La meglio gioventù 

English title: The Best of Youth

Genre: slice-of-life drama

With: Luigi Lo Cascio (Nicola Carati), Alessio Boni (his brother Matteo), Adriana Asti (their mother Adriana), Andrea Tidona (their father Angelo), Lidia Vitale (their sister Giovanna), Valentina Carnelutti (their little sister Francesca), Sonia Bergamasco (Giulia Monfalco), Jasmine Trinca (Giorgia), Fabrizio Gifuni (Carlo Tommasi), Camilla Filippi (Sara), Claudio Gioè (Vitale Micavi), Maya Sansa (Mirella Utano)

Director: Marco Tullio Giordana

Screenplay: Sandro Petraglia and Stefano Rulli

Release: 2003

Studio: BiBi Film, Rai Fiction, Film Commission Torino-Piemonte

Rating: R

MBiS score: 8.6/10




“In life, everything is beautiful.”





QuickView



Story-line: Rome in the summer of 1966. Once the academic year is over, Matteo Carati, a literature student, and his brother Nicola, who studies medicine, plan to visit Norway with friends Carlo and Berto. Unexpectedly, Matteo’s part-time work with a neurology patient will upend their travel plans… and send them on different paths for the rest of their lives.

Pluses: strong acting by Luigi Lo Cascio and cast, an epic and eventful screenplay combining sympathetic characters, surprising twists and poignant episodes, excellent direction, satisfying production values and a lovely score featuring Cesaria Evora (1941-2011), one of the greatest singers in recent decades. 

Minuses: you may lose interest at some point in the first half – understandably, since the film is 6 hours long and does need time to jell – but the second half is nothing short of enthralling.   

Comments: for more than three decades, LA MEGLIO GIOVENTÙ follows Matteo, Nicola and other members of the Carati family as they cope with private, public and even national events in their native Italy. And they will live through a lot: student protests and career changes, broken relationships and personal challenges, family problems, institutional malfeasance, political issues and even terrorism. Kudos to Marco Tullio Giordana and crew for a film of genuine human value that blesses viewers with a charming, invigorating climax.    





MBiS



© 2020 – All rights reserved

Stalag 17

Genre: war movie (in black and white)

With: William Holden (Sefton), Don Taylor (Dunbar), Otto Preminger (von Scherbach), Robert Strauss (“Animal” Kuzawa), Harvey Lembeck (Shapiro), Richard Erdman (“Hoffy” Hoffman), Peter Graves (Price), Neville Brand (Duke), Sig Ruman (Sgt. Schulz). Michael Moore (Manfredi), Peter Baldwin (Johnson)

Director: Billy Wilder

Screenplay: Billy Wilder and Edwin Blum (based on a play by Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski)

Release: 1953

Studio: Paramount Pictures

Rating: PG

MBiS score: 8.0/10





“This ain't no Salvation Army – this is everybody for himself, dog eat dog.”





QuickView



Story-line: in December 1944, when two American POWs escaping Stalag 17 are caught and killed in a matter of minutes, prisoners inside the camp realize that someone in their midst has tipped off the Nazis. But who could this traitor be?

Pluses: a fine cast energized by William Holden’s Oscar-winning turn as the pesky, enterprising Sefton, a screenplay built around well-drawn characters and sensible dialogues, faultless direction by one of Hollywood’s most celebrated helmers, realistic sets and solid production values.

Minuses: more often than not, the comic interludes – especially one ludicrous intrusion into the Russian compound – undermine the more interesting elements of the story.  

Comments: after an uneven first half mixing drama and humour with middling results (imagine a wobbly cross between THE GREAT ESCAPE and the television series HOGAN’S HEROES), STALAG 17 gets down to business and delivers both genuine suspense and a very satisfying climax. Overall, Billy Wilder’s film is quite watchable but, even with its deserving characters and William Holden’s contribution, I'd rather recommend THE GREAT ESCAPE for its powerful action or Jean Renoir’s gentlemanly classic LA GRANDE ILLUSION to any movie buff who can’t see more than one POW movie.





MBiS



© 2020 – All rights reserved