Elisa Cegani

Altri tempi

The mood is set with the opening with excerpts from the Excelsior Ball, a famous ballet at the turn of the century that heralded the advances of the upcoming century, for a book-dealer to introduce the various stories in this compilation film. The first story chosen is (English titles)"Less Than a Day," a comedy of would-be lovers meeting in a country-side rendezvous; ""A Question of Property" is a story of two men who fight over the ownership of a load of manure; "The Idyll" is the story of a well-to-do young boy who has a crush on the girl next door, and he has been told by his mother that babies are born when two people kiss. After the fact, though; a selection of popular songs serves as an intermission before the next story, "The Vise," where a woman has committed adultery with her husband's best friend, and the merciless husband knows about it; the last episode revolves around the farcical trial of a woman for murdering her mother-in-law. It's funny how Italian cinema has a tradition in episode films, either by different directors or with the same director, as is the case. Altri tempi is a costumbrista proposal that brings together various stories, some of them by prestigious authors, with the common thread of an old bookseller played by Aldo Fabrizi. Episode movies usually have the problem of the difference of interest between one and the other, to which it must be added that the link of the past time that backbones the story seems too weak to me. However, there are very funny shorts, others endearing, that may interest film "archaeologists". Altri tempi is not a film that allows us to evaluate the Italian cinema of its time, surely more defined by post-war neorealism, but it helps us to realize that in any cinematography there is more cinema than what we take for representative and that we it can help you have a more complete view of the moment.