ALLEGRO NON TROPPO Movie Review
In the 1960s baby-boomers discovered Walt Disney's part-grand and part-bizarre Fantasia (1940) and promptly proclaimed it an early head film. For some of their parents, Fantasia had served as an early and important introduction to classical music. This newly rediscovered classic proved to be a revelation worldwide. In Italy it captured the heart of one of the most celebrated creators of short, comic animation, Bruno Bozzetto, who made the rather courageous decision to do … well … sort of a remake.Or would it be a tribute? Perhaps a parody.Then again … an homage? A deconstruction? Whatever it was to be, it turned out to be Allegro Non Troppo, featuring a few wonderfully imaginative segments (the best, involving a discarded Coke bottle, is set to Ravel's Bolero) which were unfortunately juxtaposed with enough flat moments to make you wish you were watching the real Fantasia. The film's orchestra conductor, Leopold Stowkowski in the Disney original, was here played by the wacky Italian comic Maurizio Nichetti (The Icicle Thief), who also contributed to the script. This time out, Dvorák, Ravel, Sibelius, and Stravinsky were among those to have cartoons drawn to their music, but none was alive to complain. One of those composers, however, did live to see the premiere of the original Fantasia, of which his music was an important part. Igor Stravinsky, having been invited by Walt Disney in 1940 to an advance preview screening of Fantasia, was startled to see Walt's animated dinosaurs roaming the earth to the accompaniment of an unexpectedly “abridged” version of his masterpiece, The Rite of Spring. The great composer was, according to legend, so outraged by what he saw and heard that he stormed furiously out of the screening room just minutes after the segment began, swearing loudly. When reporters who hadn't been able to catch up with the fast-moving maestro asked the Disney people for Stravinsky's response to the film, they were given one of the smoothest answers in the history of public relations. “Mr. Stravinsky,” the press people announced, “was visibly moved.”
NEXT STOP … Fantasia, Volere Volare, The Icicle Thief
1976 (PG) 75m/C IT Maurizio Nichetti; D: Bruno Bozzetto; W: Bruno Bozzetto, Guido Manuli; C: Mario Masini. VHS, LV BMG, IME, BTV