''Policarpo'' ( it, Policarpo, ufficiale di scrittura) is a 1959 Italian

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Mario Soldati Mario Soldati (17 November 1906 – 19 June 1999) was an cinema of Italy, Italian writer and film director. In 1954 he won the Strega Prize for ''Lettere da Capri.'' He directed several works adapted from novels, and worked with leading Ital ...

. It was entered into the 1959 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

Policarpo De 'Tappetti is a modest ministerial employee of Umbertine Rome: he is precise and diligent, but his excesses of zeal attract him the antipathy of Cavalier Cesare Pancarano di Rondò, his severe office manager, as well as aristocratic aristocrat convinced that he is related to the reigning Savoy dynasty, which is why he spends good money on complex genealogical research in order to ascertain its veracity. The respective families of the two meet by chance while walking on the Pincio, and the son of Pancarano di Rondò, Gerolamo, falls in love with Celeste, the young and pretty daughter of Polycarp; in front of her insistent court that Gegè of her, a fatuous and superficial character of her, the girl appears rather perplexed, but she agrees to become engaged to him at the insistence of her parents, who foresee for her a brilliant wedding. Cavalier Pancarano di Rondò, however, does not look favorably on the bond between the two young men, since, considering himself to be of noble lineage, he would like to see his son married to a young lady from the great world ". So to distract Gegè from the idea of marrying Celeste , the knight approaches Edelweiss, a subretta of café-chantant with whom the young man had previously been in love, and convinces her to be seen in a bathing suit on the beach of Ostia, where Gegé plans to go with his girlfriend. they go as expected by the knight: Gegè leaves Celeste to run after his old flame. In the meantime Celeste falls in love with Mario Marchetti, a serious and honest young mechanic who teaches her to type, wanting the girl to find a job as a typist. Polycarp at first strongly opposes Mario's courtship of his daughter and the idea of Celeste going to work, but in the end he is forced to give in. Celeste then becomes engaged to Mario, while Polycarp, a graduate calligrapher and archenemy of the typewriter, will have to become a typist by order of the Ministry, otherwise he will lose his job. He will therefore - to everyone's surprise - show off this technical innovation on the occasion of the minister's visit for the inauguration of the new typing system, quickly typing the famous chorus from Il Conte di Carmagnola by Alessandro Manzoni («S'ode a right a trumpet blast ..�). Meanwhile, Cavalier Pancarano di Rondò has received unwelcome news: Gegè, who fled with Edelweiss, is married to her in Venice. Immediately afterwards, moreover, the scholars who on his behalf were looking for genealogical documents certifying his alleged blue blood inform him that an ancestor of his was called Biancamano not because he was related to the reigning Savoy dynasty, but because of his profession as a painter. At this point Cavalier Pancarano decides to be more friendly with Policarpo. In the final scene, the splendid cameo of Amedeo Nazzari in the role of a carabiniere who stops a runaway horse.

Cast

Renato Rascel Renato Rascel (), stage name of Renato Ranucci (; 27 April 1912 – 2 January 1991), was an Italian film actor and singer. He appeared in 50 films between 1942 and 1972. He represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1960 with the s ...

- Policarpo De Tappetti *

Peppino De Filippo Peppino De Filippo (born Giuseppe De Filippo; 24 August 1903 – 27 January 1980) was an Italian actor. De Filippo was born in Naples, brother of actor and dramatist Eduardo De Filippo and of Titina De Filippo. He made his stage debut at th ...

- Cesare Pancarano *

Renato Salvatori Renato Salvatori (20 March 1933 – 27 March 1988) was an Italian actor. Born in Seravezza, Province of Lucca, Salvatori began his career in his teens playing juvenile, romantic roles. After working with directors such as Luchino Visconti, Rob ...

- Mario *

Carla Gravina Carla Gravina (born 5 August 1941) is an Italian actress and politician. She received a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress for her role in '' La terrazza'' (1980). Her other notable roles were in ''Love and Chatter'' (1957), '' Esterina ...

- Celeste *

Romolo Valli Romolo Valli (7 February 1925 – 1 February 1980) was an Italian actor. Valli was born in Reggio Emilia. He was one of the best known Italian actors from the 1950s to his death. He worked for both the stage and the silver screen. Among the ...

- Capo divisione Laurenzi * Toni Soler - Eufemia De' Tappetti *

Luigi De Filippo Luigi De Filippo (10 August 1930 – 31 March 2018) was an Italian actor, stage director and playwright. Born in Naples, the son of actors Peppino De Filippo and Adele Carloni, he studied literature at the university, leaving the studies on the ...

- Giorgio Pancarano *

Checco Durante Francesco "Checco" Durante (19 November 1893 – 5 January 1976) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 59 films between 1931 and 1973. He was born and died in Rome, Italy. Selected filmography * '' The Doctor in Spite of Himself'' (193 ...

- Father of Mario *

Anita Durante Anita Durante (28 September 1897 – 2 May 1994) was an Italian actress. Born Anita Bianchi in Rome into a humble family, after attending a dramatic society for several years Durante made her official debut on stage in 1919, in Ettore Petro ...

- Amelia Pancarano (as Lidia Martora Maresca) * Lidia Martora - Amelia Pancarano di Rondò *

José Isbert José Enrique Benito y Emeterio Ysbert Alvarruiz (3 March 1886 in Madrid – 28 November 1966 in Madrid), also known as José Isbert and/or Pepe Isbert, was a Spanish actor. Biography Early life In 1903 he worked at the Court of Accounts (Trib ...

- Maresciallo Fausto Venanzio *

Ernesto Calindri Ernesto Calindri (5 February 1909 – 9 June 1999) was an Italian theater and film actor. He appeared in 40 films between 1938 and 1989. Selected filmography * '' Golden Arrow'' (1935) * ''It Always Ends That Way'' (1939) * ''The Children A ...

- Collega di Policarpo *

Trini Montero Trini Montero (1927 – 13 March 2012) was a Spanish film actress.D'Lugo p.54 Selected filmography * '' The Scandal'' (1943) * ''The Guitar of Gardel'' (1949) * ''I'm Not Mata Hari'' (1949) * '' Captain Poison'' (1951) * ''Devil's Roundup ''Dev ...

- Edelweiss *

Roberto Rey Roberto Rey (15 February 1905 – 30 May 1972) was a Chilean film actor who worked in Spain, appearing in more than fifty films during his career including the 1935 musical '' Paloma Fair''.D'Lugo p.106 Selected filmography * '' A Lucky Man'' ( ...

- Franquinet *

Alberto Sordi Alberto Sordi (15 June 1920 – 24 February 2003) was an Italian actor, voice actor, singer, comedian, director and screenwriter. Early life Born in Rome to a schoolteacher and a musician and the last of five children, Sordi was named in hon ...

- l'ambulante che vende ombrelli *

Mario Riva Mario Riva (26 January 1913 – 1 September 1960) was an Italian television presenter and actor. He appeared in 51 films between 1941 and 1960. Life and career Born in Rome as Mariuccio Bonavolontà, the son of a composer, Giuseppe (Joseph) ...

- il pompiere del teatro *

Memmo Carotenuto Memmo Carotenuto (23 August 1908 – 23 December 1980) was an Italian actor. He appeared in 125 films between 1941 and 1980. Selected filmography *'' The Wedding Trip'' (1969) * ''Assassination in Rome'' (1965) * '' Male Companion'' (1964 ...

- 'gnor Cino * Maurizio Arena - il fattorino dei fiori *

Vittorio De Sica Vittorio De Sica ( , ; 7 July 1901 – 13 November 1974) was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement. Four of the films he directed won Academy Awards: ''Sciuscià'' and ''Bicycle Thieves'' (honorary) ...

- il prestigiatore con il piccione *

Amedeo Nazzari Amedeo Nazzari (10 December 1907 in Cagliari – 5 November 1979 in Rome) was an Italian actor. Nazzari was one of the leading figures of Italian classic cinema, often considered a local variant of the Australian–American star Errol Flynn. Al ...

- il carabiniere che ferma il cavallo *

Ugo Tognazzi Ugo Tognazzi (23 March 1922 – 27 October 1990) was an Italian actor, director, and screenwriter. Early life Tognazzi was born in Cremona, in northern Italy but spent his youth in various localities as his father was a travelling clerk fo ...

- il professore *

Massimo Pianforini Massimo Pianforini (1890–1966) was an Italian film and television actor.Kinnard & Crnkovich p.64 Selected filmography * '' Doctor Antonio'' (1937) * '' For Men Only'' (1938) * ''The Count of Brechard'' (1938) * '' The Knight of San Marco'' (19 ...

- Ministro

References

External links

* {{Mario Soldati , state=collapsed 1959 films Italian comedy films 1950s Italian-language films 1959 comedy films Films set in Rome Films directed by Mario Soldati 1950s Italian films