2008 REPERTORY: Oldies but Goodies

[oscar jubis]

Yes. Yes. I think it's remarkable how well you remember it (assuming you haven't seen it since then). The old man who wins the raffle for the chicken has one of those wonderfully fleshy, malleable faces, like Dominique Pinon (Amelie) but much older. Francesco Golisano is great in the lead. They used to call him "Geppa", the name of the recurring character he played in Sotto il sole di Roma (1948) and Vent'anni. He stopped acting in 1952 and died before 30 (auto accident). Perhaps the most Chaplinesque aspect of the film is the casting of and performance by Brunella Bovo as Toto's girl. She had a much longer acting career than Geppa, appearing in Fellini's The White Sheik (the Criterion dvd includes a recent interview with her) and a couple of low-budget American movies under the name "Barbara Hudson".
The would-be romance between an English-speaking black man and a Milanese girl is sketched in a few brief, silent scenes. Nicely done. The main speaking parts are apparently, as you say, dubbed as part of postproduction. Alessandro Cicognini composed the music for most of De Sica's best films.