Easter 2013:
With Easter coming up in a weeks time,I decided,that due to a close friend having greatly enjoyed the Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western The Good,The Bad and The Ugly (1966-also reviewed),that I would pick up the Blu-Ray of Leone's Once Upon A Time In The West for him as an Easter gift.
Asking him a few weeks later about how he found the movie to be,I was surprised to discover,that along with having now watched the movie half a dozen times,that he had also developed a crush on the lead actress!
Checking the lead actresses IMDb page, (who I soon found out to be Claudia Cardinale)I by chance clicked on a title that sounded like a wonderful anthology Comedy film. Expecting to find a DVD/Blu-Ray on Amazon UK,I was surprised to find that there was no sign of the movie anywhere.
Late 2013:
Talking to a DVD seller about other titles,I decided to mention the title in the faint hope that they may have some info about the movie. Beating all of my expectations,the seller told me that not only did he have info about the title,but he actually had a DVD of the film,which led to me getting ready to set my eyes on Claudia Cardinale for the first time.
View on the film:
Taking a different route than anthology films from the period,which were led by 1 writer and 1 director,the screenplay by Luigi Magni/Tonino Guerra/Suso Cecchi D'Amico/Ruggero Maccari/Luciano Salce/Roberto Stonego & Rodolfo Stonego shows a tremendous skill in making each of the stories its own entity with wonderful lively Comedy,whilst also developing themes which gradually move to the front of the movie.
Using Sabina's appearance to be something that sends every man she meets the wrong signal,the writers cleverly make the male character's blindness to the reality of their fantasy woman to be a thread that runs deep in the roots of the film,with Giovanna being shown as the only character in the movie who comes to the full realization about the differences between his image of Marta,and the real image of Marta.
Entering the film in an extremely revealing outfit,the beautiful Monica Vitti gives an excellent performance which shows Sabina to be full of sass,and also nervousness about not knowing what Sabina is doing,which causes every man to chase after her.
Joining Vitti,Raquel Welch/Capucine and Claudia Cardinale each give charisma-pouring performances,that make them the stars of each story,with Welch giving Elena some real girl next door charm,whilst the stunning Cardinale shows Armenia to not be all that she seems, and Capucine gives some strong icy vibes as Marta.
Following in the writers direction,directors Mauro Bolognini/Mario Monicelli/Luciano Salce and Antonio Pietrangeli each give their stories stylishly extravagant,pop-art bursting appearances that have a great atmosphere for outdoor scenes,they also have a sly underlying theme,that despite being surrounded by such wealthy,none of the male characters are able to get what is most valued to them,as they each soon discover that wealth cant buy them a queens royal flush.
