Word: italian
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Italian troops, Monty wrote, were "unreliable when it came to hard fighting"; they "surrendered in droves, headed by the generals carrying their suitcases." Of Italy's midwar switch from the Axis to the Allies: "This looked like the biggest double-cross in history." Italian morale, Monty added, was very low, and "that army would not face up to the Germans...
...Rude," "uncharitable," "vulgar," cried Italian editorialists. Four Italian war veterans' associations demanded government "action" against Monty. Vicenzo Caputo, president of the Italian Nationalist Association, vainly challenged Monty to a duel, and an old-line monarchist demanded that the duffle coats known in Italy as "Montgomerys" be banned. One Italian newspaper recalled Ernest Hemingway's definition of a really dry martini-15 to 1 -called a Montgomery because those were the battle odds Monty demanded...
...Smith--for President. When the primary came around the next May, Curley convinced Roosevelt to enter. Since Smith's entries were all veteran politicians, Curley hit upon the idea of outdrawing them by appealing to all minority groups. So the Curley-Roosevelt slate included a Frenchman, an Italian, a Pole, a Negro, the President of the Massachusetts State Branch of the AF of L, and a Harvard professor. (In a later campaign he was to vary this approach by spreading it about that his Yankee opponent was in fact a Communist, and the Italian a Negro...
...farce, the actors are at their funniest when they parody their own box-office personalities. Bogart attempts a dashing and impossible escape from the Arabs, and his nonsense bravado is great. Lorre, playing a dubious character named Julius O'Hara, intrigues around wonderfully. Lollobrigida is a moody and bosomy Italian who faints often. Robert Morley and the other two con men are in the style of henchmen in The Ladykillers...
Huston's direction is real artistry. The Italian scenes were all shot in that vibrant natural light Huston manages to record. Every shot is composed with the care and sense of proportion found in a good salon still. The film as a whole is a good-natured and beautifully turned-out joke, a string of very funny, often non-sequitur, sequences...