Il cappotto (1952)

Director:

Alberto Lattuada

Writers:

Alberto Lattuada (adaptation) &
Giorgio Prosperi (adaptation) ...
(more)

Release Date:

7 October 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

Based on Nikolai Gogol's story with the location changed from Russia to Italy and the time changed to the present (1952)...

Plot Keywords:

Mayor | Overcoat | Ghost | City Hall | Poor

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Renato Rascel	...	Carmine De Carmine
Yvonne Sanson	...	Caterina
Giulio Stival	...	Il sindaco
Ettore Mattia	...	Il segretario generale
Giulio Calì	...	Il sarto
Olinto Cristina
Anna Carena	...	L'affittacamere (as Anna Maria Carena)
Sandro Somarè	...	Il fidanzato di Vittoria
Luigi Moneta
Silvio Bagolini	...	Il venditore ambulante
Dina Perbellini
Loris Gizzi
Mario Crippa
Alfredo Ragusa
Nino Marchetti		(as Nino Marchetti)
Mimo Billi		(as Mimmo Billi)
Riccardo Legioni
Gondrano Trucchi
Angela Bevilacqua
Paolo Reale
Giovanni Ranucci
Antonella Lualdi	...	Vittoria, la figlia del sindaco
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gianni Bonos	...	(uncredited)
Luigi Bonos	...	(uncredited)
Vittorio Bonos	...	(uncredited)
Claudio Ermelli	...	Il fotografo (uncredited)
Marco Tulli	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Alberto Lattuada

Writing credits
Alberto Lattuada		(adaptation and screenplay) &
Giorgio Prosperi		(adaptation and screenplay) &
Giordano Corsi		(adaptation and screenplay) &
Enzo Curreli		(adaptation and screenplay) (as Enzo Currelli) &
Luigi Malerba		(adaptation and screenplay) &
Leonardo Sinisgalli		(adaptation and screenplay) &
Cesare Zavattini		(adaptation and screenplay)
Nikolai Gogol		story "The Overcoat" (uncredited)

Produced by
Antonio Ansaldo-Patti	....	producer
Enzo Curreli	....	producer

Original Music by
Felice Lattuada

Cinematography by
Mario Montuori

Film Editing by
Eraldo Da Roma

Production Design by
Gianni Polidori

Set Decoration by
Sergio Baldacchini

Costume Design by
Dario Cecchi

Makeup Department
Amalia Paoletti	....	hair stylist
Eligio Trani	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Enzo Curreli	....	unit manager (as Enzo Currelli)
Marco Ferreri	....	assistant production manager
Bianca Lattuada	....	production manager
Alfredo Mirabile	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Aldo Buzzi	....	assistant director
Guidarino Guidi	....	assistant director
Luigi Malerba	....	assistant director

Art Department
Leonardo Sinisgalli	....	artistic consultant

Sound Department
Eraldo Giordani	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Alfio Contini	....	assistant camera
Cesare Fraschetti	....	assistant camera
Silvio Fraschetti	....	assistant camera
Mario Melloni	....	still photographer (as Mario Meloni)
Amerigo Paiolo	....	camera operator
Renato Pietrini	....	chief electrician

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Maria Fanetti	....	wardrobe

Other crew
Enrico Catalucci	....	laboratory technician (as E. Catalucci)
Riccardo Ghione	....	script supervisor
Franco Solitario	....	location manager

Production Companies

• Faro Film
• Titanus

Distributors

• Times Distributing (USA)
• Times Film Corporation (1953) (USA) (subtitled)
• Titanus Distribuzione

Also Known As:

"The Overcoat" - USA
"Le manteau" - Belgium (French title), France
"Överrocken" - Sweden
"De jas" - Netherlands (imdb display title)
"El abrigo" - Argentina
"El alcalde, el escribano y su abrigo" - Spain
"Kappen" - Denmark (imdb display title)
"O Capote" - Portugal (imdb display title)
"Päällystakki" - Finland
"Plaszcz" - Poland (imdb display title)
"To palto" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)

Runtime:

95 min | Italy:101 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Pavia, Lombardia, Italy

Company:

Faro Film

Movie Connections:

Version of The Bespoke Overcoat (1956)

The Overcoat

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

More than a hint of Charlie Chaplin in some of his memorable old roles wherein he conveyed a poignant notion of the ludicrous troubles of the little man is given by Renato Rascel in the Italian film, "The Overcoat".

This wistful picture treats a grim and saddening theme, even though it is done in a superior serio-comic style. It's a wonder the moths haven't got it. And that it doesn't deserve.

For this interesting Italian transposition of Gogol's semifarcical tale of the little man who was briefly elevated to a sense of importance by the possession of a new overcoat is, in many respects, an exciting and impressive piece of cinematic art, directed by Alberto Lattuada with uncompromising insight and skill.

How much of the film's insinuation derives from the sharp, sarcastic script of a corps of Italian screen-writers, how much from Rascel's apparent skill and how much from Lattuada's shrewd direction is a matter of minor concern. The fact that it is a brilliant picture, in its own special frame, is enough.

To be sure, the dramatic situation is both simple and of dubious appeal. A little clerk, tired of being pushed and badgered, puts his savings in a new overcoat. In it, he feels triumphant. He can walk down the street like a lord. He is confident with beautiful women, whom he previously yearned for from afar. Then his overcoat is stolen. Inevitably, he goes mad and dies. Briefly, his spirit haunts the people who had been cruel and haughty to him.

That is the situation. But the peculiar attractiveness of the film is in the sharpness with which it satirizes politicians and, indeed, society, and in the incisive humor of Rascel's Chaplinesque pantomime. There are scenes of magnificent humor, such as one in which the piteous little clerk reads back, with eloquence and gestures, some garbled dictation he has taken from his boss. Or the scene in which a grotesque tailor, played by Giulio Cali, fits him for the new overcoat. There also are scenes of scorching pathos and painful mockery. The sum total of them, as in a Chaplin picture, makes a haunting commentary.

Though artfully played and directed and well-furnished with English subtitles, the picture does have some limitations, so far as a wide American audience is concerned. It dwells at great length on the behavior of Italian bureaucrats, which is a little flossy for American fancy, and it is solemnly dreary toward the end. Plainly, it falls somewhere vaguely between "City Lights" and Murnau's "The Last Laugh." It is a picture more than well worth seeing. But be sure you are in the mood.