Luigi Comencini
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Luigi Comencini (June 8, 1916 – April 6, 2007) was an Italian film director. Together with Dino Risi, Ettore Scola and Mario Monicelli, he was considered among the masters of the commedia all'italiana genre.
Pane, amore e fantasia, with Vittorio De Sica and Gina Lollobrigida, is considered a primary example of neorealismo rosa (pink neorealism). It was followed by Pane, amore e gelosia.
Biography
Comencini was born in Salò.
His first successful movie was L'imperatore di Capri, featuring Totò. Comencini's 1953 Pane, amore e fantasia, with Vittorio De Sica and Gina Lollobrigida, is considered the first commedia all'italiana. It was followed by Pane, amore e gelosia.
After a first work with Alberto Sordi (La bella di Roma, 1955), Comencini again directed the Roman actor in what is considered his masterwork, Tutti a casa, a bitter comedy about Italy after the armistice of 1943. Also set in World War II, but devoted to the Italian partisans, are La ragazza di Bube (1963). this was followed by Incompreso (1966).
Comencini obtainted an outstanding success with what is ranked amongst the best production of Italian television ever, Le avventure di Pinocchio (1972). In the same year he directed the feature film Lo scopone scientifico, a notable dark comedy with Sordi and Silvana Mangano. In 1975 he released the mystery La donna della domenica, featuring Marcello Mastroianni, Jacqueline Bisset and Jean-Louis Trintignant.
Comencini subsequent works were characterized by the presence of the most important Italian actors of the time, such as Ugo Tognazzi in Il gatto (1977) and Nino Manfredi for his episode of Basta che non si sappia in giro. In the 1980s Comencini's movie met less success; on the opposite, the Cuore television series of 1984 was praised.
He died in Rome after a long illness in 2007.
Filmography
- Bambini in città (1947)
- Proibito rubare (1948)
- L'imperatore di Capri (1949)
- L'ospedale del delitto (1950)
- Persiane chiuse (1950)
- La tratta delle bianche (1953)
- La valigia dei sogni (1953)
- Pane, amore e fantasia (1953)
- Pane, amore e gelosia (1954)
- La bella di Roma (1955)
- La finestra sul Luna Park (1956)
- Mariti in città (1957)
- Mogli pericolose (1958)
- Le sorprese dell'amore (1959)
- Everybody Go Home (Tutti a casa) (1960)
- A cavallo della tigre (1961)
- Il commissario (1962)
- La ragazza di Bube (1963)
- Tre notti d'amore (1964)
- La mia signora (1964)
- Il compagno Don Camillo (1965)
- La bugiarda (1965)
- Le bambole (1965, episode "Il trattato di eugenetica")
- Incompreso (1966)
- Italian secret service (1968)
- Infanzia, vocazione e prime esperienze di Giacomo Casanova, veneziano (1969)
- Senza sapere niente di lei (1969)
- Le avventure di Pinocchio (1972, TV series)
- Lo scopone scientifico (The Scientific Cardplayer) (1972)
- Delitto d'amore (1974)
- Mio Dio come sono caduta in basso (1974)
- La donna della domenica (1975)
- Basta che non si sappia in giro (1976, episode "L'equivoco)
- Quelle strane occasioni (1976)
- Signore e signori, buonanotte (1976)
- Il gatto (1977)
- L'ingorgo - Una storia impossibile (1978)
- Voltati Eugenio (1980)
- Cercasi Gesù (1982)
- Cuore (1984, TV series)
- Un ragazzo di Calabria (1987)
- La Bohème (1988)
- Buon Natale... buon anno (1989)
- Marcellino (1992)
