1953 I Vitelloni Lobby Card Federico Fellini
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Vitelloni
“One evening after a variety show, Leopoldo agrees to accompany old Sergio for a walk along the seashore to discuss the merits of his play but when the
actor propositions him, he takes to his heels in horror.” Fellini contacted Vittorio De Sica, hoping to convince him to play the part of Sergio Natali, the aging
ham actor. When Fellini outlined the homosexual overtones of the role, De Sica accepted provided it was written with "a great deal of humanity". In the
end, he rejected the offer, "concerned about being marked as actually gay". Fellini then decided that De Sica would have been "too nice, too fascinating,
too distracting" and cast Achille Majeroni, a respected stage actor, in the part.
As summer draws to a close, a violent downpour interrupts a beach-side beauty pageant in a provincial town on the Adriatic coast. Sandra Rubini (Leonora
Ruffo), crowned "Miss Mermaid 1953", suddenly grows upset and faints: rumours fly that she's expecting a baby by inveterate skirt chaser Fausto Moretti
(Franco Fabrizi). Under pressure from Francesco (Jean Brochard), his respectable father, Fausto agrees to a shotgun wedding. After the sparsely attended
middle-class ceremony, the newlyweds leave town on their honeymoon.
Unemployed and living off their parents, Fausto's twenty-something friends kill time shuffling from empty cafés to seedy pool halls to aimless walks across
desolate windswept beaches. During the interim, they perform childish pranks. Taunting honest road workers from the safety of a luxury car they never
earned, they're given a sound thrashing when it breaks down.
Moraldo Rubini (Franco Interlenghi), Sandra's brother and the youngest of the five vitelloni, uncomfortably observes Fausto's womanizing as he ponders
his own existence, dreaming of ways to escape to the big city. Riccardo (Riccardo Fellini), the baritone, nourishes unrealistic ambitions to sing and act.
Alberto (Alberto Sordi), the daydreamer, is supported by his mother and self-reliant sister, Olga (Claude Farell). Vulnerable and close to his mother, he's
unhappy that Olga is secretly dating a married man. Leopoldo (Leopoldo Trieste), the aspiring dramatist, writes a play that he discusses with Sergio Natali
(Achille Majeroni), an eccentric stage actor he hopes will perform in it.
At the annual masquerade ball, Fausto is bedazzled by the mature beauty of Giulia Curti (Lída Baarová), his employer's wife. Alberto, in drag and half-
drunk, executes a surrealistic dance across the ballroom floor with a goofy carnival head made of papier-mâché. Returning home at dawn, Alberto is
devastated to find his sister running off for good with her married lover. Fausto's naive attempt to seduce Giulia results in his being humiliated and then
fired by her husband. In revenge, he steals the statue of an angel in gold paint from his former employer, enlisting the loyal Moraldo to help him first
attempt to sell it to a convent and then sell it to a monk. Suspicious, both turn down the offers. Fausto ends up leaving the statue with a simple-minded
peasant (Silvio Bagolini) who sets the angel on a mound outside his hovel, caressing it.
One evening after a variety show, Leopoldo agrees to accompany old Sergio for a walk along the seashore to discuss the merits of his play but when the
actor propositions him, he takes to his heels in horror. Learning of Fausto's one-night stand with a variety performer, Sandra runs away from home, taking
the baby with her. Riccardo, Alberto, Leopoldo, and Moraldo all join in Fausto's desperate search to trace his wife and child. When they find her at the
home of Fausto's father, Francesco pulls off his belt in a rage and finally whips his son. Later, and reconciled for the present, Fausto and Sandra walk home
happily and with optimism about their life together. Resolved to abandon the provincial monotony of his dead-end town, Moraldo boards the train for
anyplace else (Rome), imagining his vitelloni friends sleeping and dreaming their lives away.