Giovacchino Forzano

Gianni Schicchi

Woody Allen's production of the Puccini comic opera at LA Opera in 2015

Giacomo Puccini: Gianni Schicchi

In the mid-20th century, in Fucecchio, near Florence, Buoso Donati, an elderly collector and wealthy antique dealer, has just passed away. He lies in his bed, surrounded by relatives feigning grief. They are all worried, as the deceased has bequeathed his entire fortune to a monastery. They search frantically for the will. The young Riniccio, Donati’s nephew, finds it but agrees to show it to the family only if they promise to let him marry Lauretta, the daughter of Gianni Schicchi, a local figure of dubious reputation. Everyone accepts the condition and discovers to their horror that the rumour was true: the monks are set to inherit the fortune. Riniccio suggests calling on Schicchi for help, much to the family’s disgust. Summoned, Riniccio arrives at the house accompanied by his daughter. He proposes keeping the death a secret, taking his place, and instructing a doctor and a notary to alter ‘his’ testamentary dispositions. But has the hunter become the hunted? Not so sure...

Campo di Maggio

Black Shirt

An Italian blacksmith who emigrated is wounded during the war on the French front, losing his memory. Hospitalized in a German hospital, he recovers it three years later and returns home from Tunisia, happy for the reclamation of the Pontine Marshes and the inauguration of the city of Littoria.

Maciste e il nipote d'America

The Flight of Socrates

Ajax accidentily startles Socrates, the pet parrot of his fiancé Annita, causing him to fly away through an open window. Annita says she will not marry Ajax until he returns Socrates to her. In his international search for the parrot, Ajax accidentally becomes a wanted man everywhere he goes.

Das Lied der Sonne

Impresario Adler is imprisoned for insulting an official and therefore unable to negotiate an important concert tour with opera singer Lauri Volpi. In his place, he convinces Friedel, a pretty music student, to travel to Venice to meet the famous tenor. In her travels, Friedel sends postcards written by Adler to his wife to prevent her from knowing his real whereabouts. When Friedel meets Volpi’s attorney, she mistakes him for the singer, and they spend days together in a romantic, picturesque Italy without him revealing his true identity. After his release from prison, Adler realizes two things: firstly, Friedel has been negotiating with the wrong man, and secondly, his wife has discovered the trick with the postcards, traveled to Italy, and started a storm of her own. But when the storm has cleared and the confusions are clarified, nothing holds them back from a happy ending.

Sous la Terreur

During the French Revolution in 1793, a member of the Convention, seduced by the Comtesse de Beaulieu, helps her to discover the truth about the relationship between Agnès de Fitz-James and the count who was guillotined.