Miracle in Milan
Short description
Miracle in Milan begins as a fable: an elderly woman named Lolotta finds an infant in her cabbage patch and raises him. After her death the boy, Totò, grows up in an orphanage and leaves as a cheerful young man looking for work in postwar Milan, where he falls in with the city's homeless. He helps them organize and build a shantytown on an empty lot. Their foothold is threatened when oil is found beneath the land and a businessman wants them evicted; the story turns on Totò's efforts to save the community, with a magical dove granting wishes.
The film was directed by Vittorio De Sica, who also produced and co-wrote it with Cesare Zavattini, and it is based on Zavattini's earlier Totò il buono. It followed Shoeshine and Bicycle Thieves in De Sica's filmography and preceded Umberto D. Francesco Golisano plays Totò, with Emma Gramatica as Lolotta, Paolo Stoppa as Rappi, Guglielmo Barnabò as Mobbi, Brunella Bovo as Edvige and Anna Carena as Marta. At 97 minutes, it blends comedy, drama and fantasy.
Reception was strong: critics rated it 8.2/10 from 13 reviews, while on IMDb it holds 7.6/10 from around 9,300 votes and on TMDB 7.3/10 from 273 votes, showing broad approval that is somewhat cooler among general audiences than among critics.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film featured both professional actors and amateurs. Among the latter were habitual drunkards, who had to be woken up for filming with a bucket of ice water.
- The film's finale was initially planned as follows: beggars on broomsticks fly around the entire world but cannot land anywhere because 'Private Property' signs are everywhere. This finale was rejected as being too expensive and pretentious.
- For the film's shooting, director, screenwriter, and producer Vittorio De Sica brought in special effects artist Ned Mann from the United States. "Miracle in Milan" was Mann’s last work in cinema.
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