Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (1963)

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow interestingly tells the stories of three women all played by screen siren Sophia Loren and the three different men who loved her all played by Marcello Mastroianni.

            The first story deals with a poor couple in a small Italian town. The wife Adelina has bought furniture that they cannot pay for because the husband Carmine is out of work and she sells illegally imported cigarettes on the streets. When the furniture people come around Carmine hides the furniture. A lawyer comes around and tells him what he has done is illegal and that since the furniture is in Adelina’s name she will be the one to be arrested. Turns out Adelina cannot be arrested and sent to jail just yet because she is pregnant but she will be sent to jail in six months with only a four month sentence. Well, Adelina and Carmine decide that every six months they do the old do and have another kid. They keep that jig up for seven kids until one day the impossible happens and they do not get pregnant. Carmine is stressed out beyond belief and haggard looking while Adelina looks more beautiful and desirable with every child she has. In frustration Adelina decides to take the two youngest children and turn herself in. Carmine cannot live without her and the people of the town take up extra collections and pile on taxes to help free Adelina. Big shock, she is able to get out of jail and live happily ever after with Carmine and their insane amount of kids for their insanely small home.

            The second story is about a woman named Anna Molteni. When the story first begins we see the roads she is driving on and hear her thoughts about what the days hold for her from her perspective. From her thoughts she seems to be a bored rich woman looking for something to excite her. She had called a guy named Renzo to meet up with her. She picks Renzo up and they go for a drive. She tries to put several moves on him and he has to remind her that she is richer than he is and he can never support her care free lifestyle. Anna has Renzo take over the driving and because she was distracting him he almost hits a boy but swerves in time. He unfortunately smacks rights into a tractor damaging the one side of the car. Anna is furious and starts saying nasty things about him. She manages to flag down a guy driving an expensive sports car and he tries to help change her tire. Anna talks trash about Renzo and leaves to head back to her place with the rich guy and makes Renzo stay with the car. He does not take her bull and he starts walking home.

            The third story deals with Mara and her annoying old neighbors. The old neighbors have their grandson staying with them. The grandson Umberto is studying to be a priest but he is completely enthralled with Mara. His grandparents do not like Mara because she is a prostitute. Mara’s one client Augusto is constantly coming over and makes a lot of noise. He wants to take her away and tries to make her but all Mara is concerned about is her nosy neighbors. One night Mara is out on her balcony and so is Umberto. They talk and Umberto falls in love. The following day the grandmother comes by to tell Mara that Umberto no longer wants to be a priest. Mara now sees that the grandmother is just a regular nice old woman seeking her help. Mara is willing to talk Umberto back into being a priest. The way she tries to get the boy to go back to the seminary is by having her meet him at a store that sells items for priests. She makes the mistake of telling Umberto she once fell in love with a  man in uniform and it was only his uniform she loved. The grandmother comes over again and tells Mara that her grandson now wants to go join the foreign legion. With some help from Augusto, Mara talks Umberto into going back to the seminary. Once back in her apartment, Mara does a little strip tease for Augusto that is quite sexy and also hilarious.

            Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow was alright. I do mind foreign films in the slightest but I started to get very bored with the whole thing and having to read the subtitles to understand some of what was happening got really tedious after a while. I thought the film was a little too long. The first story is too long and the third was not that long but it still felt like it was dragging. The only perfectly times story was the second one and it was not the best out them. Sophie Loren and Marcello Mastroianni’s pairing was fantastic. I have seen them in another film together and I really liked them as a pair. In Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow their chemistry is beyond brilliant because there was not a second where I thought they were not in love or had some kind of passion or love or lust for each other. I completely believed them as a loving lusty young couple with seven kids. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow is not terrible but I would only recommend watching it if you either really love foreign films or if you are a big Sophia Loren fan.

 

A Countess From Hong Kong (1967)

A Countess from Hong Kong is not a typical Charlie Chaplin film. It is silly with some dramatic moments but the story is not balanced like his earlier films such as The Kid and The Great Dictator were. Also unlike his other films Charlie Chaplin is not the main character and he greatly miscast Marlon Brando in the lead.

            Ogden Mears (Brando) is on a cruise that stops in Hong Kong. He does not want to go on the mainland but an older gentleman he knows through his father comes abroad with three young women who were once real countesses. One of the women is Natascha (Sophie Loren) is a White Russian who has lived in Hong Kong all her life. Odgen and Natascha get along very nicely.

            The following day Ogden gets up with a bad hangover and several numbers in lipstick written on his shirt. He goes to the closet to get a robe out, hears a small yell and closes the door apologizing. He opens it again to see Natascha who he cannot remember at all for a few minutes. She tells him she has stowed away to go to America. Ogden is not happy at all about this especially because he could get into so much trouble and she does not have her papers.

            Throughout the trip Natascha drives Ogden crazy about everything from clothes to where she will sleep. Eventually Harvey, Ogden’s friend, finds Natascha in bathroom when he goes to get a towel. He thinks all she wants is Ogden’s money and that he should get rid of her in Tokyo. They talk to Natascha she says she does not want money she just wants to go to America. As they are speaking to each other Harvey is smoking a cigar and the stink along with the rough waves begins to get to them all and they all get sick.

            A few days later Ogden says he was sick with Malaria and Natascha helped him to get better. He is beginning to have a soft spot for the stowaway. That night there is a dance and Natascha is left alone. Ogden is not having a good time dancing with all the annoying young girls. Harvey goes down to check on Natascha when an electrician comes in by an extra key. Harvey thinks it is better to have her come up to the dance than to be caught in the room. At the dance people think she is the lady who has been sick since the boat left Hong Kong. Natascha runs into a man knew she knew in Hong Kong. He will not leave her alone so Ogden and Harvey come up with a plan to get her away from him and it works the guy cannot find her at all.

            While sitting out on the deck Harvey hears over the radio that Martha (Tippi Hedren), Ogden’s wife, will be coming aboard that night. They need to make it look like Natascha has nothing to do with Ogden and they have to eventually get her onto American soil. Ogden has his servant Hudson marry her to make her an American citizen. They make it seem as if her papers were blown overboard. Hudson is hilariously excited and Natascha thinks the man is insane.

            The next day Natascha decides to jump off the ship when it docks in Hawaii since the captain of the ship has told her the marriage may not be legal. She tells Harvey to meet her at Waikiki beach the following day. Martha, Ogden, and Harvey go on land. Martha tells Harvey she knows that Natascha is not Hudson’s wife or his that she is a prostitute from Hong Kong.

            Luckily the papers go through and Natascha can get a passport and papers to go to the mainland. She is heartbroken that Ogden has left for the mainland. Ogden calls Harvey to tell him that he did not leave with the ship he has stayed behind to see Natascha.

            The ending is very typical Charlie Chaplin with the happy couple dancing and not saying a word.

            Marlon Brando was horribly miscast as Ogden. But there are times where I could not believe he was actually good in a comedic scene. The scene after Ogden finds Natascha in the closet is the funniest of film. The two of them run around and bang into things as she tries to hide in the bathroom or the next room. I am not used to seeing Brando act funny this was something different and I liked him in the scene very much. Brando and Chaplin did not get along during the making of the film. You can see that Brando was doing his job and that is it he seemed like he was not trying. Sophie Loren was fabulous as Natascha I liked her so much. She was hysterical she definitely carried the comedy. Loren looked stunning from beginning to end even in oversized pajamas and clothes. Tippi Hedren is in the film for the last five minutes. I will say this about the woman she was very pretty but good lord she could not act to save her life! Chaplin’s son Sydney played Harvey. He was not a bad actor at all he was very good. There are some scene where you can tell he is Chaplin’s son they had the same eyes and cheeks. And he also included his daughter Geraldine Chaplin. She dances with Brando. 

            This was Charlie Chaplin’s last film he made. He wrote and directed it and even had a small cameo as a porter. Unfortunately the film did not do well which is sad considering the long and successful career he had. Chaplin had actually come up with the story in the 1930s as a film called “Stowaway” for his then wife Paulette Goddard. I can absolutely see Paulette Goddard in the role of Natascha especially in the scenes where she has to run to hide and where Ogden chases Natascha around to try to get rid of her. Chaplin I can see him having played Hudson. The night he marries Natascha Hudson goes crazy with excitement and she just stares in stunned silence at him (Sophie Loren’s face is hilarious). I can just picture Chaplin going through all his wacky body movement and his devilish smile and as he flips blankets all over the place. As I mentioned at the beginning the story has a mix of comedy and drama but it is not balanced like Chaplin’s earlier films. I do not know why it did not work maybe it was the cast or maybe it was Chaplin’s writing.

             A Countess from Hong Kong may not be Charlie Chaplin’s best film but it would be outrageously unfair to him to completely write the film off. It had a good story it was not offensive or mean and you can still tell it was Charlie Chaplin’s humor. You can definitely tell after reading that he wanted to make it in the 1930s it would have worked in that era a little better but it worked out perfectly that the subject of this former countess who turned into an escort was made at a later date even if would have been implied in the 1930s. A Countess from Hong Kong is enjoyable and I think should be given more of a chance. 

Ghosts Italian Style (1969)

For some time now I have been interested in seeing a Sophie Loren movie. I have been curious to see what the big deal is about her since she has been named one of AFI’s top twenty-five greatest actresses of all time. I personally believe Loren and a few other actresses are on the list because they are icons and known for their beauty not so much their acting skills. I will stop there because I have already written my opinion about AFI’s lists of actors and actresses. Anyway… I found Sophie Loren’s movie Ghosts- Italian Style on TCM and I decided to give it a try.

            Maria (Loren) and Pasquale have fallen on hard times. They went through some (unexplained) hard times and are left with barely any money. Pasquale was walking home when he bought a fortune that luck is starring him in the face if he looks. He turns around and finds he is standing in front of an old palace. A man named Raffael tells Pasqual that he can live in the palace and the owner will pay him to live in it and eventually sell it. Raffael also tells him that the ghost of the Duke who built the palace in the seventeenth century is said to haunt it.

            In the meantime Maria goes to an orphanage called Holy Souls in Purgatory looking for the president Alfredo. Maria has been seeing Alfredo because she feels Pasquale neglects her. Alfredo tells her he loves her and wants to take her away.

            Pasquale does not tell Maria that the place is haunted. Raffael tells Pasquale that he had someone dust the palace and ten minutes later is dusty again. He tells Pasquale more things how the ghost does not like to hear anyone complain and most importantly that things disappear and reappear all the time. A large closet comes in. When Pasquale is out of the room Alfredo comes out of the closet telling Maria he loves her and has all the money they could ever need to go away. Pasquale is coming back into the room and Alfredo goes back into the closet. The door slowly opens revealing Alfredo. Pasquale thinks Alfredo is a ghost and asks Maria if she sees anyone but trying to get out of the situation she says no and leaves the room. Alfredo walks out of the closet and his back with the money opens and money falls out. Pasquale sees this as a sign from God and takes the money.

            Pasquale uses the money to transform some their part of the palace into a boarding house. Raffael has rented the room upstairs to Alfredo. Pasquale thinks Alfredo walking around is the ghost. Pasquale thinking Alfredo is the duke goes to have a look around. Alfredo walks through a passage down to Maria. Pasquale writes on the fireplace that if the ghost does not give him a few thousand lire. Maria thinks that Pasquale knows about her and Alfredo and she gets really mad at him.

            Things begin to go a little crazy and I lost interest because it was getting a bit ridiculous. It gets to the point where it looks like Pasquale has killed Maria in a rage of jealousy when he finds out Maria has been cheating on him with Alfred. Seven months later after the trial and some jail time he goes back to palace. Surprisingly if you did not see it coming Maria comes out from the passage. They faked her death for some reason I did not catch. Maria and Pasquale make up very nicely. She tells him she is going to make him breakfast but she has to get some oil. Alfredo has made a shrine to her down in the sewers where her body was apparently dumped and he has an internal flame. He notices some stole the olive oil in the lamp the day before. Maria was the one who took the oil and she is seen by Alfredo. Alfredo thinks she is an angel and she plays along. She has him give her money. The money allows her and Pasquale to leave the country. They find work in an old castle in Scotland where they have a real life ghost encounter.

            Ghost- Italian Style was silly and after a while it got to be too much. The last ten minutes I found to be the funniest when Alfredo sees Maria and thinks she is a ghost and when Pasquale and Maria sees an actual ghost. Sophie Loren was not a completely terrible actress but she was not the best. She was absolutely beautiful. If TCM ever happens to air Ghosts- Italian Style give it a try because it was a good story.