Marriage Italian Style (Region ALL)

I am fluent Italian speaker thanks to Marcello Mastroianni discovered at age 12 in movies, books and articles. This movie is not the funniest the funniest is Divorce the Italian way with the same great actors. This one is different and in Italian Neapolitan dialect. Shame. It has been interrupted 30 mns before end with no sound ! OOoops . Technical problem Amazon prime?

Confectionery shop owner Don Domenico (Marcello Mastroianni) meets 17-year old Filumena Maturano (Sophia Loren) in a Naples brothel during a Second World War air raid. He rescues her, sets her up as his mistress, and over the years exploits her remorselessly (as he exploits most people). She loves him dearly but is disillusioned when she finds he is having an affair with the confectionery shop's young cashier. To win him back, she stages her own death, and when this doesn't work, she admits that she's the mother of three sons, one of whom is Domenico's. Don Domenico at last gives way, and the couple get married.Such are the bare outlines of the plot, but a simple description doesn't do justice to the Edoardo de Filippo play, which is a funny, subtle and moving account of love between a Neapolitan couple during the 1950s and 1960s. De Sica gives the story the full works: lush and vivid colour photography, sentimental background music and huge emphasis on the romantic are combined to provide a showcase for the justly famous partnership (famous in the 1960s, anyway) of Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren.The principal actors give what is possibly the most marvellous of their many comedic double acts, and if you want to see why their cinematic partnership was so famous, look no further. Mastroianni captures the character of the faithless and louche Neapolitan businessman to absolute perfection; Loren, then at the very top of her form, gives an intelligent and quite moving portrayal of the exploited mistress. Never was she more sexy than she is in this film, but Loren was (and is) a highly intelligent and thoroughly professional actress, and the intelligence shines through just as much as the sex appeal.Not everyone will like De Sica's heavily saccharine interpretation, but this after all is a romantic Neapolitan comedy set in Naples, and an over-the-top treatment is surely not out of place. In the background, we see tantalizing glimpses of Naples at its most baroque. The heavy and ornate interiors, typical of Naples and much of southern Italy, form highly authentic settings and are fascinating in their own right. Meanwhile the noise and bustle of the streets outside, and the sunny exterior shots generally, remind us that in the 1960s, Italian culture demonstrated a zest for life and a dynamism and hopefulness that have since rather withered on the vine.The remastered wide-screen version has been generally well done, and the colours are almost as good as new. The sound on my DVD copy, while acceptable, was occasionally rather shrill. Recommended, and an essential buy for all serious devotees of the Italian cinema of the 1960s.

I'm not convinced that this is an Italian classic but would recommend it for the performances of the two main stars for whom this is a vehicle to exhibit their chemistry and screen presence. To be honest it is not even great film acting as the film is shot much as a stage play and the acting competes with that. Yet, both Loren and/Mastroianni still shine out and are magnetic.

The DVD released by Mr Bongo is an absolute disgrace. Their print is missing three minutes of footage - notably a scene showing Sophia Loren climbing out of a bus through the window in order to meet Marcello Mastroianni, the absence of which renders the following scenes nonsensical - and the subtitles appear to have been created by pasting the Italian text into Google Translate!

Loved this film when it came out, Sophia walking down the street, all eyes on her......I admired her character who just wanted to be treated fairly and raged until she was. Enjoyed seeing it again nearly 50 years on, things have changed in Italy regarding divorce but its good to see Sophia in full sail with eyes flashing! Marcello Mastroianni was great as her man too.

I've been patiently waiting for a decent version of this movie to come along and FINALLY an excellent one has arrived in this DVD, wide screen and all. The picture is clear and crisp, colors are rich and bright and the sound is excellent. It would have been nice to have extras, like old premiere footage, commentaries by Loren, etc., but who's complaining we have the real deal- the movie. After all, this is a film that brought Sophia her second Oscar nomination, a David Di Donatello award (Italy's Oscar), a Moscow Film Festival Award and other international awards. In my humble opinion, this is without a doubt Sophia Loren's finest acting performance, it even surpasses her greatest performances in "Two Women" and "A Special Day" and I say this because it is such a well rounded role, allowing her to run the gamut from comedy to drama, and she does so with great depth. No one laughs, suffers or cries more convincingly on the screen than the divine Loren, and director Vittorio de Sica knew how to extract the best that she had to give. The story is told through his and hers flashbacks and takes Sophia (Filumena) from her late teens to a middle aged woman,so multi faceted, running Loren from naive prostitute in worn torn Italy, to savvy kept woman, to conniving business woman to being a faithful mother;young or old, she shines and looks beautiful, commanding the screen with a fire and poignant dignity that leave you breathless. Add to this her wonderful partner Marcello Mastroianni and you have a solid if unusual love story which tugs at the heart Italian style. There is a scene were Sophia has to sign a lease to her first apartment, she is so gleeful and happy that she will finally have something of her own, and it is comical and heartbreaking at the same time, seeing her with great pride trying to form the letters to her name as she signs the document with almost child like innocence, it is here where you see the majesty of her comedic talent, seamlessly crossing the fine line between comedy and pathos and pulling it off with poignancy and truth. A true classic of Italian cinema, it opened to critical raves in 1964 and should be forever treasured by audiences young and old. Acting and directing don't get any better than this folks- BUY IT and savor this very fine film, I couldn't recommend it more. If you would like to see a photo montage video preview, please check out my tribute video of this film on everyone's favorite video website (which I rather not name), it features chronological photos of the plot set to the romantic song from the movie...just look up videos by boopkid.

Another great Loren/Mastroianni pairing. They literally don't make 'em like this anymore. The more you watch Sophia the second (or third or fourth) time around, the more you appreciate her acting skill ands the way she steals the scene. Very good transfer.