The score of the film (by Nino Rita) is FANTASTIC: the themes are airy, elegant and memorable. The slow carillon in "Fata turchina", the coupled piano-harpsicord motif of "Birichinata" or the magic, slightly psychedelic mood of "Trasformazione di Pinocchio e Lucignolo", the askance tango "Il Gatto e la Volpe": just a few of the excellent episodes giving the LP its old-fashioned countryside charm. Fun for all family, and undeservedly little known of outside of Europe. A children classic with a subversive undertone that adults can appreciate.