| Allegro non troppo | |
| Starring: | Maurizio Micheli Maurizio Nichetti Néstor Garay Maurialuisa Giovannini |
| Director: | Bruno Bozzetto |
| Producer: | Bruno Bozzetto [1] |
| Cinematography: | Mario Masini |
| Studio: | Bruno Bozzetto Film Ministero del Turismo e dello Spettacolo (uncredited) |
| Distributor: | Roxy International (1977) (Italy) Specialty Films (1977) (USA) (subtitled) |
| Runtime: | 85 minutes |
| Country: | Italy |
| Language: | Italian |
| Music: | Recordings from Deutsche Grammophon |
Allegro non troppo is a 1976 Italian animated film directed by Bruno Bozzetto. Featuring six pieces of classical music, the film is a parody of Walt Disney's 1940 feature film Fantasia, two of its segments being derived from the earlier film.[2] The classical pieces are set to color animation, ranging from comedy to deep tragedy.[3]
At the beginning, in between the animation, and at the end, there are black and white live-action sequences, displaying the fictional animator, orchestra, conductor and filmmaker, with many humorous scenes about the fictional production of the film.[2] Some of these sections mix animation and live action.[4]
The film was released in two versions. The first includes live action sequences in between the classical pieces; the second version of the film omits these, replacing them with animated Plasticine letters spelling out the title of the next piece of music.
While Allegro non troppo spoofs its source, The Walt Disney Company has been positively receptive towards the film. Disney veteran Ward Kimball would recommend the Boléro segment to his animation students, and the Walt Disney Family Museum held an exhibit on Bruno Bozzetto, featuring his work on the film.[5]
In music, an instruction of "allegro ma non troppo" means to play "fast, but not overly so". Without the "ma", the Italian sentence should be rewritten as "non troppo allegro", which literally means "not so happy", and in musical terms it could be interpreted as "not too fast". While "allegro ma non troppo" bears a positive connotation (as in "happy, just not so much"), "non troppo allegro" sounds more negative (as in "not really that happy").
All of the recordings used in the film were courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon.
The uncut film also contains comic live action sequences, in black and white blended with occasional color animations, that parody the Deems Taylor introductions from Fantasia. "The Presenter" (Maurizio Micheli) starts off with an exaggerated version of Taylor's opening introduction in Fantasia ("A new and original film" .. "you will see the music and hear the drawings" .. "a fantasia") only to be interrupted by a phone call from California informing him that the film had already been done. He angrily objects, dismissing the caller as an ill-mannered liar, explaining to the audience that the caller claims that someone ("Prisney", "Grisney", "some American") had done this years before, then telling the caller to at least watch the film, and hangs up. Next the Presenter introduces "The Orchestra Master" (Néstor Garay) and an orchestra made up of little old ladies as the Orchestra Master roughly rounds them up from a cattle pen into a large trailer for transport to the theater. As the trailer heads out to the theater the Presenter exults, "Pisney has already done this?". Lastly before the first animated music segment (Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune), the Presenter introduces "The Animator" (Maurizio Nichetti).[2] as the Orchestra Master retrieves him from a dungeon-like cell in which the Animator ("a free artist") has been chained to a wall (as the Presenter puts it: "a binding contract based on trust and mutual respect"). A pretty young cleaning woman (Marialuisa Giovannini) also appears in each segment, although she is barely acknowledged by any of the characters except the Animator (who seems to take an increasing fancy to her as the film progresses). Each sequence portrays action (like the tossing of a Coca-Cola bottle) that leads directly into the next animated portion of the film and occasionally includes references to a previous segment (such as a chamber pot appearing on the Orchestra Master's head or the female bee and the serpent from their respective segments appearing briefly in the subsequent live-action sequences). After the "Bolero" segment, a gorilla (inspired by the animated character in the Boléro) also appears a few times, first chasing then dancing with The Animator, then later beating up the Orchestra Master who has attacked the Animator. After the Firebird sequence, the Animator transforms the cleaning woman into a cartoon fairy tale princess and himself into a prince (apparently resembling the titular character and her Prince from Walt Disney's 1937 film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) before both float away, thus leaving the Presenter and Orchestra Master without a finale. This leads into the epilogue sequence.[7]
| Character | Original actor[8] | English voice |
|---|---|---|
| The Presenter | Maurizio Micheli | Unknown |
| The Animator | Maurizio Nichetti | |
| The Orchestra Master | Néstor Garay | |
| The Cleaning Girl | Maurialuisa Giovannini | |
| Man in Gorilla costume | Osvaldo Salvi |
Allegro non troppo holds a 89% "Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 19 reviews. Film journalist Phil Hall wrote that the Valse triste sequence was "genuinely heartbreaking" and "one of the most beautiful [sequences] in animation history."[9]
Allegro non troppo was given a Critics' Referendum Prize at the Yellow Kid Awards in Lucca in 1976.[10]