Virtual Travels Part I: Italy

With an unseasonably stormy weekend last week, we were able to catch up on DVDs of a couple films set in the 1920s and 1930s that we missed in their original theatrical release, both set in Italy. It’s no coincidence; we’ve been on an Italian campaign lately that Bonaparte would be proud of, screening these movies and leaving brochures casually about for Mr. About Town to notice. Watching these films was like a virtual vacation, at least. Both are visually very beautiful, and feature great period costumes.

Filmed in southern Italy's Amalfi Coast, A Good Woman (2003), starring Helen Hunt and Scarlett Johansson, is set in 1930. Based on Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan: A Play About a Good Woman, from 1892, this production was filmed on location in and around the town of Amalfi (which looks like a 1930s movie set already) as well as Rome (where the villas shown in the film were actually located). It brought back fond memories of our previous visit to Amalfi. Mrs. Windermere (she’s been downgraded from a Lady and turned into an American here) shops for gloves, hats and gowns; we bought beautiful writing paper and limoncello.

The costumes, hair, and makeup are well-done; we love the summer dresses, hats, gloves and shoes Miss Johansson wears, and Miss Hunt wears some gorgeous get-ups too, like the dramatic yellow and black number below, and a blue and white outfit at the end of the film that we don’t have a picture of, but trust us, it’s darling. The two leading ladies’ costumes were designed by John Bloomfield, and for the most part fairly authentic looking.

Overall, a good production. There are many witty quotes throughout the script (not all attributable to Wilde - though he gets the credit in most reviews!), such as “Crying is the refuge of plain women. Pretty women go shopping.” (a take on Wilde’s line from the play “Crying is the refuge of plain women but the ruin of pretty ones.”). There is a lot of crying, and a lot of shopping. The play was previously filmed in 1925 (as Lady Windermere’s Fan, dir. Ernest Lubitsch).

Moving north, as well as back in time to the 1920s, there’s Enchanted April (1992), filmed in Portofino, on the Italian Riviera. Warning: this movie is Dangerous! Even while the credits are still rolling, you’ll be researching villa rentals in Italy. Based on the 1922 book by Elizabeth von Arnim, we especially enjoy the beautiful scenery and Polly Walker as Lady Caroline. She looks absolutely gorgeous, with a Dutch-doll bob and to-die-for wardrobe - we want every one of her outfits. Click here to see a video clip of Lady Caroline's introduction.

The other women, Miranda Richardson as Rose, and Josie Lawrence as Lottie, are charming, too and the production is excellent overall. Joan Plowright is funny as Mrs. Fisher. Many of the outdoor scenes were filmed at Castello Brown, above, now a museum, high above Portofino’s harbor. There is also a 1935 film of Enchanted April with Ann Harding.