Il vedovo - Dino Risi (1959)

Posted By: wolfy13

Date: 25 Jun 2010 21:37:36

Director: Dino Risi
Writers: Fabio Carpi, Sandro Continenza, Rodolfo Sonego, Dino Risi
Italia - 1959 - b&w
Cast: Alberto Sordi, Franca Valeri, Livio Lorenzon, Leonora Ruffo, Nando Bruno, Ruggero Marchi

Alberto Nardi is a Roman businessman who fancies himself a man of great capabilities, but whose factory (producing lifts and elevators) tethers perennially on the brink of catastrophe. He is married to a rich and successful businesswoman from Milan, Elvira Almiraghi who has a no-nonsense attitude and barely tolerates the attempts of her husband to keep his factory afloat with her money.
Alberto tries to "keep up" with his wife and her rich and successful friends but he only manages to ridicule himself. Amused by his antics, Elvira publicly treats her husband as a silly clown, confident that he'll never leave her in the hope of profiting from her fortune.
One day a train where Elvira was supposed to be traveling (to pay visit to her old mother) suffers a horrible accident falling off a bridge and no survivors are reported.
Alberto is overjoyed and in a veritable ecstatic rush plans to liquidate most of Elvira's assets, brings his mistress in her country villa and starts dreaming of a bright future only to be frustrated when Elvira appears alive and well…

This movie is a splendid example of the "commedia all'italiana" which Risi directs on an unusually black register where Sordi depicts an outrageously sleazy character (arrogant to his subjects, megalomaniac, a bigoted unrepentant fascist who yet longs for recognition from the businessmen who envies). It is also interesting as a period piece, showing the contradictions and miseries lying behind Italy's postwar economic miracle.

IMDB

Please, no direct and clear links in comment… and no mirrors.

MU: HERE
RS: HERE

Italian audio track + French - Spanish in 2 optional srt files
No Pass

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MY RISI COLLECTION ON AVAX:
Una vita difficile (1961)
Un amore a Roma (1960)
Il segno di Venere (1955)

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