| Fortunella | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Eduardo De Filippo |
| Written by | |
| Starring | Giulietta Masina |
| Cinematography | Aldo Tonti |
| Edited by | Leo Cattozzo |
| Music by | Nino Rota |
Release date | 1958 |
Running time | 100 min. |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
Fortunella is a 1958 Italian comedy film directed by Eduardo De Filippo, with script by Federico Fellini.
Nanda Diotallevi, known as Fortunella, is a poor girl who lives in the Roman second-hand dealers' district, and is the lover of one of these, Peppino. To save him she goes to prison, taking responsibility for a crime of receiving stolen goods he committed, but when she is released she learns that Peppino lives with another woman, Amelia: after a scene she leaves the treacherous man. In the vicissitudes of her troubled existence, Fortunella is supported by an illusion, which is her reason for living: she is in fact convinced that she is the illegitimate daughter of Prince Guidobaldi, whose palace is located right in her neighborhood. She remembers being picked up by the prince when she was a child, which gives her a fantastic story about herself. Fortunella meets one day a wandering professor, Golfiero Paganica, who promises her help after hearing her story. Together with the girl he joins a company of actors who perform under a large tent on the banks of the Tiber, but his incontinence causes a series of accidents that ruin the performance. Fortunella reunites with Peppino, but she learns shortly after that Golfiero is hospitalized: the vagabond professor soon dies and leaves Fortunella a dilapidated chalet as an inheritance. Prince Guidobaldi, who was linked by friendship to Golfiero and is his executor, calls Fortunella to the palace. The girl plucks up courage and tells the prince her story, but the old gentleman is able to establish that, during the time period to which the story refers, he was in India. Fortunella is disappointed and embittered, but she is determined to break away from Peppino forever. She will remain with the actors, to be able to represent on stage that part of the princess that she had deluded herself was entitled to in her life. (Translate from Italian)
The film's score, composed by Nino Rota, notably contains three memorable motifs, two of which would be reused in Rota's most famous film compositions: La Dolce Vita (1960) and The Godfather (1972). Another prominent motif had already been used in another Rota composition, Il Bidone (1955).
At the 45th Academy Awards, Nino Rota's score for The Godfather was removed at the last minute from the list of nominees for Best Original Score when it was discovered that the melody in "Speak Softly Love (Love Theme from The Godfather)" had previously been used in Fortunella. [1]
Giovanni Rota Rinaldi, better known as Nino Rota, was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor and academic who is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti. He also composed the music for two of Franco Zeffirelli's Shakespeare screen adaptations, and for the first two installments of Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather trilogy, earning the Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Godfather Part II (1974).
Eduardo De FilippoOMRI, also known simply as Eduardo, was an Italian actor, director, screenwriter and playwright, best known for his Neapolitan works Filumena Marturano and Napoli Milionaria. Considered one of the most important Italian artists of the 20th century, De Filippo was the author of many theatrical dramas staged and directed by himself first and later awarded and played outside Italy. For his artistic merits and contributions to Italian culture, he was named senatore a vita by the President of the Italian Republic Sandro Pertini.
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte and Diane Keaton. It is the first installment in The Godfather trilogy, chronicling the Corleone family under patriarch Vito Corleone (Brando) from 1945 to 1955. It focuses on the transformation of his youngest son, Michael Corleone (Pacino), from reluctant family outsider to ruthless mafia boss.
The 45th Academy Awards were presented Tuesday, March 27, 1973, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, honoring the best films of 1972. The ceremonies were presided over by Carol Burnett, Michael Caine, Charlton Heston, and Rock Hudson.
The Godfather is the soundtrack from the film of the same name, released in 1972 by Paramount Records, and in 1991 on compact disc by MCA. Unless noted, the cues were composed by Nino Rota and conducted by Carlo Savina. The song "I Have but One Heart" is sung by Al Martino, who performed it in the film as character Johnny Fontane.
Enzo Petito was an Italian film and stage character actor. A theatre actor under Eduardo De Filippo in the 1950s in the Teatro San Ferdinando of Naples, with whom he was professionally closely associated, Petito also appeared in several of his films, often co-starring Eduardo or/and brother, Peppino De Filippo, brothers who are considered to be amongst the greatest Italian actors of the 20th century. Petito played minor roles in some memorable commedia all'Italiana movies directed by the likes of Dino Risi and Mario Monicelli in the late 1950s and early 1960s, often appearing alongside actors such as Nino Manfredi, Alberto Sordi, Peppino De Filippo, Anna Maria Ferrero, and Totò.
"Love Theme from The Godfather" is an instrumental theme from the 1972 film The Godfather, composed by Nino Rota. The piece was lyricized in English by Larry Kusik into "Speak Softly, Love", a popular song released in 1972. The highest-charting rendition of either version was by vocalist Andy Williams, who took "Speak Softly Love" to number 34 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 and number seven on its Easy Listening chart.
Life Begins Anew is a 1945 Italian melodrama film directed by Mario Mattoli and starring Alida Valli, Fosco Giachetti and Eduardo De Filippo. It was the second most popular Italian film during 1945-46 after Roberto Rossellini's Rome, Open City.
Cameriera bella presenza offresi... is a 1951 Italian film directed by Giorgio Pastina. Federico Fellini was one of its scriptwriters. The film marked the comeback of Elsa Merlini after a nine years hiatus.
Ghosts of Rome is a 1961 Italian comedy film directed by Antonio Pietrangeli. It was released in the UK in 1964 as The Phantom Lovers.
Seven Hours of Trouble is a 1951 Italian comedy film directed by Vittorio Metz and Marcello Marchesi and starring Totò, Isa Barzizza and Carlo Campanini.
The Shortest Day is a 1963 Italian comedy film. It is a parody of the war movie The Longest Day and stars the popular duo Franco and Ciccio in the leading roles. Dozens of other well-known actors, from both European and American cinema, agreed to appear in the movie in cameo roles for free to avert the bankruptcy of the production company, Titanus.
Boccaccio '70 is a 1962 comedy anthology film directed by Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini, Mario Monicelli and Luchino Visconti from an idea by Cesare Zavattini. It consists of four episodes, each by one of the directors, all about a different aspect of morality and love in modern times in the style of Giovanni Boccaccio.
Il sindaco del Rione Sanità is a play in three acts by Neapolitan screenwriter and actor Eduardo De Filippo. It was written in 1960 and first presented on stage that same year by Eduardo himself, at the Quirino theatre in Rome.
Never Take No for an Answer is a 1951 British–Italian drama film directed by Maurice Cloche and Ralph Smart and featuring Denis O'Dea, Vittorio Manunta, Guido Celano and Nerio Bernardi. It is based on Paul Gallico's 1951 story The Small Miracle, about an Italian orphan boy who goes to visit the Pope.
Totò contro i quattro, internationally released as Toto vs. the Four, is a 1963 Italian comedy film directed by Steno. Despite its title, it was not a true fusion between Totò and the four, but the film consists in interwoven episodies in which Totò makes pair from time to time with one of them. It was defined as a "winningly funny police farce".
Saint John, the Beheaded is a 1940 Italian comedy film directed by Amleto Palermi and Giorgio Bianchi and starring Totò, Titina De Filippo and Silvana Jachino. It was based on a play by Nino Martoglio. The film was made at the Cinecittà Studios in Rome.
Tuppe tuppe, Marescià!, also known as È permesso Maresciallo?, is a 1958 Italian comedy film directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia and starring Peppino De Filippo and Giovanna Ralli.
Napoli milionaria is an opera in three acts composed by Nino Rota to an Italian libretto by Eduardo De Filippo based on his 1945 play of the same name that was also made into the 1950 play Side Street Story. Conducted by Bruno Bartoletti, the opera premiered at the Teatro Caio Melisso in Spoleto on 22 June 1977 as part of the Festival dei Due Mondi.
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