Luigi Comencini (; 8 June 1916 – 6 April 2007) was an Italian film director. Together with

Dino Risi Dino Risi (23 December 1916 – 7 June 2008) was an Italian film director. With Mario Monicelli, Luigi Comencini, Nanni Loy, and Ettore Scola, he was one of the masters of ''commedia all'italiana''. Biography Risi was born in Milan. He had an ...

Ettore Scola Ettore Scola (; 10 May 1931 – 19 January 2016) was an Italian screenwriter and film director. He received a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 1978 for his film ''A Special Day'' and over ...

, and

Mario Monicelli Mario Alberto Ettore Monicelli (; 16 May 1915 – 29 November 2010) was an Italian film director and screenwriter, one of the masters of the ''commedia all'italiana'' ("Italian-style comedy"). He was nominated six times for an Academy Awards, Os ...

, he was considered among the masters of the "

commedia all'italiana ''Commedia all'italiana'' () or Italian-style comedy is an Italian film genre born in Italy in the 1950s and developed in the 1960s and 1970s. It is widely considered to have started with Mario Monicelli's ''Big Deal on Madonna Street'' in 1958 ...

" genre. His daughters

Cristina Cristina is a female given name, and it is also a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Cristina (daughter of Edward the Exile), 11th-century English princess *Cristina (singer), Cristina Monet-Palaci (1956–2020), American ...

and Francesca are both film directors.

Biography

His first successful film was '' L'imperatore di Capri'', featuring

Totò Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi De Curtis di Bisanzio (15 February 1898 – 15 April 1967), best known by his stage name Totò (), or simply as Antonio de Curtis, and nicknamed ''il principe della risat ...

. Comencini's 1953 '' Pane, amore e fantasia'', with

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. Widely considered one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, four of the fil ...

and

Gina Lollobrigida Luigia "Gina" Lollobrigida (4 July 1927 – 16 January 2023) was an Italian actress, model, photojournalist, and sculptor. She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and 1960s, a period in which she was an international ...

, is considered a primary example of ''neorealismo rosa'' (pink neorealism). It was followed by '' Pane, amore e gelosia''. After first directing

Alberto Sordi Alberto Sordi (15 June 1920 – 24 February 2003) was an Italian actor, comedian, voice dubber, director, singer, composer and screenwriter. Sordi is considered one of the most important actors in the history of Italian cinema and one of the b ...

in ''La bella di Roma'' (1955), Comencini again worked with Sordi in what is considered his masterwork, '' Tutti a casa'', a bitter comedy about Italy after the armistice of 1943. The film won the Special Golden Prize at the

2nd Moscow International Film Festival The 2nd Moscow International Film Festival was held from 9 to 23 July 1961. The Grand Prix was shared between the Japanese film '' The Naked Island'' directed by Kaneto Shindo and the Soviet film '' Clear Skies'' directed by Grigori Chukhrai. ...

. Also set in World War II, but devoted to the Italian partisans, is '' La ragazza di Bube'' (1963). This was followed by ''Incompreso'' (1966, based on the English novel by Florence Montgomery). Comencini obtained an outstanding success with what is ranked amongst the best productions of Italian television, ''

The Adventures of Pinocchio ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' ( ; , i.e. "The Adventures of Pinocchio. Story of a Puppet"), commonly shortened to ''Pinocchio'', is an 1883 Children's literature, children's fantasy novel by Italian author Carlo Collodi. It is about the mischi ...

'' (1972). In the same year, he directed the feature film '' Lo scopone scientifico'', a dark comedy with Sordi and

Silvana Mangano Silvana Mangano (; 21 April 1930 – 16 December 1989) was an Italian film actress. She was one of a generation of thespians who arose from the neorealist movement, and went on to become a major female star, regarded as a sex symbol for the 19 ...

. In 1975, he released the mystery ''La donna della domenica'', featuring

Marcello Mastroianni Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni (26 September 1924Come da lui stesso dichiarato a 1'10" dquesta intervista/ref> – 19 December 1996) was an Italian actor. He is generally regarded as one of Italy's most iconic male performers of the 20t ...

Jacqueline Bisset Winifred Jacqueline Fraser Bisset ( ; born 13 September 1944) is a British actress. She began her film career in 1965 and first came to prominence in 1968 with roles in ''The Detective (1968 film), The Detective'', ''Bullitt'', and ''The Sweet ...

and

Jean-Louis Trintignant Jean-Louis Xavier Trintignant (; 11 December 1930 – 17 June 2022) was a French actor. He made his theatrical debut in 1951, and went on to be regarded as one of the best French dramatic actors of the post-World War II, war era. He starred in m ...

. Comencini's subsequent works were characterised by the presence of famous Italian actors of the time:

Ugo Tognazzi Ottavio "Ugo" Tognazzi (23 March 1922 – 27 October 1990) was an Italian actor, director, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the most important faces of Italian comedy together with Vittorio Gassman, Nino Manfredi, Marcello Mastr ...

in ''Il gatto'' (1977), or

Nino Manfredi Saturnino "Nino" Manfredi (22 March 1921 – 4 June 2004) was an Italian actor, voice actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, comedian, singer, author, radio personality and television presenter. He was one of the most prominent Italian ac ...

in his episode of ''Basta che non si sappia in giro''. In the 1980s, Comencini's movies met with less success, but his '' Cuore'' television series of 1984 was praised. He died in Rome after a long illness in 2007.

Filmography

* ''Bambini in città'' (1947) * '' Hey Boy (Proibito rubare)'' (1948) * '' The Emperor of Capri (L'imperatore di Capri)'' (1949) * ''L'ospedale del delitto'' (1950) * '' Behind Closed Shutters (Persiane chiuse)'' (1950) * ''

Heidi ''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published between 1880 and 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' () and ''Heidi: How She Used What She Learned'' ( ...

'' (1952) * '' La Tratta delle bianche'' (1953) * '' La valigia dei sogni'' (1953) * '' Bread, Love and Dreams (Pane, amore e fantasia)'' (1953) * ''

Bread, Love and Jealousy ''Bread, Love and Jealousy'' (), known as ''Frisky'' in the US, is a 1954 Italian romantic comedy film directed by Luigi Comencini. It is the second part of the Italian trilogy, preceded by '' Bread, Love and Dreams'' and followed by '' Scanda ...

(Pane, amore e gelosia)'' (1954) * '' The Belle of Rome (La bella di Roma)'' (1955) * '' The Window to Luna Park'' (1957) * '' Husbands in the City (Mariti in città)'' (1957) * ''

Mogli pericolose ''Mogli pericolose'' ("Dangerous wives") is a 1958 Italian comedy film written and directed by Luigi Comencini. Cast * Sylva Koscina: Tosca, Pirro's wife * Dorian Gray: Ornella, Bruno's wife * Renato Salvatori: Dr. Federico Carpi * Nino T ...

'' (1958) * '' Le sorprese dell'amore'' (1959) * '' And That on Monday Morning'' (1959) * '' Everybody Go Home (Tutti a casa)'' (1960) * '' A cavallo della tigre'' (1961) * '' Il commissario'' (1962) * '' La ragazza di Bube'' (1963) * '' Three Nights of Love'' (1964) * '' La mia signora'' (1964) * '' Il compagno Don Camillo'' (1965) * '' Six Days a Week (La bugiarda)'' (1965) * '' Le bambole'' (1965, episode "Il trattato di eugenetica") * '' Misunderstood (Incompreso)'' (1966) * '' Italian Secret Service'' (1968) * '' Infanzia, vocazione e prime esperienze di Giacomo Casanova, veneziano'' (1969) * ''

Senza sapere niente di lei La Senza Corporation is a Canadian fashion retailer that sells women's lingerie and intimate apparel. The La Senza brand is currently owned by Regent, L.P., Regent which operates and owns La Senza stores in Canada and the United States and uses ...

'' (1969) * ''

'' (1972, TV series) * '' Lo scopone scientifico ( The Scientific Cardplayer)'' (1973) * '' Somewhere Beyond Love (Delitto d'amore)'' (1974) * '' Mio Dio, come sono caduta in basso!'' (1974) * '' La donna della domenica'' (1975) * '' Basta che non si sappia in giro'' (1976, episode "L'equivoco)'' * '' Quelle strane occasioni'' (1976) * '' Signore e signori, buonanotte'' (1976) * ''

The Cat The Cat may refer to: Nickname * Mathilde Carré (1910-2007), French spy, double and possibly triple agent * Peter Bonetti (1941–2020), English footballer * Greg Cattrano (born 1975), American lacrosse player * Ernest Miller (born 1964), Amer ...

(Il gatto)'' (1977) * '' L'ingorgo - Una storia impossibile'' (1978) * '' Voltati Eugenio'' (1980) * ' (1982) * ' (1984, TV series) * ' (1986) * '' A Boy from Calabria (Un ragazzo di Calabria)'' (1987) * ''

La Bohème ''La bohème'' ( , ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '':wikt:quadro, quadri'', ''wikt:tableau, tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto b ...

'' (1988) * '' Buon Natale... buon anno'' (1989) * ' (1991)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Comencini, Luigi 1916 births 2007 deaths People from Salò Italian film directors Italian comedy film directors Italian Waldensians German-language film directors David di Donatello winners Burials at the Cimitero Flaminio Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement recipients