''Giacomo Casanova: Childhood and Adolescence'' ( it, Infanzia, vocazione e prime esperienze di Giacomo Casanova, veneziano, lit=Childhood, Vocation, and First Experience of Giacomo Casanova, Venetian), internationally released as ''Casanova: His Youthful Years'', is a 1969 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
Luigi Comencini. It tells the youth of
Giacomo Casanova, who, after an unhappy childhood and early ecclesiastical activity in Venice, became an abbot and abandoned his vocation for the love of a countess. Despite the plot, more than a portrait of Casanova, the film is more of a vivid fresco of the Venetian society of the time.
Plot
In 1742 in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
, the young
Giacomo Casanova is in a great trouble. A few years previously, in the seminary in
Padua
Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...
, Giacomo had experienced his first love, though he was destined to be a priest. While Giacomo now follows the seminary, the young noble is to sneak into a palace of beautiful girls and spend the night. One day, Giacomo falls in love with a beautiful countess, so he decides to abandon his studies to become a priest for being a daring libertine.
Cast
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Leonard Whiting: Giacomo Casanova
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Maria Grazia Buccella
Maria Grazia Buccella (born August 15, 1940) is an Italian glamour model and film actress, who was Miss Italy 1959.
Career
Buccella won the Miss Trento, Miss Venice, and Miss Italy beauty pageants, and placed third in the Miss Europe 1959 comp ...
: Zanetta
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Lionel Stander: Don Tosello
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Raoul Grassilli
Raoul Grassilli (25 October 1924 – 24 July 2010) was an Italians, Italian actor.
Born in Bologna, Grassilli graduated from the Silvio d’Amico Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1948, and started his career on stage with Ruggero Ruggeri. Active am ...
: Don Gozzi
*
Wilfrid Brambell: Malipiero
*
Tina Aumont
Maria Christina "Tina" Aumont (February 14, 1946 – October 28, 2006) was an American actress. She was the daughter of French actor Jean-Pierre Aumont and Dominican actress Maria Montez. She made her acting debut in the British film ''Modesty Bl ...
: Marcella
*
Mario Scaccia
Mario Scaccia (26 December 1919 – 26 January 2011) was an Italian actor and author. He was a prominent figure in the Italian theatre of '900.
Biography
Born in Rome, the son of a painter, during the Second World War Scaccia was conscripted i ...
: Dottor Zambelli
*
Silvia Dionisio
Silvia Dionisio (born 28 September 1951) is an Italian actress who appeared in several movies in the 1970s.
Born in Rome, Dionisio made her debut in the world of cinema when she was only 14 years old in the movie ''Darling''. Her career followe ...
: Mariolina
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Senta Berger: Giulietta Cavamacchia
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Cristina Comencini: Angela Rosalba Mocenigo
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Clara Colosimo
Clara Colosimo (23 May 1922 – 15 June 1994) was an Italian film actress. She appeared in 65 films between 1968 and 1991.
Selected filmography
* ''Alfredo, Alfredo'' (1972)
* '' Sex Pot'' (1975)
* '' Il mostro'' (1977)
* '' Zanna Bianca e ...
: Giacomo Casanova's Grandma
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Ennio Balbo: Mocenigo
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Evi Maltagliati: Contessa Serpieri
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Jacques Herlin: Monsieur Alexandre
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Umberto Raho
Umberto Raho (4 June 1922 – 9 January 2016) was an Italian stage, film and television actor.
Life and career
Born in Bari, the son of an Italian father and a Bulgarian mother, Raho graduated in philosophy and then, immediately after the war, ...
: Il vescovo
*
Linda Sini: Mother Teresa
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Gino Santercole: Baffo
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Gigi Reder: Salvatore
References
External links
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1969 films
Commedia all'italiana
Films directed by Luigi Comencini
Italian comedy films
Films set in Venice
Films about Giacomo Casanova
Films set in the 18th century
Cultural depictions of Giacomo Casanova
Italian biographical films
Films with screenplays by Suso Cecchi d'Amico
1969 comedy films
Films scored by Fiorenzo Carpi
1960s Italian films
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