Il Cappotto / The Overcoat

Moving the setting from 19th-century Russia to a small town in postwar Italy, director Alberto Lattuada adapts and expands Nikolai Gogol's short story about a mousy clerk who gains newfound respect when he purchases a handsome new overcoat. In this little-seen 1952 classic, Renato Rascel plays Carmine De Carmine, a meek scrivener in City Hall oblivious to the corrupt ways of local politics. On the verge of losing his job, he's suddenly given a “bonus” after overhearing the pompous mayor (Giulio Stival) talking with his mistress (Yvonne Sanson), and he uses the bribe money to buy the handsome garment. His new sense of pride and appearance of affluence and dignity bring him sudden recognition, but his odyssey takes unexpected turns when the coat is stolen. Lattuada embellishes Gogol's central motif with tender grace notes and wry asides, and behind the bouncy caricatures and deft satire lies a quiet humanism. With its portrait of petty bureaucrats and blithely corrupt politicians, Il Cappotto features the same street-drama backdrop as famed neorealist films of the time, and deserves greater recognition. Bowing on DVD in a restored version created by the Turin National Film Museum, extras include audio commentary by film professor Flavio de Bernardinis, an interview with contemporary director Angelo Pasquini, deleted scenes, and an accompanying booklet. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)