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 YESTERDAY,
TODAY AND TOMORROW (No
Shame Films) Comedy. 1963. 119 Minutes Not Rated.
Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni star in three vignettes that
show love and laughter from a time gone by.
Of the three vignettes, the first one
‘Adelina’ is my favorite. Sophia
plays the gorgeous Adelina of Naples.
A wife, mother and chief bread winner of her family.
She sells black market cigarettes a crime punishable by prison.
Unless, you are pregnant. The
hilarity of the local constables trying to arrest her only to discover
that she is, yet again, pregnant is wonderful.
Mastroianni as her exhausted lover is magnificent.
Director Vittorio De Sica even addresses the question of what is
more important: to be pregnant regardless of whom the father is and
provide for her family, or to be true to her husband and finally face the
consequences? In a film of
such exceptional talents this is the segment that is dear to my heart and
worth the price of the disc.
Mara, the second and flattest of the trio, deals
with a woman who realizes that it is material possessions, not love that
is most important in her life. A
lot of it comes across as a commercial for Rolls Royce and neither of the
main characters seem very fleshed out.
The finale of the piece, Mara, is the most famous
of the three. Sophia Loren as
the overpriced prostitute and Marcello as the man who can’t stay away
from her. Her famous
striptease in this vignette was recreated decades later by Robert Altman
in Ready to Wear.
The picture quality of this disc, remastered from
the original two part, 35mm negative is breathtaking.
The shots are gorgeous and this is the best the film has ever
looked. The extras are a
little skimpy with a still gallery and the original theatrical trailer.
There is a beautiful booklet that recreates the original Japanese
press book as well as giving bios for the two main stars and the director
and reproductions of French lobby cards.
Winner of the 1964 Oscar for Best Foreign Film. Any Sophia Loren
fan will need this flick as well as any Mastroianni fan or fan of director
DeSica. Once again No Shame
Films gives quality that is beyond our wildest expectations. - Douglas A.
Waltz
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