''A Thousand Lire a Month'' () is a 1939 Italian " white-telephones"

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Max Neufeld Max Neufeld (13 February 1887 – 2 December 1967) was an Austrian film director, actor and screenwriter. He directed 70 films between 1919 and 1957. He directed the 1934 film ''The Song of the Sun'', which starred Vittorio De Sica. Selecte ...

and starring

Alida Valli Baroness Alida Maria Laura Altenburger von Marckenstein-Frauenberg (31 May 1921 – 22 April 2006), better known by her stage name Alida Valli, or simply Valli, was an Italian actress who appeared in more than 100 films in a 70-year career, span ...

Umberto Melnati Umberto Melnati (17 June 1897 – 30 March 1979) was an Italian film actor He appeared in over 35 films between 1932 and 1962. He starred in films such as the Mario Mattoli 1936 film ''L'uomo che sorride'' and ''Il signor Max'' (1937). He ...

and

Osvaldo Valenti Osvaldo Valenti (17 February 1906 – 30 April 1945) was an Italian film actor. Valenti starred in several successful Italian movies of the late 1930s and early 1940s, such as the famous ''The Iron Crown'' and '' The Jester's Supper''. He ap ...

.Nowell-Smith p.119 It is a remake of the 1936 Hungarian film ''Havi 200 fix''. The plot concerns an electronic engineer who goes to

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, accompanied by his girlfriend, to work on experiments for a new television system leading to countless mix-ups. It was shot at the

Safa Palatino Studios The Safa Palatino Studios are a complex of film and television studios in the Italian capital Rome. It is owned by Mediaset, who use it for the production of television programmes. Historically, the site was used as a film studio from the 1930s to ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Ottavio Scotti Ottavio Scotti (1904–1975) was an Italian art director. Scotti was born in Umago, which was then part of Italy but is today in Croatia. He worked on more than a hundred films during his career, including Orson Welles's ''Black Magic'' which wa ...

Cast

as Magda *

as Matteo *

as Gabriele Corodi *

Renato Cialente Renato Cialente (2 February 1897 – 25 November 1943) was an Italian stage and film actor. He appeared in 40 films between 1920 and 1943. His younger sister Fausta Cialente (1898–1994) was a novelist, journalist and political activist. ...

as Il direttore generale della Radio di Budapest * Niní Gordini Cervi as Lilli *

Giuseppe Pierozzi Giuseppe Pierozzi (11 October 1883 – 22 April 1956) was an Italian stage and film actor.Goble p.349 Selected filmography * '' Maddalena Ferat'' (1920) * '' Through the Shadows'' (1923) * ''Samson'' (1923) * '' The Faces of Love'' (1924) * '' T ...

as Axel, il capo del personale *

Anna Doré Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna of East Anglia, King (died c.654) * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th ce ...

as Lia Loletta *

Amina Pirani Maggi Amina Pirani Maggi (January 15, 1892 – November 10, 1979) was an Italian stage and film actress.Waldman p.162 Selected filmography * ''Television'' (1931) * '' Seconda B'' (1934) * '' Dimmed Lights'' (1934) * '' Like the Leaves'' (1935) * ''De ...

as La madre di Magda *

Maria Polese Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial *170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, da ...

as La zia di Magda *

Fausto Guerzoni Fausto Guerzoni (1904–1967) was an Italian actor.Freire-Medeiros p.193 A character actor, he appeared in Italian films in supporting roles from the mid-1930s. Selected filmography * '' I'll Give a Million'' (1935) - (uncredited) * ''Ballerine ...

as Leopoldo Almos *

Vasco Creti Vasco Creti (7 December 1874 – 16 October 1945) was an Italian stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 110 films between 1915 and 1944. He was married to actress Valeria Creti. Selected filmography * '' Maschiaccio'' (1917) * '' I ...

as Il padrone della farmacia *

Armando Arzalesi Armando may refer to: * Armando (given name) * Armando (artist) (1929–2018), the name used by Dutch artist Herman Dirk van Dodeweerd * Armando (producer) Armando Gallop (sometimes written as Armando Gallup) (February 12, 1970 – December 17, ...

Aristide Baghetti Jean-Bertrand Aristide (; born 15 July 1953) is a Haitian former Salesian priest and politician who became Haiti's first democratically elected president in 1991 before being deposed in a coup d'état. As a priest, he taught liberation theol ...

as Il padrino con il monocolo *

Luigi Erminio D'Olivo Luigi (; ) is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Part of Nintendo's ''Mario'' franchise, he is a kind-hearted, cowardly Italian plumber, and the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario. Like ...

as L'ingegnere in attesa di diventare padre * Carlo Lombardi as Il ministro *

Renato Malavasi Renato Malavasi (8 August 1904 – 7 October 1998) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 135 films between 1921 and 1985. Selected filmography * '' The Golden Vein'' (1928) * '' The Song of Love'' (1930) * '' Lowered Sails'' (1931) * ' ...

as Un tecnico televisivo * Livia Minelli as Francesca, la cameriera *

Lina Tartara Minora Lina ( ) is an international feminine given name, mostly the short form of a variety of names ending in ''-lina'' including Adelina, Angelina, Carmelina, Carolina, Catalina, Emelina, Evangelina, Evelina, Karolina, Italina, Marcelina, Meli ...

as La padrona della pensione di Almos * Sergio Pastorini as Il tenore *

Cesare Polacco Cesare Polacco (14 May 1900 – 2 March 1986) was an Italian actor and voice actor. Biography Born in Venice, Polacco started his career in 1920 in the stage company of Emilio Zago, with whom he played most of the Goldoni's repertoire. In 19 ...

as Carletto, l'altro padrino *

Adriano Rimoldi Adriano Rimoldi (1912–1965) was an Italian film actor. Career Born in La Spezia, Rimoldi started acting on stage while being a student of medicine at the University of Florence. After playing minor film roles, he had his breakout in 1940 as ...

as Un impiegato della radio *

Dina Romano Dina Romano (born Geltrude Ricci; 16 February 1876 – 7 November 1957) was an Italian stage and film actress. She appeared in more than fifty films during her career including ''The Materassi Sisters'' (1944).Landy p.285 Selected filmography * ...

as La donna con il mal di denti *

Felice Romano Felice is a unisex given name. It is a common name in Italian, where it is equivalent to Felix. Notable people with the name include: Arts and entertainment Acting *Felice Andreasi (1928–2005), Italian actor *Felice Farina (born 1954), Italia ...

as Un altro tecnico televisivo *

Gennaro Sabatano Januarius ( ; ; Neapolitan and ), also known as , was Bishop of Benevento and is a martyr and saint of the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, and Armenian Apostolic Church. While no contemporary sources on his life are preserved, later s ...

* Elettra Terzolo as Caterina, la cameriera

References

Bibliography

* Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey & Hay, James & Volpi, Gianni. ''The Companion to Italian Cinema''. Cassell, 1996.

External links

* 1939 films Italian comedy films 1939 comedy films 1930s Italian-language films Films directed by Max Neufeld Films set in Budapest Remakes of Hungarian films Italian remakes of foreign films Italian black-and-white films Films shot at Palatino Studios 1930s Italian films Films scored by Carlo Innocenzi Italian-language comedy films {{1930s-Italy-film-stub