''47 morto che parla'' is a 1950 Italian

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia (8 July 1894 – 4 January 1998) was an Italian film director whose career spanned from the 1930s to the mid-1960s. He mainly directed adventure pictures and popular comedies, including some starring Totò. His 1942 f ...

. The film stars

Totò Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi de Curtis di Bisanzio (15 February 1898 – 15 April 1967), best known by his stage name Totò (), or simply as Antonio de Curtis, and nicknamed ''il Principe della risata ...

and

Silvana Pampanini Silvana Pampanini (25 September 1925 – 6 January 2016) was an Italian film actress, director and singer. She was also the niece of the well-known soprano of the golden era of opera, Dame Rosetta Pampanini. Silvana Pampanini caused a sensation ...

Plot

The story is set in a small town near

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

in early 1900. Baron Antonio Peletti is a stingy and cruel man who thinks only of spending the bare minimum needed for his son and future daughter-in-law, even though he lives in a luxurious house. The servant Contrado is forced to go hungry because of the miser. In fact, every time Antonio has to spend even a penny to buy something, he complains of unnecessary waste, exclaiming: "And I pay, and I pay!!" But one day his son wants to steal a box full of gold coins that Antonio hid under the bed, as a way of revenge. But in order to steal the gold, the son needs the complicity of all higher institutions in the city, including the mayor, one of the most bitter enemies of Antonio. The mayor wants to build a primary school for the children of the village, but the cruel Antonio prevents the funding because he does not want to throw out a penny! So the pharmacist gives Antonio a sleeping pill and deceives him into believing that he drank poison accidentally. Antonio wakes and believes he is in Hell, where he sees the really desolate condition of the villagers. Then the Baron meets a soul who persuades him to donate money to the mayor's box to set up the school. Only then will Antonio be redeemed from his sins in the past and go to Purgatory. However, during this operation something goes wrong and Antonio realizes the trap of the villagers. The son, in order not to lose money, steals the box of gold and runs away in a balloon with his girlfriend, but Antonio catches up to him and the three hover in the air. But due to a failure of the balloon, they start to descend towards the sea and so must lighten it; Antonio is forced into tears and falls overboard with his heavy box full of gold coins. He is thought to have sunk somewhere near Sardinia, but at the end of the story, the Baron, coming back from the island on a donkey on the very day of inauguration, eventually understands his mistakes and decides to finance the project of founding the school.

Cast

as Il barone Antonio Peletti *

as Madame Bonbon, la canzonettista *

Carlo Croccolo Carlo Croccolo (9 April 1927 – 12 October 2019) was an Italian actor, voice actor, director and screenwriter. Biography Born in Naples, Croccolo began his acting career on the radio and he appeared in more than 100 films since 1949. His debut ...

as Gontrano *

Adriana Benetti Adriana Benetti (12 December 1919 – 24 February 2016) was an Italian actress. Biography Born in Quacchio, a town east of Ferrara, Benetti graduated from the Istituto Magistrale and then landed in Rome, where she was accepted at the Centro Sp ...

as Rosetta *

Dante Maggio Dante Maggio (2 March 1909 – 3 March 1992) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 115 films between 1940 and 1975. Born in Naples into a family of actors, Maggio had a turbulent adolescence that led his father to send him in an institu ...

as Dante Cartoni, il partner della canzonettista *

Tina Lattanzi Tina Lattanzi (born Annunziata Concetta Costantini; 5 December 1897 – 25 October 1997) was an Italian actress and voice actress. Biography A native of Licenza and the daughter of Ercole Costantini and Geltrude Montori, Lattanzi began her actin ...

as La moglie dei sindaco *

Aldo Bufi Landi Aldo Bufi Landi (7 April 1923 – 2 February 2016) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1947 and 2013. Selected filmography * '' Malaspina'' (1947) * '' Madunnella'' (1948) * '' Assunta Spina'' (1948) * ''L ...

as Gastone *

Eduardo Passarelli Eduardo Passarelli (20 July 1903 – 9 December 1968) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 43 films between 1937 and 1962. Filmography References External links * 1903 births 1968 deaths Italian male film actors 20th-centur ...

as Il farmacista *

Arturo Bragaglia Arturo Bragaglia (7 January 1893 – 21 January 1962) was an Italian actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films from 1938 to 1961. Selected filmography References External links * 1893 births 1962 deaths Italian male f ...

as Il sindaco *

Mario Castellani Mario Castellani (24 November 190625 April 1978) was an Italian comic actor, best known as the sidekick of famous comic actor Antonio De Curtis (Totò). He appeared with the latter in all his major movies, as well as many of Totò's theatre pro ...

as Il colonnello Bertrand de Tassigny *

Gildo Bocci Gildo Bocci (1 September 1886 – 22 July 1964) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 60 films between 1913 and 1959. He was born and died in Rome, Italy. Partial filmography * ''Messalina'' (1924) - Apollonio * ''Quo Vadis'' (1924) - ...

as Il macellaio * as Il dottore *

Gigi Reder Gigi Reder (born Luigi Schroeder; 25 March 1928 – 8 October 1998) was an Italian actor and voice actor. He was best known for the role of Filini in the ''Fantozzi'' film series. Biography Born in Naples in to a German father and a Neapolita ...

Spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...

's Usher

External links

* {{Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia 1950 films 1950s Italian-language films Italian black-and-white films 1950 comedy films Films directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia Films set in Campania Films with screenplays by Age & Scarpelli Italian comedy films 1950s Italian films