1960 · Paris
by Antonio Pietrangeli (director, screenwriter); Ruggero Maccari, Ettore Scola, Tullio Pinelli (screenwriters); Vittorugo Contino (photographer); Simone Signoret, Sandra Milo, Emmanuelle Riva, Gina Rovere (starring)
Paris: Zebra Films / Cineriz, 1960. Original oversize program for the 1960 Italian, here under the original title. Illustrated in red, with black-and-white stills from the film. Starring actress Signoret is prominently featured, looking pensive or embracing costar Mastroianni, and in stunning group images with her female costars. Also included is an original press packet, detailing film credits, a synopsis, and brief star biographies.
Based on an original screenplay, about the 1958 Merlin Law making brothels illegal in Italy. Adua (Signoret) and her three friends are prostitutes whose brothel in Rome is shut down. Adua convinces them to pool their savings to open a restaurant to generate a living, instead of returning to prostitution. Their permit is rejected because of their lurid history, but a former client agrees to buy the building and hire them to run a brothel fronting as a restaurant, charging them rent. The restaurant is ironically successful and Adua even romances Piero (Mastroianni), but her landlord's excessive rent finally vanquishes her hopes for a brighter future. She holds her ground against the man, but no moral deed is without consequences in the underworld, and she is last seen as her destitute former self.
Petrangeli also directed "She Wolf" (1953), Visconti's "Ossessione" (1943, assistant director and screenwriter), and Rossellini's "Europe '51" (1952, second assistant director); he was a prolific filmmaker in the Commedia all'italiana, and died while shooting his last film, "How, When and with Whom" (1969).
Program 12.5 x 13.5 inches, saddle-stapled, 4 card stock leaves. Very Good, with a heavy vertical crease and foxing. Press packet mimeograph on white stock, corner-stapled, 7 leaves, Very Good plus. (Inventory #: 144085)
Based on an original screenplay, about the 1958 Merlin Law making brothels illegal in Italy. Adua (Signoret) and her three friends are prostitutes whose brothel in Rome is shut down. Adua convinces them to pool their savings to open a restaurant to generate a living, instead of returning to prostitution. Their permit is rejected because of their lurid history, but a former client agrees to buy the building and hire them to run a brothel fronting as a restaurant, charging them rent. The restaurant is ironically successful and Adua even romances Piero (Mastroianni), but her landlord's excessive rent finally vanquishes her hopes for a brighter future. She holds her ground against the man, but no moral deed is without consequences in the underworld, and she is last seen as her destitute former self.
Petrangeli also directed "She Wolf" (1953), Visconti's "Ossessione" (1943, assistant director and screenwriter), and Rossellini's "Europe '51" (1952, second assistant director); he was a prolific filmmaker in the Commedia all'italiana, and died while shooting his last film, "How, When and with Whom" (1969).
Program 12.5 x 13.5 inches, saddle-stapled, 4 card stock leaves. Very Good, with a heavy vertical crease and foxing. Press packet mimeograph on white stock, corner-stapled, 7 leaves, Very Good plus. (Inventory #: 144085)