''I magliari'' (internationally released as ''The Magliari'') is a

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

Italian

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film directed by

Francesco Rosi Francesco Rosi (; 15 November 1922 – 10 January 2015) was an Italian film director. His film ''The Mattei Affair'' won the Palme d'Or at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival. Rosi's films, especially those of the 1960s and 1970s, often appeared to ha ...

. The film won the

silver ribbon The Nastro d'Argento, also known by its translated name Silver Ribbon, is an Italian film award awarded each year since 1946 by the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists (Italian: ''Sindacato Nazionale Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani ...

for best cinematography. In 2008 it was selected to enter the list of the

100 Italian films to be saved The list of the ''100 Italian films to be saved'' ( it, 100 film italiani da salvare) was created with the aim to report "100 films that have changed the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978". History The project was established ...

Plot summary

Totonno is the leader of a gang of Italian workers who for years have been in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. The group picks up rags and second hand cloths, marketing them to customers for sheer fabric with which to sew clothes. The work is dishonest. Mario is a fellow Italian in Germany to work as a miner but decides to return to Italy after losing his job. Totonno steals his passport to avoid the police and then offers Mario a job as “magliaro” (cloth seller). Mario decides to stay. Totonno and his gang are exposed and decide to relocate to Hamburg. They encounters a band of Pole, who're doing the same dirty work. Mario begins an affair with Paula, the wife of a wealthy man.

Cast

* Alberto Sordi: Ferdinando Magliulo, detto Totonno * Belinda Lee: Paula Mayer * Renato Salvatori: Mario Balducci *

Nino Vingelli Nino Vingelli (4 June 1912 – 26 March 2003) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1941 and 2000. Selected filmography * ''I mariti (Tempesta d'anime)'' (1941) * '' The Betrothed'' (1941) - (uncredited) * '' ...

: Vincenzo *

Aldo Giuffrè Aldo Giuffrè (10 April 1924 – 26 June 2010) was an Italian film actor and comedian who appeared in over 90 films between 1948 and 2001. He was born in Naples and was the brother of actor Carlo Giuffrè. He is known for his roles in '' The F ...

: Armando * Aldo Bufi Landi: Rodolfo Valentino * Josef Dahmen: Mr. Mayer

Production

Filming took place in Hamburg, Germany in April–May 1959. It was one of a series of sexually aggressive roles Lee played in Europe.

Awards

It won best black and white photography at the Italian Film Critics Award.

Reception

''Senses of Cinema'' wrote "Unfairly neglected by critics and historians, the film is usually regarded a prelude to the Neapolitan director's ambitious, labyrinthine chronicles of power and corruption of the 1960s and 70s."

References

External links

* * *
Magliari
at Letterbox 1959 films Films directed by Francesco Rosi Italian drama films Films set in Hamburg Films set in West Germany Social realism in film Films about immigration to Germany 1950s Italian films {{1950s-Italy-film-stub