The Northern Italian town of Pavia in the 1930s. Carmine De Carmine, a clerk employed in the town hall, lives very modestly in a rented room. He is devoted to his work, but is continually ignored or demeaned by the town's general secretary as well as by the mayor, an ambitious and corrupt politician, who has both a wife and a mistress. Carmine wears a shabby and threadbare coat which leaves him exposed to cold winter winds, but since he can barely pay the rent, a good winter coat is beyond his means. One day a beautiful and elegant woman, taking him for a beggar, gives him a considerable sum which Carmine brings to a tailor as a downpayment for an elegant coat with a fur collar.
At work, Carmine is accidentally present at a compromising meeting during which businessmen promise a bribe to the general secretary who, to keep Carmine quiet, promises him a large productivity bonus. Meanwhile, the coat is finally ready and, as Carmine puts it on, he feels like a king and walks around the town as if he owns the place, followed by the tailor who is proud of his own role in Carmine's transformation. On New Year's Eve wearing, as usual, his precious overcoat, he goes to the reception to which he had been invited by the secretary general. There, he sees the same beautiful lady who had given him the money and who, unknown to him, is the mayor's mistress. Tipsy from the numerous New Year's toasts, Carmine makes a speech expressing compassion for the impoverished masses, which is very coldly received by the other attendees. Finally, before leaving, he waltzes with the beautiful woman.
After the party, as Carmine is walking home down a dark street, filled with the aspiration of finally being somebody, he is attacked and robbed of the coat. Desolate, he asks for help and sympathy from anyone who would listen, but they are all indifferent, including policemen, municipal officials and, above all, the mayor, who brusquely tells Carmine not to bother him with such trivialities. In a hopeless mindset, Carmine returns to wearing his tattered old coat, but soon suffers a nervous breakdown followed by pneumonia which ends his life.
However, even after death, Carmine's hurt and humiliated spirit cannot rest. After the noisy passage of his funeral wagon disturbs a pompous public ceremony officiated by the mayor, Carmine's apparition roams the town streets, stripping pedestrians of their winter coats during cold and foggy winter evenings and frightening them with sound of his voice. He appears in the house of the mayor's beautiful mistress, while the mayor is there, violating their privacy and causing the mayor to experience a premonition of unease which comes to a realization when, on his way home through a dark street, he is confronted with the visible image of Carmine, floating a slight distance above the ground.
Shocked, the mayor listens as Carmine recounts to him, from the beyond, the weight carried by the lack of empathy and humanity from him and others like him. As Carmine speaks, the mayor's dark hair turns white and he repents.[3]
Carmine between the offices of the mayor and the general secretaryCarmine during his final illnessAlberto Lattuada and Renato Rascel at the 1952 Cannes Film FestivalRenato Rascel receives the Nastro d'Argento in 1953 for The Overcoat
Malèna is a 2000 erotic drama film written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore from a story by Luciano Vincenzoni. It stars Monica Bellucci and Giuseppe Sulfaro. The film won the Grand Prix at the 2001 Cabourg Film Festival. At the 73rd Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Original Score.
Seven Hills of Rome is an Italian-American film international co-production released in January 1958 and shot on location in Rome and at the Titanus studios. It was filmed in Technicolor and Technirama, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, was tenor Mario Lanza's penultimate film, and Marisa Allasio’s last film.
"The Overcoat" is a short story by Nikolai Gogol, published in 1842. The story has had a great influence on Russian literature. Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé, discussing Russian realist writers, said: "We all came out from under Gogol's Overcoat". Writing in 1941, Vladimir Nabokov described "The Overcoat" as "The greatest Russian short story ever written".
Variety Lights is a 1951 Italian romantic drama film produced, directed and written by Federico Fellini and Alberto Lattuada and starring Peppino De Filippo, Carla Del Poggio, and Giulietta Masina. The film is about a beautiful and ambitious young woman who joins a traveling troupe of third-rate vaudevillians and inadvertently causes jealousy and emotional crises. A collaboration with Alberto Lattuada in production, direction, and writing, Variety Lights launched Fellini's directorial career. Prior to this film, Fellini worked primarily as a screenwriter, most notably working on Roberto Rossellini’s Rome, Open City.
Two Cents Worth of Hope is a 1952 film directed by Renato Castellani. It is the third part of Castellani's Young Love trilogy, following Sotto il sole di Roma (1948) and È primavera...(1950).
Jacqueline Sassard was a French actress who appeared in Italian films such as Guendalina directed by Alberto Lattuada, a young woman with family and financial troubles in Luigi Zampa's Il Magistrato and Valerio Zurlini's Violent Summer (1959), in which her character was left by Jean-Louis Trintignant.
The Secret of Santa Vittoria is a 1969 American war film distributed by United Artists. It was produced and directed by Stanley Kramer and co-produced by George Glass from a screenplay by Ben Maddow and William Rose. It was based on the best-selling 1966 novel by Robert Crichton. The music score was by Ernest Gold and the cinematography by Giuseppe Rotunno.
The Nastro d'Argento is a film award assigned each year, since 1946, by Sindacato Nazionale dei Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani, the association of Italian film critics.
The Ponte Coperto or the Ponte Vecchio is a stone and brick arch bridge over the river Ticino in Pavia, Italy.
The Bespoke Overcoat is a 1956 British black and white short film directed by Jack Clayton, based on a 1953 play of the same name by Wolf Mankowitz. The story is an adaptation of Nikolai Gogol's short story The Overcoat with the action moved from Russia to the East End of London. In this version the protagonists are poor Jews working in the clothing trade, played by Alfie Bass and David Kossoff. It won an Oscar at the 29th Academy Awards in 1957 for Best Short Subject (Two-Reel).
Renato Ranucci, known by the stage name Renato Rascel, was an Italian film actor and singer. He appeared in 50 films between 1942 and 1972. He represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 with the song "Romantica", which tied for eighth place out of thirteen entries.
Policarpo is a 1959 Italian comedy film directed by Mario Soldati. It was entered into the 1959 Cannes Film Festival.
I'm the Hero is a 1952 Italian comedy film directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia and starring Renato Rascel, Delia Scala and Marisa Merlini. It was shot at the Cinecittà Studios in Rome. The film's sets were designed by the art director Alberto Tavazzi.
The Tired Outlaw is a 1952 Italian comedy western film directed by Fernando Cerchio and starring Renato Rascel, Lauretta Masiero and Lia Di Leo. The film's sets were designed by the art director Gianni Polidori.
I Chose Love is a 1953 French-Italian comedy film directed by Mario Zampi and starring Renato Rascel and Marisa Pavan. It was shot at the Cinecittà studios in Rome.
La nonna Sabella is a 1957 Italian comedy film directed by Dino Risi. It is based on the novel of the same name written by Pasquale Festa Campanile. The film won the Golden Shell at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. It was followed by La nipote Sabella.
Mario Montuori was an Italian film cinematographer and painter.
Renato De Carmine was an Italian stage, film and television actor. After graduating at the Accademia Nazionale di Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico, De Carmine worked mainly on stage, notably at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan under the direction of Giorgio Strehler. He also appeared in more than seventy films and television series and TV-movies, including Lucio Fulci's The Return of White Fang (1974). He died of acute anemia.
Rascel-Fifì is a 1957 Italian crime-comedy film directed by Guido Leoni. It is a parody of Jules Dassin's Rififi. The film was a success at the Italian box office.
Rodin is a 2017 drama film directed by Jacques Doillon. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. The film received generally negative reviews from the major aggregator surveys.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
