Marriage Italian Style – Cult Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1964
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Writers: Renato Castellani, Tonino Guerra, Leonardo Benvenuti, Piero De Bernardi
Cast: Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Aldo Puglisi, Tecla Scarano, Marilù Tolo, Gianni Ridolfi, Generoso Cortini, Vito Moricone, Rita Piccione

Release Date: July 10th, 2017
Approximate running time: 101 Minutes 48 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: 12 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono Italian, LPCM Mono English
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region B
Retail Price: £12.50 (UK)

"Filumena is the lifetime mistress of a wealthy playboy who is planning to leave her and marry another woman.  She will do anything in her power to stop this and marry her instead, including revealing that she’s had three children that she kept hidden from him and one of them is his.  But which one?" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 3.75/5

Marriage Italian Style comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 44.3 GB

Feature: 23.3 GB

No information is provided about the source. That said, this transfer is slightly windowboxed, just like Kino Lorber’s 2011 Blu-ray, which leads me to believe that they come from the same source. When it comes to source-related debris, it is very minor. Though colors and flesh generally look very good, there are moments where they fluctuate. Also, the image generally looks crisp, black levels fare well, and there are no compression-related issues. When compared to Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray’s transfer, though there are many areas where this transfer is comparable, I would still give a slight edge to Cult Films transfer.

Audio: 4.25/5 (LPCM Mono Italian, LPCM Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, an LPCM mono mix in Italian and an LPCM mono mix in English. Both audio tracks are in very good shape; there are no issues with distortion or background hiss. Dialog comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced. Range-wise, both of these tracks do a good job when it comes to ambient sounds and the score. Also, the differences between these two tracks are minimal. Included are removable English subtitles for the Italian-language track.

Extras:

Extras for this release include reversible cover art, a documentary titled Sophia Loren: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (54 minutes 3 seconds, LPCM stereo Italian and English with removable English subtitles), and a documentary about Vittorio De Sica titled Vittorio D (95 minutes 16 seconds, LPCM stereo Italian and English with removable English subtitles).

Other extras include trailers for Django, Keoma, A Bullet for the General, Salon Kitty, Suspiria, La Dolce Vita, 8 ½, Sunflower, Battle of Algiers, Umberto D. and Massacre in Rome.

Summary:

Directed by Vittorio De Sica, a versatile Italian filmmaker who is most known for his neorealist films like The Bicycle Thief and Umberto D. The screenplay for Marriage Italian Style was adapted from a play that was written by Eduardo De Filippo, who also directed his own version in 1951 under the title Filumena Marturano.

After learning that the man to whom she has devoted the last twenty years of her life is planning on leaving her and marrying another woman, The mistress of a wealthy playboy concocts a plot that will finally force him to marry her. Unfortunately, he quickly gets wise to her scheme and throws her out on the street. Not willing to give up just yet, she reveals that she has had a total of three children over the time that they were together. And to further complicate the situation, only one of these three children is his, but which one?

Marriage Italian Style, Vittorio De Sica would re-team actors Marcello Mastroianni (8 1/2) and Sophia Loren (Two Women) after working with them a year before on Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (winner of the 1965 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film). In all, he would work with Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren a total of three times: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Marriage Italian Style, and Sunflower.

Troubled love affairs have been the basis for countless films throughout history. And yet few, if any, come close to capturing the highs and lows of a relationship like Marriage Italian Style does. The narrative is told primarily via flashbacks that do a superb job setting up and explaining who everyone is and what their motivations are. Another one of Marriage Italian Style’s strengths is how the narrative leads you in one direction and then takes an abrupt turn that leads the viewer down another path. It is also these plots' twists that offer up some of Marriage Italian Style’s most sublime comedic moments. With Marriage Italian Style, the greatest revelation is, of course, saved for its finale.

Though the evolution of its two main characters relationships is perfectly laid out, one must not overlook or underestimate the contributions of the two lead actors, Marcello Mastroianni in the role of a womanizer named Domenico Soriano and Sophia Loren in the role of a former prostitute named Filumena Marturano, who has been pining for Domenico’s wife for twenty years. The slight edge goes to Sophia Loren, who often, in Marriage Italian Style, transcends the sexual persona that she is most known for portraying. This is not to say that marriage Italian style does not play up her more than ample assets. They are just used in moderation. Her most compelling moments are the scenes in which her characters more maternal instincts are explored. On the flip side, Marcello Mastroianni’s performance offers up the majority of this film's strongest comedic moments. Just take a look at his character's facial expressions every time Filumena, his mistress, tricks him into doing something he clearly does not want to be a part of.

A few of the more memorable moments include the scene where Domenico Soriano and Filumena Marturano meet for the first time during an air raid at a whore house. Other standout moments include a scene where Filumena Marturano struts down the street in a brand new dress and the scene in which Domenico Soriano learns that he has been duped into marrying Filumena Marturano, whom he thought was dead in bed. Ultimately, Marriage Italian Style is a satisfying mix of melodrama and humor.

Marriage Italian Style gets a first-rate release from Cult Films that comes with a strong audio/video presentation and two excellent documentaries, recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer