I Vitelloni [DVD] [1953]

An acknowledged classic, in all the books, which is why I put off watching it for years (when things are recommended, it puts me off). I finally bought it and yes, I can see why it made such a splash when first released, it was definitely a ground breaker in its story telling and the way it was filmed. But its like all truly ground breaking art - books, film, music - its been copied so much, its now impossible to capture its first impact (e.g. Scorsese's "Mean Streets" is just one of its acknowledged successors).But its still a very enjoyable film, although it now seems a bit conventional and soapy in some aspects.(and the wife of the owner of the religious knick-knack shop that one of the main protagonists, who ends up working there, tries to get off with, is played by the Austrian actress who was famously Goebbels mistress in the 1930's - banished by Hitler; an interesting sidelight! And very lucky to survive)

Classic Fellini and one of his best films in my view. I was interested to read in the comments on a review of this film on Amazon that there is an autobiographical element to this film, in the sense that there is a 6th Vitelloni in shot at the beach, unnamed, and that is the narrator. Fellini came from a seaside town like that in the film himself. The editing by Ronaldo Bendetti and the score by Nino Rota are worth commending. I also thought Leonora Ruffo playing Sandra was absolutely delightful to behold.

very good

very pleased, grazie, David.

This early (1953) film by Federico Fellini was only his second solo directing excursion, and its seriocomic tale of the exploits of five carefree young men (wasters, if you will) in a backwater Adriatic town belies its creator's relative inexperience, demonstrating a remarkably assured touch. I have always compared I Vitelloni with Luchino Visconti's 1960 masterpiece Rocco And His Brothers, another tale of five men (brothers this time) struggling both economically and romantically, and whilst I probably have a slight preference for Visconti's rather more serious, tragic (and, admittedly at times, overblown) realism, Fellini's film scores more highly on its poetic and comic qualities.What also comes across very clearly, even in this very early Fellini film, was the director's love of the theatrical set-piece as (perhaps at a rather low-grade extreme) his film opens with an Adriatic beachside beauty pageant, at which young Moraldo's narration introduces us to himself and his four cohorts (in particular the amateur singer Riccardo - played by the director's brother, Riccardo - and philanderer Fausto - Franco Fabrizi - whose pregnant wife Sandra - Leonora Ruffo - wins the Miss Siren contest and then promptly faints). By contrast, Fellini later includes a more typically extravagant carnival scene, in which he bedecks his main protagonists in drag to hilarious effect. These scenes also find the director in satirical mode on one of his pet subjects - the illusoriness of stardom - as new-found 'fans' swoon in front of Miss Siren and, on her fainting, her mother quips, 'Die tonight, when they've made you Miss Siren?'.At the heart of I Vitelloni, however, are preoccupations with ambition, personal responsibility and honour. These manifest themselves particularly effectively through Fabrizi's superb performance as the serial womaniser Fausto, as he first makes moves to desert his pregnant wife for a job (and presumably independence) in Milan, and then attempts to seduce a glamorous stranger he (and his wife) have just sat next to in the cinema, followed by his boss's wife. Only Fausto's father's sense of honour prevents his son's intended desertion, whilst fellow Vitellono, Alberto (Alberto Sordi), is similarly disgusted at his sister's affair with a married man. Along with Fabrizi's Fausto, for me the other standout acting turn here is that of Franco Interlenghi as Sandra's brother Moraldo, whose subtle and tender portrayal is particularly affecting, as his tolerance of Fausto's duplicity eventually runs out.Fellini's film contains a whole series of superb sequences, including that where the fifth Vitellono, intellectual, and playwright, Leopoldo (Leopoldo Trieste), having gained an audience for his work with famous actor Sergio Natale (Achille Majeroni), soon bores his listening Vitelloni friends into the arms of a nearby group of actresses - Sergio's subsequent attempt to proposition Leopoldo (in quite a forward scene for its time) also makes for hilarious viewing.Throughout, I Vitelloni is evocatively shot, whether it be during the Adriatic beach scenes or their urban counterparts, by regular Fellini collaborator Otello Martelli, and also contains a typically sweeping and impressive score by Nino Rota.

I Vitelloni signalled Fellini's move away from neo-realism, with all the trademarks (dwarves, older women, outrageous costumes, anecdotes replacing narrative) that would later become so exaggerated making brief and more naturalistic appearances in his apparently aimless tale of a bunch of time-wasting friends in a small coastal town where the biggest events are growing a moustache or sideburns. That it somehow becomes more than the sum of its parts is quietly magical in its own way, and the amiably dry narration linking the events and non-events underlines the ebb and flow of the film nicely. Oddly enough, I was struck by the similarities to Tony Hancock's later 'The Punch and Judy Man,' which seems to touch on several aspects of small-town inertia without ever hitting the same heights.There are multiple editions of the film available, but while this remastered PAL edition from Nouveaux is respectable enough, Criterion's Region 1 NTSC DVD is the one to go for, offering a superb transfer with a good retrospective documentary, 'Vitellonismo,' which reveals a surprising degree of studio opposition to casting Alberto Sordi (then thought to be box-office poison after the disastrous commercial failure of Fellini's The White Sheik with the actor but whose career would virtually be made by the film) as well as the original theatrical trailer, stills gallery and booklet.