Miracolo a Milano (1951)

Director:

Vittorio De Sica

Writers:

Cesare Zavattini (novel)
Cesare Zavattini (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

17 December 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Comedy

Plot:

Once upon a time an old woman discovers a baby in her cabbage patch. She brings up the child and, when she dies...

Plot Keywords:

Orphanage | Baby | Dove | Magic | Cabbage Patch

Awards:

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 3 wins

Cast

Emma Gramatica	...	La vecchia Lolotta
Francesco Golisano	...	Totò
Paolo Stoppa	...	Rappi
Guglielmo Barnabò	...	Mobbi
Brunella Bovo	...	Edvige
Anna Carena	...	Marta, la signora altezzosa
Alba Arnova	...	La statua che prende vita
Flora Cambi	...	L'innamorata infelice
Virgilio Riento	...	Il sergente delle guardie
Arturo Bragaglia	...	Alfredo
Erminio Spalla	...	Gaetano
Riccardo Bertazzolo	...	L'atleta
Checco Rissone	...	Il comandante in secondo (as Francesco Rissone)
Angelo Prioli	...	Il comandante in primo

Also Known As:

Miracle in Milan (USA)
Das Wunder von Mailand (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Milagro en Milán (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Miracle à Milan (Belgium: French title) (France) [fr]
Csoda Milánóban (Hungary) [hu]
Cud w Mediolanie (Poland) [pl]
Milagre em Milão (Brazil) [pt]
Milanon ihme (Finland) [fi]
Mirakel te Milaan (Belgium: Flemish title) [un]
Miraklet i Milano (Sweden) [sv]
O Milagre de Milão (Portugal) [pt]
Thavma sto Milano (Greece) [el]

Runtime:

100 min | France:92 min | 90 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian | English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Ente Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche (ENIC)

Trivia:

Vittorio de Sica's own son, Manuel, personally supervised the restoration of his father's film for DVD release.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Cineastas contra magnates (2005)

Weird and wonderful step away from Neorealism by Vittorio de Sica and Cesare Zavattini

Perhaps the last film you would expect to come from Vittorio de Sica and Cesare Zavattini (who wrote the novel on which this film is based). It's a neorealist fantasy, kind of an oxymoron, really. An old woman finds a baby in her cabbage patch and raises him as her own son. After a few years, the baby is a young boy (named Toto) and the adoptive mother is dying. He goes to an orphanage and, when he finally turns 18, he leaves. Immediately, he finds that he has no home. Toto is optimistic, though, and won't let anything get him down. A man steals his valise, and instead of getting angry over it, Toto becomes his friend and goes and stays with him in a small shantytown. Toto takes some initiative and organizes the many homeless living in the area and they build a better shantytown. Soon, the landowner is trying to sell this plot of land, and the citizens of the shantytown have to protect themselves. After many attempts, the owner mounts a force of police to get rid of the homeless. At this point, the film becomes full-fledged fantasy (before this it was more comedic/fantastic melodrama in the style of Charlie Chaplin). This stuff is so weird and shocking that it's probably best for others to see it for themselves. It's quite amazing, and very funny. There are objections you could raise about the plot of Miracle in Milan, most certainly. Fellini and Visconti were greatly criticized when they started to stray from Neorealism. I think I read this was widely criticized at the time of its release. At this point, though, it's so enjoyable - I loved it very much. It might be my favorite of Vittorio de Sica's films, although Umberto D and The Bicycle Thieves come very, very close. 10/10.