GOVI A GAVI

In the summer of 1952 the little town of Gavi (in the province of Alessandria but already on a spur of the Apennine Mountains of Liguria) was turned upside down by an unprecedented event. Gilberto Govi, the renowned Genoese dialectic actor, was preparing to shoot the outdoor scenes of his film, Il diavolo in convento, directed by Nunzio Malasomma, right in Gavi. The contact in this enterprise was the noted film composer and Gavi native, Angelo Francesco Lavagnino. All the children of the town were recruited to play in the most famous scene of the film - a group of boys try to rob the apples in the convent orchard and are discovered by the friars. These children have grown up by now. They have different jobs one is a barber, another a photographer, one an electrician, etc. Naturally, they conserve a very vivid and amusing memory of this experience. They were interviewed on the daily film program "Hollywood Party", broadcast on RAIRadiotre. There they told of how they were signed up as they were swimming in the Lemme, the stream that goes through Gavi. They spoke of their relationship with the actors besides Govi, there also were Mariella Lotti and Carlo Ninchi and of how Gilberto Govi acted (he used to walk through the town dressed up as a friar arm and arm with the blonde and beautiful Mariella). The portrait that emerges is that of a postwar country town that is upset by a special event in a way that you can enjoy.

Director, screenplay and editor: Alberto Signetto.
Director of photography: Marco Di Castri.
Sound: Paolo Favaro.
Production company and Italian distribution: Index Film, via Moris 6, 10122 Torino, tel. +390114367612, fax + 390114366427, Email indexfr@imbox.tin.it.