Saturday, September 12, 2020

Movie review - "I Magliari" (1959) **1/2

 I watched this because Belinda Lee was in it but her part is relatively small (she doesn't come in until the film is half over). It's about Italian workers in Germany, and much of their behaviour is boorish and not that interesting. But after a while this grew on me - I got into the rhythms of the story.

Belinda Lee is good as another man eater though she has this drag queen make up on that she seemed to use whenever she worked in Germany. But in her quiet moments she's effective. She's the wife of the boss of one of the workers who has an affair with said worker (played by Renalto Salvatori, who you might recognise. Alberto Sordi has another lead.)

There's decent developments - lots of local prejudice - and fascinating cultural details: the coffee shops, the dancing, the Teddy Boys, the rock and roll. Location filming helps.

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