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Paesani in Deutschland, a serious view almost entirely composed of jokes. "All of Italy is represented! A Tuscan, a Roman and myself, a Neapolitan." Adrift in Hannover, the bumpkin (Renato Salvatori) seeks work and finds it alongside the seasoned swindler (Alberto Sordi), who introduces himself by pilfering his passport during dinner. Cloth peddlers, their low-grade wares unloaded on unsuspecting Germans—a typical job has them looking up names on tombstones and collecting special orders from widows. An extended gag about a sturdy hausfrau suckered into buying rugs by a feigned back injury showcases Sordi's farcical bravura, elsewhere Salvatori's stolid sensitivity contrasts with Belinda Lee's elegant guile as the honcho's quite willing wife. "It's not nice to forget that you've seen a woman. But it is good to forget where you saw her." Francesco Rosi building off Fellini (Il Bidone), a suite of somber veneers for a comedy of dislocation. Jangly nightlife, hotspots and rock 'n' roll, prostitutes on display at the red-light district. Grayish views of the Hamburg wharf, the lady remembers "tempi tristi" while the Tuscan bloke marvels at a couple smooching in public, verboten back home. The con is "an art," not to mention theater. "Our trade is an old one. It has its rules." Rumbles with "Polish gypsies" and friendships ending in blackmail are par for the course. One takes off to pass rayon as silk in Japan, the other sees his beloved walk away as "You Told a Lie" wafts from the jukebox. "It's not easy to make money, even when you've decided not to have scruples." Skolimowski's Moonlighting is a variant. With Nino Vingelli, Aldo Giuffrè, Aldo Bufi Landi, and Josef Dahmen. In black and white.
--- Fernando F. Croce |