It Started in Naples


It Started in Naples is a 1960 American romantic comedy film directed by Melville Shavelson and produced by Jack Rose from a screenplay by Suso Cecchi d'Amico based on the story by Michael Pertwee and Jack Davies. The Technicolor cinematography was by Robert Surtees. The film stars Clark Gable, Sophia Loren, Vittorio De Sica and an Italian cast.
The film was released by Paramount Pictures on August 7, 1960.

Plot

Only a few days before his wedding, Michael Hamilton, a Philadelphia lawyer, travels to Naples in Southern Italy to settle the estate of his late brother, Joseph, with Italian lawyer Vitalli. In the opening narration he states he "was here before with the 5th US Army" in World War II. In Naples, Michael discovers that his brother had a son, eight-year-old Nando, who is being cared for by his maternal aunt Lucia, a cabaret singer. Joseph never married Nando's mother but drowned with her in a boating accident. Joseph's actual wife, whom he left in 1950, is alive in Philadelphia. Michael discovers to his dismay that his brother spent a fortune on fireworks. After seeing Nando handing out racy photos of Lucia at 2 A.M., Michael wants to enroll Nando in the American School at Rome, but Lucia wins custody of the boy. Despite the age difference, romance soon blossoms between Michael and Lucia, and he decides to stay in Italy.
It marked the final film to be released within Gable's lifetime and it was his last film in color. One of the film highlights contained a tongue-in-cheek musical number by Loren called "Tu vuò fà l'americano" written by famed Neapolitan composer Renato Carosone. Filmed on location in Rome, Naples and Capri, It Started in Naples was nominated for an Oscar for its art direction. It was released to DVD in North America in 2005.

Cast