Luigi Comencini
Le Avventure di Pinocchio

LA RECENSIONE

Will it be the TV that changes society, or is it society that changes TV? This question of marzullian memory arises because today's schedules are occupied by various family doctors, the various extended families that are so fashionable today on TV just as in life, and things like that; whereas yesterday on TV there were the now-mythical dramas, with the various Baronesses, the various paranormal mysteries, and the stories of puppets. Things that are now demodé for today's TV, which can now only be found on Rai at night and every now and then when Marzullo and Gabriele La Porta, along with the professors of Nettuno, are forced to raise a white flag in the face of the glorious past of Mamma Rai. Is yesterday's TV better with fewer offerings but more genuine content? Is today's TV better with more offerings but very confusing, yet paying much attention to demand? Is the average viewer of yesterday better or that of today?

This similar-sociological preamble does not seek answers, but only personal reflections based on the relationship that each person has with TV. A well-chosen and well-assorted cast, a bratty face like that of little Andrea Balestri, and a Master like Comencini in direction, bring this nostalgically flavored drama to life.

The feeling of melancholy that comes from this drama is difficult to explain in words. An immense Nino Manfredi in the role of Geppetto, a poor and lonely carpenter, with a fireplace painted on the wall to still give a sense of "warmth." A lonely man who builds a puppet from a log given to him by Mastro Ciliegia: a joy for him to have a real boy - thanks to the hand of the Blue Fairy, a beautiful Gina Lollobrigida - who can keep him company, but who also tends to cause him some worries like any "good" boy worth respecting. Geppetto, like every good father, bent over backward for Pinocchio: he went as far as selling his jacket in the middle of Winter just to buy him the alphabet book to send him to school; and then Pinocchio gets deceived by the Cat and the Fox - another two immense Franco & Ciccio - unscrupulous conmen, who with the promise of a phantasmagorical Field of Miracles where trees grow with pure gold coins, manage to swipe the five gold coins that the puppeteer Mangiafuoco gave him; so that he can buy a new jacket for the Father with gold and diamond buttons.

The thousand adventures of Pinocchio with Lucignolo, culminating at the Land of Toys and consequently turning into donkeys. Pinocchio is thrown into the sea and once again, thanks to the Fairy's intervention who transforms him back into a puppet, he manages to save himself. In the midst of his adventures, Geppetto departs for distant America in search of his lost son; and then Geppetto is swallowed by the whale, in whose stomach he finds his much-desired material dimension on the mainland, but also the resignation of never being able to embrace Pinocchio again. The whale then swallows Pinocchio too, thus reuniting the Father and his Son. The two then decide to leave the whale thanks to the help of the tuna that brings them back to shore.

It is worth mentioning a great Vittorio De Sica in the role of the judge. How can we not talk about the splendid music by Fiorenzo Carpi, and the poignant "Geppetto's Song" sung by Manfredi himself, and then the irreverent "Pinocchio's Theme", and then, and then nostalgia canaglia...