ComedyFantasyDrama

Miracle in Milan

- An impudent, riotous laugh on the lives and morals of our day!

Once upon a time a wise and kind old woman discovers a baby in her cabbage patch. She brings up the child and, when she dies, the boy, Totò, enters an orphanage. Totò leaves the orphanage a happy young man, and looks for work in post-war Milan. He ends up with the homeless and organizes them to build a shanty town in a vacant lot. But when greedy developers threaten the community’s land, Totò will need all the help he can get in order to find an impossible way out.

Release Date : 1951-02-08

Language :Italian

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Produzioni De SicaENIC

Production Country : Italy

Alternative Titles : Miracle in Milan

Cast

Character Name : La vecchia Lolotta

Original Name : Emma Gramatica

Gender : Female

Character Name : Totò

Original Name : Francesco Golisano

Gender : Male

Character Name : Rappi

Original Name : Paolo Stoppa

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mobbi

Original Name : Guglielmo Barnabò

Gender : Male

Character Name : Edvige

Original Name : Brunella Bovo

Gender : Female

Character Name : Marta, la signora altezzosa

Original Name : Anna Carena

Gender : Female

Character Name : La statua che prende vita

Original Name : Alba Arnova

Gender : Female

Character Name : L'innamorata infelice

Original Name : Flora Cambi

Gender : Male

Character Name : Il sergente delle guardie

Original Name : Virgilio Riento

Gender : Male

Character Name : Alfredo

Original Name : Arturo Bragaglia

Gender : Male

Character Name : Gaetano

Original Name : Erminio Spalla

Gender : Male

Character Name : L'atleta

Original Name : Riccardo Bertazzolo

Gender : Male

Character Name : Il comandante in secondo

Original Name : Checco Rissone

Gender : Male

Character Name : Il comandante in primo

Original Name : Angelo Prioli

Gender : Male

Character Name :

Original Name : Enzo Furlai

Gender : Male

Character Name :

Original Name : Renato Navarrini

Gender : Male

Character Name :

Original Name : Egisto Olivieri

Gender : Male

Character Name :

Original Name : Jubal Schembri

Gender : Male

Reviews

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2024-04-29

Baby "Totò" is found in a cabbage patch by a kindly lady who brings him up before she dies and he must go into an orphanage. From thence he emerges as one of the most optimistic of young men (Francesco Golisano). His upbeat demeanour and good manners regularly bamboozle the miserable and curmudgeonly amongst post-war Milanese society until he encounters a gent who tries to pinch his small bag. He gives him the bag instead, and is in return invited to stay at the man's home on this wintery night. That introduces "Totò" to a lively and vibrant community living, favela-style, on some bombed-out waste ground. Shorty after his arrival, the wealthy "Mobbi" (Guglielmo Barnabò) arrives having bought the land and he wants this shanty town gone! The police arrive, fairly well equipped, but before they can evict them all his late "mother" arrives from the heavens (a bit like the ghost of "Jacob Marley" - only without chains) and offers him a dove. With this bird he can do what he likes. He can, quite comically, thwart the venal "Mobbi" yes, but what he also quickly discovers are a collection of poverty-stricken individuals who now want everything from a fur coat to a radio - oh, and squillions of Lire too! It's good fun this film as it pointedly takes a swipe at poverty and greed, extols the virtues of honesty and decency and is really quite funny too. For much of the film, Golisano's character reminded me of a combination of "Oliver Twist" and Chaplin's "Tramp" - but always with his glass half full and this is really quite an entertaining ninety-odd minutes.