Babnik at the convent An adaptation for the big screen of the 1888 farce of the same name created by Eduardo Scarpetta. This is the first triptych film based on the works of Scarpetta, shot in the color of Mario Mattoli and with Toto starring Felice Shoshammocca. A year later, "Poverty and Nobility" and "Doctor for the Crazy" will follow.
Neapolitan Felice is a womanizer (as he calls himself) who ends up in prison with a small pickpocket. Felice has unusually strong hands, which has earned the love of many women. Having escaped, friends rob a Turk who has just arrived in Naples. Felice dresses up as a foreigner and goes to the address indicated in the letter of recommendation in the hope of getting a job. As it turned out, the Turk was a eunuch, and he was invited by a jealous shopkeeper, so that an experienced harem minister would look after his young wife and young daughter. And we remember that by profession Felice is a womanizer!
Eduardo Scarpetta wrote about a hundred theatrical comedies in the Neapolitan dialect, often inspired by French productions. It was he who invented the mask of the witty Felice Shoshammocca, which so wonderfully suited Toto. Toto shines, sharpens, improvises, literally bathes in funny and ambiguous situations. The rest of the actors are singing.
Perhaps, as in all the films of the trilogy, we lack field shooting, but this is the idea of the director – to emphasize the theatricality of the story of Eduardo Scarpetta. For fans of Toto’s song talent, I emphasize that the legendary Carme, Carme sounds in this film.
7 out of 10