'La più bella serata della mia vita' (1972) - Ettore Scola.

While 'La più bella serata della mia vita' (1972) might be one of the iconic producer's earlier, seemingly lesser-known productions, it is no less noteworthy than his later, higher profile features. Handsomely set against the lofty Alpine majesty of mountainous Switzerland and primarily concerns the 'meet-cute' and subsequent giddy transport of Alfredo Rossis's (Alberto Sordi) day from the banal to the exceptionally eventful! The surrealistic adventures of petite bourgeois, nouveau riche, not altogether honest businessman Dr. Rossi is a riot, played zestfully with tremendously charismatic gusto by the twinkle-eyed Sordi.

Once Rossi completes some shady financial deal, things take an unfamiliar bent. Not best pleased by the bank being closed, his irritation temporarily leavened by discovering that the glistering Suzuki blocking his lobster red Maserati is owned by a mysteriously tantalizing, sleekly leather-clad, Janet Agren who then alacritously leads them on a thrilling, hair-raisingly swift chase deep into the mountains! Rossi finally arrives by means equine to the fairy tale castle of the urbane and initially hospitable, Avvocato Conte la Bruntiere (Pierre Brasseur) whereupon Scola's absorbing 'La più bella serata della mia vita' (1972) playfully proves itself to be anything but predictable fare!

The imposing, labyrinthine castle provides an exceptionally colourful stage Ettore's quixotic, sharp-edged surrealistic tale. The scheming, erstwhile Lothario in the hazing midst of a series of frequently bizarre narrative twists and turns, no less precarious than the circuitous road that his darkly beguiling phantom Biker traversed so speedily! While ostensibly a chamber comedy about the increasingly discombobulated Dr. Rossi's puzzling castle sojourn and its off-beat, vividly rendered inhabitants, his darkly jocular ordeal at the liver-spotted hands of these octogenarian misfits is a frequently cruel one. This punishing, unerringly accurate dissection of the manipulative, street smart businessman's character allows for the pathos often lacking in less sophisticated black comedies.

Adapted from the play 'La Panne', the witty, delightfully effervescent text is by Ettore Scola, and Sergio Amidei, the dazzling comedy is brought to barnstorming life by a bravura ensemble cast of truly gifted actors. Proving especially delightful is, Pierre Brasseur, Charles Vanel, and a positively incandescent, Laughton-esque turn from, Michel Simon as Avvocato Zorn. While undeniably stagy, the Promethean display of outstanding performances . Any viewer with the goodly fortune to see Scola's exquisitely mounted farce will be immediately struck by the fascinating, spectral beauty of Euro-cult star, Janet Agren. I was wholly entranced by her Suzuki riding, delightfully demonic, draped in black alter ego! Maestro, Armando Trovaioli's endearingly odd, synth-heavy score gives a vibrantly off-kilter edge to a far from ordinary comedy.