IF you want to see Sophia Loren as she was in her prime, when she was playing small roles in Italian movies but had an I'll-make-it look in her eyes, you might want to see one vignette in the four-episode Italian film, "A Day in Court".
It is a vignette in which Miss Loren plays a pocket-picking prostitute who carelessly lifts the wallet of a pleasant young priest in a bus. This leads to her pursuit, recriminations, a hassle between her procurer and the priest and a show-down session in the courtroom, which is the hub of the four episodes.
That's the extent of this small segment, and all Miss Loren has to do is pretend to some slight dramatic posturing and show off her nicely tailored form. But she does it about as nicely as a bit player might be expected to do, and the historic significance of the vignette is slightly enhanced by the presence of a youthful, smooth-faced Walter Chiari in the role of the priest.
But this very slim historic interest is the only recommendation to this film, which is a feeble collection of theatrical trivia, as it surely was when made in 1953 by Steno, a director distinguished mainly by his name. The various episodes, all flat and foolish, center in the court, presided over in serio-comic fashion by Peppino de Filippo as a municipal judge. Alberto Sordi, Tania Weber and Silvana Pampanini show up in other episodes, but you may be sure the film was not released in its time to capitalize on their attractiveness. You guess why that is.
It is a vignette in which Miss Loren plays a pocket-picking prostitute who carelessly lifts the wallet of a pleasant young priest in a bus. This leads to her pursuit, recriminations, a hassle between her procurer and the priest and a show-down session in the courtroom, which is the hub of the four episodes.
That's the extent of this small segment, and all Miss Loren has to do is pretend to some slight dramatic posturing and show off her nicely tailored form. But she does it about as nicely as a bit player might be expected to do, and the historic significance of the vignette is slightly enhanced by the presence of a youthful, smooth-faced Walter Chiari in the role of the priest.
But this very slim historic interest is the only recommendation to this film, which is a feeble collection of theatrical trivia, as it surely was when made in 1953 by Steno, a director distinguished mainly by his name. The various episodes, all flat and foolish, center in the court, presided over in serio-comic fashion by Peppino de Filippo as a municipal judge. Alberto Sordi, Tania Weber and Silvana Pampanini show up in other episodes, but you may be sure the film was not released in its time to capitalize on their attractiveness. You guess why that is.