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I Vitelloni cast: Franco Fabrizi, and Franco Interlenghi director: Federico Fellini 105 minutes (U) 1953 Nouveaux retail RATING: 8/10 reviewed by Gary Couzens |
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2003
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Retro: our movie & TV vault... a fresh look at neglected classics and cult favourites
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The title is Italian for "the little calves," although the subtitles translate it not
especially appropriately as Spivs. (It's also known as The Young And The Passionate in the
US.) Fellini's second feature is semi-autobiographical. (Fellini's own brother Riccardo plays one of
the lead characters.) It follows five young men in their late twenties, living in a small
out-of-the-way seaport, as they dream about getting away, of writing the great novel, play practical
jokes, chase girls. One of them, Fausto (Franco Fabrizi), is pressurised into marriage. Fellini looks
at these characters with a mixture of affection and criticism: we warm to them, though we know that
they will never amount to very much, nor will they leave the town. If they're in a rut, it's a
comfortable one. In fact, one of them does leave - Moraldo (Franco Interlenghi), a clear surrogate
for the writer/director, departs for the city. (For his adventures there, see
La Dolce Vita, where
the author-figure is called Marcello and is played by Marcello Mastroianni.)
In style I Vitelloni is naturalistic, but there are hints of the non-realist direction Fellini would later take: a sequence where the carnival comes to town, for example. This video transfer is in good condition, apart from some splices and distorting sound at the beginning. As is usual with Fellini's work, it was shot silent with the sound added later, with some less than precise lip-synch in places.
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