FIGLI DEL LEPARDO, I

Franco Franchi in I FIGLI DEL LEOPARDO

1965
Italy
Ultra Film (Rome)
Director: Sergio Corbucci
Script: Bruno Corbucci, Giovanni Grimaldi
Music: Piero Umiliani (published by CAM)
Cinematography: Enzo Barboni {Eastmancolor}
Editor: Franco Fraticelli
Art director: Ennio Michettoni
Release details: Italy (registered 24.04.65, first shown 21.04.65, 95 mins)
Italian takings: 265.000.000 lire
Cast: Franco Franchi (Franco/Maria Rosa), Ciccio Ingrassia (Ciccio/Baron Fifi), Evi Marandi (Margherita), Alberto Bonucci (Babalone), Antonio De Teffè (Lt. Garibaldi), Vittorio Congia (Sgt. Tazza), Mario Castellani, Elisa Mainardi, Silvio Bagolini (Don Basilio), Nino Vingelli, Ugo Banardi, Mimmo Poli (fat farmer at fair), Evi Gioia, Enzo Andronico, Massimo Righi, Antonio La Raina, Mario De Simone, Giulio Maculani, Ignazio Spalla (Babalone's henchman), Romano Giomini, Nietta Zocchi, Pasquale De Filippe and Raimodo Vianelli (General Baldigari)

It's difficult enough to work out what's going in a Franco and Ciccio movie at the best of times. When watching the original Italian version while having absolutely no understanding of the language, however, things become so incoherently kinetic that any attempt at an accurate synopsis is bound to be riddled with errors. However, such irksome tasks are the stated duty of the European Film Review, so here goes…

Ciccio Ingrassia in I FIGLI DEL LEOPARDO

Baron Fifi (Ciccio Ingrassia) is an inventor who spends more time with his hot air balloons and pet leopard than with his wife, Maria Rosa - hardly surprising, considering that she's played by Franco Franchi. After a particularly protracted argument she hatches a scheme to gain his attention by pretending that the first two likely suspects she comes across (err, Franco and Ciccio again) are in fact their sons. Franco and Ciccio are, of course, delighted by this news, but before they can meet with their supposed father they are kidnapped by an inept gang of bandits. The leader of this ragtag group is Babalone (Alberto Bonucci), who happens to be an instantly recognisable master of disguise.

Little do these villains realise what they have let themselves in for. The Baron refuses to pay the ransom money and they find that they are stuck with the inordinately irritating duo - who proceed to lambaste them with their lame attempts at humour. They decide that the best thing they can do is get rid of their hostages, but before they can do so Babalone's right hand woman, Margherita (Evi Marandi), releases them and they all rush off to find the army camp of General Baldigari (Raimondo Vianelli).

After much running around and general tomfoolery, the scene is set for a protracted climax in which Babalone pretends to be their papa. His devious plan is to steal a casket of jewels from some loony, inbred, short-sighted aristos - who are more like something from Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast than anything else.

The Gospel, Franco & Ciccio style: FIGLI DEL LEOPARDO

The first thing that stands out about this production are the absolutely fabulous opening titles. To the accompaniment of a cheesy Piero Umiliani tune, these play like a simpler version of the The Pink Panther credits, with a goofy looking leopard mincing repeatedly across the screen.

The second thing that stands out are the phenomenal production values. Considering that Franco and Ciccio are - in effect - tacky slapstick vaudeville, this is an astonishingly lush film. The photography is superb and the direction has great scope. The interiors are baroque and the whole thing is drenched with a consummate feeling of colour. The general look is not too different, in this respect, from Corbucci and Barboni's next collaborative projects, the superlative Django (66) and The Hellbenders (I crudeli, 67). It's almost like having a Norman Wisdom film directed by Ken Russell with camerawork by Jack Cardiff.

Beyond that, it is a pretty typical Franco and Ciccio vehicle. There are food fights, pratfalls, characters with strange facial blemishes behaving peculiarly and custard pie fights aplenty. There's also a really very peculiar sequence in which the hapless duo manages to escape from some underground sewers by climbing out of a toilet.

Anthony Steffen, despite prominent billing, only really has a minor role as the love interest for the lissom Evi Marandi. The show is stolen by Alberto Bonucci as the dastardly (not to mention rather hopeless) Babalone. Born in 1918, he acted for directors ranging from Roger Vadim (Blood and Roses (Et mourir de plaisir, 61) to Mauro Bolognini (Arrangiatevi!, (59)) throughout the fifties and sixties (and also taking in the tackier delights of Renato Polselli (Le sette vipere (65)) and Mauro Vicario (Seven Golden Men (Sette uomini d'oro, 65)) before his death in 1969.

Matt Blake