Frenesia dell’estate (Verrückter Sommer)

The summer beach of Viareggio in Tuscany's Versilia is the setting for five holiday storylines that capture the customs and conventions of the early 1960s in a satirical fresco. This cheerful morality play is carried by a reliable ensemble of actors. The ‘beau’ of Italian cinema, Amedeo Nazzari, demonstrates admirable self-irony as an ageing aristocratic dresser who simply cannot do without fame and youth; Vittorio Gassmann as a sexually confused eccentric gives an amusing performance, but the wonderful Michèle Mercier as a transvestite and Philippe Leroy, who delivers the best jokes, also stand out. For this film, which is partly in Tuscan dialect (the Tuscan-by-choice Monicelli is among the screenwriters), Zampa sets aside his socially critical ambitions, with amusing results. (Alessandra Thiele)

Photo: Austrian Film Museum