Reviews

Fredda did this popular comedy (called chanchada in Brazil) while waiting to return to Italy after complete "Il Guarany", also made in Rio de Janeiro. It is a very rare film, made almost without money, but possess many traces of Fredda's style. The cast includes Gianna Maria Canale, of course, but also Anselmo Duarte (latter a famous director who wins in 1962 the Golden Palm in Cannes with "O pagador de promessas"), Oscarito (the most popular comedian of Brazilian movies) and Grande Otelo, the charismatic afro-Brazilian actor. Says the legend that "O caçula do barulho" is the first Brazilian film to presents a good scene of fist fighting, and also to introduce the mixture of comedy and thriller who became a model for decades to came.

Imagine a black-and-white film about the lower class of Rome with a screenplay written by Pasolini before he becames a director himself. That's "Una giornata balorda". His director, Mauro Bolognini, is the same of "La notte brava" and "Il bello Antonio" - both also written by Pasolini, and was also a pretty good director. Here you can see the pasolinian proletarian world filmed as a good commercial product of the italian cinema of the early 60's. Says the legend that Pasolini decides to became a filmaker to avoid the glamourous professional actors of the period, and so did "Accatone", his first feature. Of course, Franco Citti who protagonized this one, is much more convincing than Jean Sorel, the star of "Una giornata..." but of course, not so good-looking (Sorel was one of the most beautifull men in the world at this time).It's a problem of style: glamour versus authenticity, etc etc. Enjoy it.