Master of cinema Mario Monicelli (picture ©Elena Torre) died yesterday at the San Giovanni hospital in Rome, where he was admitted a few days ago.
Mario Monicelli was born on May 16, 1915 in Viareggio. Son of a theater critic and journalist, he got close to the world of the cinema very soon and he directed his first short in 1934 together with his cousin Alberto Mondadore. In the same year Monicelli directed the movie “”I ragazzi della via Paal”, his first success as it received an award at the Venice Film Festival.
During the following years Mario Monicelli worked at several movies as assistant director and screenwriter. At the beginning of the ’50s he started directing various movies for the famous comedian Totò such as “Guardie e ladri” in 1953 together with co-director Steno.
After a few years Mario Monicelli started directing movies on his own becoming one of the masters of comedy Italian style working with the greates Italian actors and actrasses.
His movies would deserve a deep study, I’ll just say that he directed “I soliti ignoti” (Big Deal on Madonna Street) in 1958, “La grande guerra” (The Great War) – which was awarded with a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival – in 1959, “I compagni” (The Organizer) in 1963, “L’armata Brancaleone” ((For Love and Gold) in 1966, “Brancaleone alle crociate” (Brancaleone at the Crusades) in 1970, “La ragazza con la pistola” (The Girl with the Pistol) in 1970, “Romanzo popolare” in 1974, the first two movies of the “Amici miei” (My Friends) trilogy in 1975 and 1982, “Un borghese piccolo piccolo” (A Very Little Man) in 1977, “Il marchese del Grillo” in 1981, “Speriamo che sia femmina” in 1986 and “Parenti serpenti” in 1992. In 2006 he still directed “Le rose del deserto” (The Roses of the Desert).
In 1991 Mario Monicelli was awarded a Golden Lion for career at the Venice Film Festival.
Mario Monicelli was admitted at the hospital because he suffered from a prostate cancer: he wanted to choose the moment of his death so he took his own life jumping from a window.
