''Doctor and the Healer'' ( it, Il medico e lo stregone) is a 1957 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
Mario Monicelli.
Plot
The young Dr. Marchetti relocates to a small mountain village in rural southern Italy. He quickly runs into trouble with ''
Don
Don, don or DON and variants may refer to:
Places
*County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON
*Don (river), a river in European Russia
*Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name
*Don, Benin, a town in Benin
*Don, Dang, a vill ...
'' Antonio Locoratolo, the local
quack who prescribes dubious cures and potions to the naïve and superstitious populace. ''Don'' Antonio knows that his methods are fraudulent and sees Dr. Marchetti as a threat to his livelihood. ''Don'' Antonio convinces the local populace not to get vaccinated against typhoid fever. To convince the population of their continued need for him, ''Don'' Antonio arranges for an old man in the village to feign sick for several days and not improve under Dr. Marchetti's treatment, but who is miraculously "cured" during a visit by ''Don'' Antonio. Meanwhile, Pasqua, Dr. Marchetti's young assistant, has fallen in love with him, even though he does not notice her. She is given a love potion by ''Don'' Antonio's assistant, Scaraffone, but it only causes Dr. Marchetti stomach pains; Dr. Marchetti thinks ''Don'' Antonio has tried to poison him.
The mayor's sister, Mafalda, is pining after her fiancé, Corrado, who was last heard from 15 years ago, and is presumed to have been lost fighting in Russia on the
Eastern Front. For years, ''Don'' Antonio has been using fraudulent
fortune-telling
Fortune telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115-116. The scope of fortune telling is in principle identical wi ...
techniques to tell her that Corrado is still alive, as she pays well for each session, even though he desires her for himself. She puts an advertisement in the paper to see if anybody has heard from or seen her fiancé. When ''Don'' Antonio tells Mafalda that her beloved Corrado is dead, she denounces him to the police as a fraud. The following day, she receives a telegram stating that Corrado is alive and will meet her at the train station. The reunion is not a happy one: Corrado is confused about details of his life, telling her he was captured "by bedouins". He says has been living 40 km away, unhappily married, and asks her for money. She gives him money and tells him to leave, and he boards the next train.
Meanwhile, Dr. Marchetti goes to the police to seek justice over the supposed "poisoning" and Mafalda's denouncement of ''Don'' Antonio, but the charges do not stick.
''Don'' Antonio's niece Rosina is in love with a soldier from a poor family. Furious, he locks her in and forbids her from continuing the relationship. Despondent, she takes an overdose of
barbiturates, forcing Don Antonio to publicly seek the doctor's help to save his niece's life. The movie ends with Dr. Marchetti administering
typhoid vaccine
Typhoid vaccines are vaccines that prevent typhoid fever. Several types are widely available: typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV), Ty21a (a live oral vaccine) and Vi capsular polysaccharide vaccine (ViPS) (an injectable subunit vaccine). They are ab ...
s to the local populace, while ''Don'' Antonio leaves on a train.
Cast
*
Vittorio De Sica
Vittorio De Sica ( , ; 7 July 1901 – 13 November 1974) was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement.
Four of the films he directed won Academy Awards: ''Sciuscià'' and ''Bicycle Thieves'' (honorary) ...
- Antonio Locoratolo
*
Marcello Mastroianni - Dr. Francesco Marchetti
*
Marisa Merlini - Mafalda
*
Lorella De Luca - Clamide
*
Gabriella Pallotta
Gabriella Pallotta (born 6 October 1938) is an Italian film actress. She appeared in 22 films between 1956 and 1974. For the film ''The Pigeon That Took Rome
''The Pigeon That Took Rome'' is a 1962 American comedy war film directed and written ...
- Pasqua
*
Alberto Sordi
Alberto Sordi (15 June 1920 – 24 February 2003) was an Italian actor, voice actor, singer, comedian, director and screenwriter.
Early life
Born in Rome to a schoolteacher and a musician and the last of five children, Sordi was named in hon ...
- Corrado
*
Virgilio Riento
Virgilio Riento (29 November 1889 – 7 September 1959) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 108 films between 1936 and 1959.
Selected filmography
* ''Sette giorni all'altro mondo'' (1936) - Man on train
* '' Il signor Max'' (1937) - ...
- Umberto
*
Carlo Taranto
Carlo Taranto (18 October 1921 – 4 April 1986) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 50 films between 1949 and 1984.
Partial filmography
* ''The Firemen of Viggiù'' (1949)
* ''Assi alla ribalta'' (1954)
* ''Wives and Obscurities'' ( ...
- Scaraffone
*
Ilaria Occhini - Rosina
*
Riccardo Garrone - Sergeant
*
Giorgio Cerioni - Galeazzo Pesenti
*
Gino Buzzanca
Gino Buzzanca (8 March 1912 – 5 May 1985) was an Italian film actor.
Life and career
Born in Messina, Buzzanca began his career on stage, specializing as an actor of the Sicilian language theater, and starring in works by Luigi Pirande ...
- Il sindaco di Pianetta
References
External links
*
''Doctor and the Healer''at
Variety Distribution
Variety Distribution is an Italian-based film distribution company.
It distributes Italian films worldwide, produced from the 1930s onward.
History
Variety Distribution (formerly Variety Film and Variety Communications) has been in the film p ...
1957 films
Films scored by Nino Rota
1950s Italian-language films
1957 comedy films
Italian black-and-white films
Films directed by Mario Monicelli
Medical-themed films
Films with screenplays by Age & Scarpelli
Italian comedy films
1950s Italian films
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