Kino International:

In Naples, they are poor but resourceful, selling black market cigarettes on the streets. In Milan, Loren is costumed in Christian Dior and debates her preference for a Rolls Royce or her husband. And in Rome, Mastroianni is an industry scion who helps Loren's prostitute set a wavering priest back onto the spiritual plane. This episode features Sophia's famous striptease, which was recreated 30 years later in Robert Altman's Ready To Wear. Witty and unforgettable, this gem from master filmmaker Vittorio de Sica (Two Women, Marriage Italian Style) is picture-postcard beautiful and effortlessly hilarious.

I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed this film.  I'd not seen it before, but I will definitely be revisiting it in the future. 

Vittorio De Sica's Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow is a three part comedy about life at various strata of Italian life.  The first, and by far the most enjoyable, segment is set in Naples shortly after the end of WWII as Italy was rebuilding.  The second takes place in a resurgent Milan, where a woman who has married into means develops an affinity for a "common" man and tries to get him to run away with her.  The final segment takes place in Rome as a high end prostitute attempts to ply her trade in her home with as little interference from her neighbors as possible.

In each case the woman is played by an absolutely stunning Sophia Loren, and the man by the always charming Marcello Mastroianni.  One thing that is remarkable is that no matter how De Sica tries to convey Loren's Adelina in the first part as a poor, working class girl, she looks absolutely amazing even in rags.  This segment also shows Mastroianni's Carmine as a man with the most enviable problem I can think of, he has to try and keep up with Adelina's sexual voracity as she pops out bambino after bambino in an attempt to stay out of jail for selling contraband cigarettes. This first and longest segment had me laughing out loud on several occasions, and all without any vulgar or pop-culture referenced humor.  Imagine that, a comedy these days would never even make such an attempt.

The last two segments are also good, almost entirely due to the chemistry of Loren and Mastroianni and the scripting of De Sica's right hand man, Cesare Zavattini.  Though, they don't quite make it to the comedic heights of Adelina of Naples for me.  Though, it must be said, that the film closes with an amazing and spellbinding strip-tease from Loren's Mara the prostitute that is the stuff that dreams are made of.

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow strays from De Sica's classic neo-realist origins to deliver a comedy that hits on all cylinders without being crass.  I cannot wait to watch this film again, and the rest of these De Sica/Loren/Mastroianni Blu-rays just moved up my review priority list!

The Disc:

Kino International's disc of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow is good, but I wish I could say it was great.  The video is a wee bit mushy through most of the sequences, and there isn't as much detail as there should be.  I would imagine that some DNR was applied to the image and that sapped a bit of the grain and detail out.  It doesn't look bad, however, the color is fantastic, and overall it is an upgrade from the previous images I've seen on DVD, but it doesn't pop like you expect Blu-rays to do.  I also noted one digital glitch around the 40 minute mark which may have been specific to my copy of the disc, but I'm not sure.  The audio is perfectly fine, with the score and dialogue each punchy and clear and with no distracting pops or hisses.

Kino International released 3 of these De Sica films in The Sophia Loren Award Collection and of the three, this one is the only one with any substantial extras, but boy, howdy it's a good one.  There is a feature length documentary titled Vittorio D from 2009 that is absolutely riveting and gives great background on who De Sica was and why he was important.  Talking head interviews from some of the great filmmakers of the 20th century populate this film.  People like Woody Allen, Clint Eastwood, Federico Fellini, Peter Bogdonavich, John Landis, and many others put their two cents in about De Sica as a director, as an actor, and as a man.  While the tone is appropriately reverent, it doesn't shy away from his shortcomings as a human, though if gambling was his only vice, he'd be a few steps ahead of many directors.  At an hour and a half, this documentary is a wonderful tribute to a giant of cinema, and gives a glimpse into his work like none I've seen.  Watching this back to back with the RAI TV documentaries from Arrow Academy's Blu-ray set of The Bicycle Thieves would make for a wonderful evening learning about one of cinema's great voices.

I can't say that I'm 100% happy with Kino International's presentation of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow for the reasons enumerated above, but I'd say that 97% is still pretty damned good.  The film speaks for itself and will continue to do so for years to come.  Universal truth never goes out of style.  Recommended.

Kino International's Blu-ray of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow is coded for Region A.