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poster of Miracle in Milan
Rating: 7.3/10 by 227 users

Miracle in Milan (1951)

An old woman finds a baby in her cabbage patch and raises him. After her death, the boy grows up in an orphanage and later joins the homeless in post-war Milan, helping them build a shanty town. When they discover oil, he receives a magical dove from a vision of his adoptive mother that grants wishes.

Directing:
  • Vittorio De Sica
  • Luisa Alessandri
  • Umberto Scarpelli
  • Lù Leone
Writing:
  • Cesare Zavattini
  • Suso Cecchi d'Amico
  • Mario Chiari
  • Adolfo Franci
  • Cesare Zavattini
  • Cesare Zavattini
  • Vittorio De Sica
Stars:
Release Date: Thu, Feb 08, 1951

Rating: 7.3/10 by 227 users

Alternative Title:
Milagro en Milán - ES
밀라노의 기적 - KR
Θαύμα στο Μιλάνο - GR
Wunder von Mailand - DE
Miracle in Milan - US
Miraklet i Milano - NO
Mirakelet i Milano - NO
慈航普渡 - CN
米兰奇迹 - CN

Country:
Italy
Language:
Italiano
Runtime: 01 hour 37 minutes
Budget: $0
Revenue: $0

Plot Keyword: homeless person, based on novel or book, slum, magic, angel, milan, poverty, orphan, kindness, foundling, magic realism, shantytown
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CinemaSerf

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.


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