Divorce, Italian Style
hat’s a poor Baron to do? gelic. Add to that a cast of great Ital - 1948 and thus began one of the He’s in love with his six - ian character actors, a brilliant longest and most fruitful direc - Wteen-year-old cousin. He’s screenplay (which won the Acad - tor/composer collaborations ever, married to a clingy and not so at - emy Award) and you have the with Rustichelli composing scores tractive woman with a little mous - recipe for Comedy, Italian Style, one for all but the first of Germi’s films – tache. The laws in Italy in the early that is as funny and sharp today as eighteen in total. He also worked 1960s do not allow divorce. But they it was then. No one was really ex - with other directors such as Billy don’t look too harshly on murder, if pecting a hilarious comedy from Wilder, Mario Bava, Gillo Pon - the murder is for family honor – for Germi, who’d started directing films tecorvo, Luigi Comencini, and pro - example, catching your wife with in the late 1940s with neorealist dra - vided scores for countless sword another lover. That is the germ of mas and, just before Divorce , two and sandal films, spaghetti west - Pietro Germi’s brilliant 1962 dark well thought of serious films, The erns, crime films, and just about comedy, Divorce, Italian Style (Di - Railroad Man and The Facts of every genre imaginable. He was a vorzio, all’Italiana) . In the sweltering Murder. But the film was a sensa - superb melodist, and Divorce, Ital - heat of Agramonte, Sicily, Baron Fer - tion and audiences all over the ian Style is rife with great themes, dinando “Fefe” Cefalu (Marcello world were entranced. It was hugely which all serve the film perfectly. Mastroianni) begins to fantasize dif - influential and ushered in a whole Rustichelli died in 2004, having ferent scenarios that involve his wife era of Comedy, Italian Style, which composed well over 200 scores. Rosalia’s (Daniela Rocca) demise, included Germi’s own Seduced and while lusting after his cousin, the Abandoned, Marriage, Italian Style, Divorce, Italian Style was released beautiful Angela (Stefania San - Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow and on a United Artists LP. As was the drelli). When he reads a page of An - others. In addition to winning the case with several early 1960s UA gela’s diary, which says that she Academy Award for Best Screen - soundtrack albums, there were both feels as he does, they share a mo - play (Ennio de Concini, Alfred Gi - mono and stereo releases, but both ment of furtive passion. Then, when anetti, and Germi), Mastroianni were actually mono. For this pre - he reads about a trial for a crime of received a Best Actor nomination miere CD release the original mono passion, he gets the idea to catch and Germi a Best Director nomina - album masters were used. his wife with a former admirer, tion, which, considering the compe - Carmelo (the great Leopoldo Tri - tition in 1962, one of the greatest Additionally, we’re pleased to pres - este, star of Fellini’s The White years in film history, was really ent a suite of additional and alter - Sheik) , and begins to implement his something. nate cues that were not included on plan for his own crime of passion. Aiding and abetting the mischie - the LP. Mastroianni, with his slicked-back vous fun was the wonderful score hair, his moustache, his cigarette by Carlo Rustichelli. Rustichelli, Divorce, Italian Style is a one-of-a- holder, and his perpetually droop - born in 1916, had begun working in kind classic and so is its score by ing eyelids gives one of the great - film in 1939 and by 1962 had be - Carlo Rustichelli. est comedy performances in all of come a hugely popular composer cinema. Rocca is a wonderful foil, for Italian films. His first film for — Bruce Kimmel and Sandrelli is luminous and an - Pietro Germi was Lost Youth in