Marriage Italian Style (Sophia Loren Award Collection) [Blu-ray]

Great movie with great actors and actresses it's recommended.

Kino Lorber has once again surpassed all the other presentations of this 1964 classic. As with "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" and "Casanova '70", their Blu-ray editions (and I suspect the same with the DVD) are the most quality presentations there have been to these much known foreign films. "Marriage, Italian Style" had the distinction to receive nominations for Best Foreign Film and Best Actress (the second) for Sophia Loren for Academy Awards. She is quite excellent in this, but Julie Andrews won that year for "Mary Poppins." Sophia indisputably won in 1961 for her performance in another Vittorio de Sica film, "Two Women." Here de Sica directs his two stars of his Academy Award winning "Best Foreign Film," "Yesterday Today and Tomorrow," Marcello Mastroianni and Loren in extraordinary star performances as extraordinary characters that display with power the essence of matrimony, even in the complicated laws of the Italians. They are at their peaks here. The writing by Eduardo De Filippo and Renato Castellani, the images by cinematographer Roberto Gerardi and the magnificent music by Armando Travajoli are all equally brilliant. Everyone in the cast is superb. It is the best Italian movie I have ever seen. It is indeed a rewarding experience and never patronizing. It presents marriage as human and personal. Produced by Carlo Ponti in Technicolor and with subtitles. Now, as it always should have been. Watch it often to experience the film as it was in theaters in 1964 and let it resonate in your mind, the joy and pathos, the drama within, the sumptuous images, acting and music. Mastroianni and Loren make being Italian a beautiful heritage and make the pseudo look of it in the movie version of "Nine" seem phony. This is art and loving life and a partner at its best.

For those who speak Italian and are familiar with age old customs in this country, this movie is delightful. Sadly many have panned this DVD because of "poor quality", "awful dubbing", "illegible sub-tiltles", not to mention those that incorrectly state that this is a movie about a "middle class couple". First of all if this DVD is played on a PAL player there is no problem whatsoever with its quality. If it is played on a US format player the quality suffers somewhat, languages cannot be selected nor can subtitles be switched on. I know because I watched it in my US player AND in my MAC computer that can handle PAL.I first saw this movie in my youth, before having lived in Italy or speaking the language fluently. I loved it then and now that i understand all its nuances and I am fluent in Italian (whether Neapolitan, Sicilian or any of the many dialects) I must classify it as a MASTERPIECE. It is funny yet manages to accurately portray the customs and peculiarities of life in this amazing country. Of course with top class actors like handsome, thoroughly masculine Marcello and expressive, beautiful Sophia in the lead roles it was bound to be a success.Ladies and gentlemen, play this DVD in the correct equipment and you will be delighted.Marriage Italian Style (Matrimonio all'italiana) - (Mr Bongo Films) (1964) [DVD]

I purchased mine from a second-tier seller on Amazon, and the picture quality, while not being perfect, was NOWHERE near as bad as other buyers have complained, it was fine in fact, and my copy has English AND dubbed versions, though I`ve never watched the dubbed one, as I have a distinct aversion to watching foreign films in any other language than the language they were MEANT to be heard in. This is a big problems for most Americans (and I am one), and I just don`t get it - read my other reviews for more on this subject. The first time I watched it on my computer and the second on a region-free dvd player w/ a 48" Sony hi-def TV - the picture was FINE, considering that this isn`t an official release. And there were no problems w/ the subtitles, either. It`s NOWHERE as bad as others have complained, and NOWHERE as bad as the allegedly 'remastered' edition of 'Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow', which WAS godawful to sit through, as the picture quality was horrendous. Oh yeah, this is a FABULOUS MOVIE, Marcello and Sophia are incredible, which doesn`t deserve all the negative attention it`s getting here...

One of Sofia Loren's best performances. Great movie with much insight in to the Neapolitan mindset. Unfortunately, there are a few scenes that have been edited out this and it is a shame because one of them shows Sofia's phenomenal legs. More importantly, it is a transition scene. So, you won't understand why she goes from a young woman in a house of il-repute to an older woman with red hair and a nice dress who is sitting in Marcello Mastrianni's car in the rain storm. They cut out the scene where her character and Marcello's character meet again a few years later after they first met. They also cut out the scene where the Priest persuades Marcello's character (Don Domenico) to marry the dying Sofia character (Filomena Marturano). It's a quality DVD but comes up a little short. You can watch it in Neapolitan but with english subtitles. I will be looking for another version that has not been edited.

I've been patiently waiting for a decent version of this movie to come along and FINALLY an excellent one has arrived in this DVD, wide screen and all. The picture is clear and crisp, colors are rich and bright and the sound is excellent. It would have been nice to have extras, like old premiere footage, commentaries by Loren, etc., but who's complaining we have the real deal- the movie. After all, this is a film that brought Sophia her second Oscar nomination, a David Di Donatello award (Italy's Oscar), a Moscow Film Festival Award and other international awards. In my humble opinion, this is without a doubt Sophia Loren's finest acting performance, it even surpasses her greatest performances in "Two Women" and "A Special Day" and I say this because it is such a well rounded role, allowing her to run the gamut from comedy to drama, and she does so with great depth. No one laughs, suffers or cries more convincingly on the screen than the divine Loren, and director Vittorio de Sica knew how to extract the best that she had to give. The story is told through his and hers flashbacks and takes Sophia (Filumena) from her late teens to a middle aged woman,so multi faceted, running Loren from naive prostitute in worn torn Italy, to savvy kept woman, to conniving business woman to being a faithful mother;young or old, she shines and looks beautiful, commanding the screen with a fire and poignant dignity that leave you breathless. Add to this her wonderful partner Marcello Mastroianni and you have a solid if unusual love story which tugs at the heart Italian style. There is a scene were Sophia has to sign a lease to her first apartment, she is so gleeful and happy that she will finally have something of her own, and it is comical and heartbreaking at the same time, seeing her with great pride trying to form the letters to her name as she signs the document with almost child like innocence, it is here where you see the majesty of her comedic talent, seamlessly crossing the fine line between comedy and pathos and pulling it off with poignancy and truth. A true classic of Italian cinema, it opened to critical raves in 1964 and should be forever treasured by audiences young and old. Acting and directing don't get any better than this folks- BUY IT and savor this very fine film, I couldn't recommend it more. If you would like to see a photo montage video preview, please check out my tribute video of this film on everyone's favorite video website (which I rather not name), it features chronological photos of the plot set to the romantic song from the movie...just look up videos by boopkid.

The picture quality of this DVD resembles a very old video tape of the poorest quality, even though the Amazon web site and the product packaging describe it as 'Digitally remastered'. The quality is so bad that it actually hurts your eyes to watch the movie, as it is very `grainy'.

Confectionery shop owner Don Domenico (Marcello Mastroianni) meets 17-year old Filumena Maturano (Sophia Loren) in a Naples brothel during a Second World War air raid. He rescues her, sets her up as his mistress, and over the years exploits her remorselessly (as he exploits most people). She loves him dearly but is disillusioned when she finds he is having an affair with the confectionery shop's young cashier. To win him back, she stages her own death, and when this doesn't work, she admits that she's the mother of three sons, one of whom is Domenico's. Don Domenico at last gives way, and the couple get married.Such are the bare outlines of the plot, but a simple description doesn't do justice to the Edoardo de Filippo play, which is a funny, subtle and moving account of love between a Neapolitan couple during the 1950s and 1960s. De Sica gives the story the full works: lush and vivid colour photography, sentimental background music and huge emphasis on the romantic are combined to provide a showcase for the justly famous partnership (famous in the 1960s, anyway) of Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren.The principal actors give what is possibly the most marvellous of their many comedic double acts, and if you want to see why their cinematic partnership was so famous, look no further. Mastroianni captures the character of the faithless and louche Neapolitan businessman to absolute perfection; Loren, then at the very top of her form, gives an intelligent and quite moving portrayal of the exploited mistress. Never was she more sexy than she is in this film, but Loren was (and is) a highly intelligent and thoroughly professional actress, and the intelligence shines through just as much as the sex appeal.Not everyone will like De Sica's heavily saccharine interpretation, but this after all is a romantic Neapolitan comedy set in Naples, and an over-the-top treatment is surely not out of place. In the background, we see tantalizing glimpses of Naples at its most baroque. The heavy and ornate interiors, typical of Naples and much of southern Italy, form highly authentic settings and are fascinating in their own right. Meanwhile the noise and bustle of the streets outside, and the sunny exterior shots generally, remind us that in the 1960s, Italian culture demonstrated a zest for life and a dynamism and hopefulness that have since rather withered on the vine.The remastered wide-screen version has been generally well done, and the colours are almost as good as new. The sound on my DVD copy, while acceptable, was occasionally rather shrill. Recommended, and an essential buy for all serious devotees of the Italian cinema of the 1960s.

There have been complaints about the quality of this transfer. However, the original film, which I knew very well from the 60s, had some very obvious flaws in it. This transfer is about as good as it is going to get. The English dubbing is excellent and retains all the honor of the Italian with Loren doing her own dubbing and a perfect choice of actor to dub Mastorianni. A first rate film - well written, directed and acted. Get a copy for yourself. You will be pleased

Having a widescreen copy of this wonderful film is very welcome after so many years of bad, full-screen versions. It does not appear to be remastered or restored, but the transfer is quite decent. Less so are the subtitles which are sometimes incomplete and sometimes innacurate, but not bad enough to spoil a beautiful and touching film.But this is the best we have right now, until someone like Criterion or Bfi goes into action, and I, for one, am very glad to have it.