1° FESTIVAL INTERNAZIONALE CINEMA GIOVANI
Retrospettiva - Il cinema italiano che oggi ha vent'anni. Opere prime 1958-1967
Le pillole di Ercole
by Luciano Salce
Country: Italy
Year: 1960
Duration: 80'
Nino Pasqui, a young doctor who’s in love with his wife Silvia, takes part into a gerontology convention at a spa. In order to make fun of him, a few of his colleagues give him an aphrodisiac pill made by a Japanese drug company. Nino ends up in bed with a beautiful American girl, the one that he had previously pushed away. The woman’s husband finds out what happened and Nino, as an attempt to calm him down, is forced to promise him a date with Silvia, the same kind he had with the American woman. Thanks to the suggestion of a colleague, Nino finds a woman who offers to act like his wife, Odette. Everything gets worse when Silvia, who has noticed something weird in his husband’s behaviour, and an old cavalry officer, who claims to be Odette’s father, arrive.
But following the rules of the game, everything falls into place: the American man ends up with the false wife, Nino comes back to his familiar routine and the customers of the hotel have fun with the miracle “Ercole’s pills”.
Traduzione in inglese Francesca Sala – English translation Francesca Sala
Biography
film director
Luciano Salce
(Rome, Italy, 1922-1989) was a prolific interpreter of Italian-style comedies. An actor, director, and screenwriter, he began working as a stage actor in various traveling companies alongside important Italian actors such as Vittorio Gassman and Franca Valeri, and then debuted on the silver screen in 1953 in Uma Pulga na Balança,a Brazilian production. Starting in the 1960s, he made his most famous and successful movies, such as Il federale (The Fascist, 1961) and La voglia matta (Crazy Desire, 1962), which uses comedy to stigmatize the behavior – past and present – of Italians. His name is also linked with one of the most iconic actors in Italian cinema, Ugo Fantozzi, whose misadventures he recounted in the first movie of the saga, Fantozzi - White Collar Blues (1974), and in its sequel, The Second Tragic Fantozzi (1976).
FILMOGRAFIA
1953: Uma pulga na balança (produzione brasiliana); Floradas na serra (produzione brasiliana). 1960: Le pillole di Ercole. 1961: Il federale. 1962: La voglia matta; La cuccagna. 1963: Le ore dell'amore; Le monachine. 1964: La sospirosa (episodio di Alta infedeltà). 1965: Slalom; La moglie bionda (episodio di Oggi, domani, e dopodomani). 1966: El Greco; Fata Sabina (episodio di Le fate); Come imparai ad amare le donne. 1967: Ti ho sposato per allegria. 1968: La pecora nera. 1969: Colpo di stato; Il Prof. Dr. Guido Tersilli primario della clinica Villa Celeste convenzionata con le mutue. 1971: Basta guardarla; Il provinciale. 1972: Il sindacalista. 1973: Io e lui. 1974: Alla mia cara mamma nel giorno del suo compleanno. 1975: Fantozzi; L'anatra all'arancia. 1976: Il secondo tragico Fantozzi. 1977: La presidentessa; Il... belpaese. 1978: Professor Kranz tedesco di Germania; Sii buona (episodio di Dove vai in vacanza? ). 1979: Riavanti Marsh. 1980: Rag. Arturo De Fanti, bancario precario. 1982: Vieni avanti cretino.
Declaration
film director
I should have been debuting with Il federale, but we couldn’t manage to end the production, so I made a less demanding film, Le pillole di Ercole, a farce for Manfredi, thanks to Manfredi, who insisted to have me as director against De Laurentiis’ opinion. As a debut, it was full of actors and actions and the scenario was well built. It was a success and I proved that I could direct a film.
Traduzione in inglese Francesca Sala – English translation Francesca Sala
Cast
& Credits
Director: Luciano Salce.
Aiuto regia: Emilio Miraglia.
Director assistant: Ilde Muscio.
Plot: dalla commedia omonima di Maurice Hennequin e Paul Bilhaud.
Screenplay: Ettore Scola, Ruggero Maccari. Vittorio Vighi, Bruno Baratti, Luciano Salce.
Director of photography: Eric Menczer.
Art director: Gianni Polidori.
Arredamento: Nedo Azzini.
Costume designer: Lucia Magni Mirisola.
Consulente per i costumi: Piero Gherardi.
Editor: Roberto Cinquini.
Music: Armando Trovajoli (diretta dall'autore).
Cast and characters: Nino Manfredi (Nino Pasqui) Sylva Koscina (Silvia, sua moglic), Jeanne Valdrie (Odette). Francis Blanche (Augusto), Mitchel Kowal (l'americano Jonhatan Braxton), Vittorio De Sica (il colonnello Piero Cuocolo), Andreina Pagnani, Piera Arico, Nietta Zocchi, Army Gorassini. Ignazio Leone, Franco Scandurra, Leopoldo Valentini, Gianni Bonagura, Marco Tulli, Oreste Lionello, Lina Minora, Maria Elisabetta Franco, Andrea Patricea, Franco Bruno, Nedo Azzini, Mario Paseucci.
Production company: Maxima film, Roma.
Italian distribution: Dino De Laurentis
Aiuto regia: Emilio Miraglia.
Director assistant: Ilde Muscio.
Plot: dalla commedia omonima di Maurice Hennequin e Paul Bilhaud.
Screenplay: Ettore Scola, Ruggero Maccari. Vittorio Vighi, Bruno Baratti, Luciano Salce.
Director of photography: Eric Menczer.
Art director: Gianni Polidori.
Arredamento: Nedo Azzini.
Costume designer: Lucia Magni Mirisola.
Consulente per i costumi: Piero Gherardi.
Editor: Roberto Cinquini.
Music: Armando Trovajoli (diretta dall'autore).
Cast and characters: Nino Manfredi (Nino Pasqui) Sylva Koscina (Silvia, sua moglic), Jeanne Valdrie (Odette). Francis Blanche (Augusto), Mitchel Kowal (l'americano Jonhatan Braxton), Vittorio De Sica (il colonnello Piero Cuocolo), Andreina Pagnani, Piera Arico, Nietta Zocchi, Army Gorassini. Ignazio Leone, Franco Scandurra, Leopoldo Valentini, Gianni Bonagura, Marco Tulli, Oreste Lionello, Lina Minora, Maria Elisabetta Franco, Andrea Patricea, Franco Bruno, Nedo Azzini, Mario Paseucci.
Production company: Maxima film, Roma.
Italian distribution: Dino De Laurentis
