If anybody was a fan of Puccini's music and operas, they'd jump at the chance at seeing Gallone's film of Puccini. It is an interesting biopic and is a pretty good film overall as well. Not without flaws though, there could have been more Puccini and a little less of Elvira, the story does jump around a lot which can confuse things and give the sense that the film was written in haste, there definitely could have been more scope and depth to the characters other than Elvira(Puccini himself included), and the film is badly and irritatingly dubbed too. Puccini(1953) is beautifully filmed on the other hand, both opulent and noir-ish. And that's the same with the costumes and sets too. The music of course is just heavenly, and we have some great voices singing it, including one of the most beautiful tenor voices of all time in Beniamino Gigli and Antoinetta Stella, a soprano who deserved to make it bigger. The story might have benefited from a longer length, but is still fascinating and reasonably accurate to the story of the composer, without being distasteful. Gallone directs assuredly, and he draws out some good performances. In the case of Marta Toren, superb and Gabriele Ferzetti is a likable Puccini. Riccordi, Illica and Giacosa are well performed too, though their parts are written a little sketchily. Overall, decent and interesting. 6/10 Bethany Cox
Review of Puccini
