(google translate) Naturally the love between them was born and grew, even Tessèri realizes that sincere and radiant love and retires in good order. In the meantime, the girl discovers that she is suffering from an incurable disease and that she is close to death and, in order not to hinder the composer’s work, she returns to her father’s house where she dies shortly after. Tosti gives life to the famous romance “Torna caro ideal”, the singer Tessèri gets closer to him.
“The film is linear and pathetic in its fluid spontaneity. And Brignone has put into it accents of sincere emotion and environmental touches (the stop at the Michettiano convent in Francavilla is one of the most happily told) of sure effectiveness. The actors are also sufficiently convincing: Laura Adani does not show certain photogenic requirements, nor did the lens attempt to interpret her expressive finesse, but makes her character a painful and touching creature, Claudio Gora is a protagonist who is a bit cold but of good character [. .]” (Achille Vesce, “Il Mattino”, 24 December 1939).
“It was not easy to evoke the worldly and artistic environment of the era in which Francesco Paolo Tosti lived and worked while indulging here and there in old style paintings, [..] Brignone showed great taste and restraint in setting up the decorous and decorative scene of the concert in Osborne’s house and in amiably characterizing the meeting of the artists in the studio of the sculptor Barbella, the environment of Micheletti’s ‘convent’ in Francavilla, the pilgrimage to the sanctuary, the wedding with the passatello in Abruzzo and the walk at the Pincio. [..] Naturally the landscape and environmental digressions are animated against a musical background that precisely delights, in a regurgitation of sentimentalism and melancholy, in the wave, now slow and moving, now overwhelming and dramatic, of the melodic vein of Tosti. The scenography and costumes are rich, accurate down to the smallest details, delightful [..] As one of our colleagues wrote, we can conclude: it’s a kind film!” (Francesco Callari, “Film”, 30 December 1939).
Watch Torna, caro ideal! (1939) Italian film
No English subtitle
