Producer Carlo Ponti oversaw some of the most critically and commercially successful movies coming out of Italy in the 1950s and '60s. If the movie he was in charge of looked like it wasn't going to work, he'd just figure out another use for it. Enter writer/director Marco Ferreri and another Ponti financed film, The Man of the Five Balloons. The movie was a satire of capitalist society in which a candy factory owner, played by Marcello Mastroianni, wonders how much air can be forced into a balloon before it bursts. Yes, really. His wonder turns to obsession, even time spent alone with his wife is consumed by finding the correct answer. Ponti gave it a look and decided it was too tedious as a feature film but if cut down to around 30 minutes, it worked just fine. Of course, 30 minutes does not a movie make, so Ponti had two other short subjects thrown together to release with the balloon story as an anthology film.
Needless to say, Ferreri wasn't pleased but, in the end, eventually saw his film released in its original form a few years later. He also stayed on good terms with Ponti because, let's face it, if you worked in the Italian film industry in the '60s and weren't on good terms with Ponti, you weren't going to be in the industry for long.
So what about those other two segments in the anthology? One of them, The Peak Hour was directed by cinema great Eduardo De Filippo, and it concerns a husband who shoots a gun filled with blanks at his wife to keep her in line. Um, okay. The other, directed by Luciano Salce, concerns a man looking to sell his wife off to a harem. Um, okay again.
The stories are absurd, bizarre and racy and all of them star Marcello Mastroianni, with help from Virna Lisi, Catherine Spaak and Pamela Tiffin. When all three parts were edited together and it was time to name it, the choice was easy. Mastroianni was coming off a massive hit with Sophia Loren, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (1963), so the new movie would have a remarkably similar title to play off of that success. Specifically, Today, Tomorrow, and the Day After Tomorrow, but for American release, the title became a pun based off of the last entry about the husband trying to sell his wife to a sheik.
Was it successful? Well, it made its money back but didn't go down as one of Ponti or Mastroianni's finest works. Still, it's fun and ridiculous, although more than a little dated in its attitudes. It remains a shining example of just how much work Carlos Ponti was willing to do to make a buck.
Producer: Carlo Ponti
Directors: Eduardo De Filippo, Marco Ferreri, Luciano Salce
Writers: Marco Ferreri, Rafael Azcona, Eduardo De Filippo, Isabella Quarantotti, Goffredo Parise, Franco Castellano, Giuseppe Moccia, Luciano Salce
Music: Luis Bacalov, Nino Rota, Teo Usuelli
Cinematography: Gianni Di Venanzo, Mario Montuori, Aldo Tonti
Film Editing: Renzo Lucidi, Marcello Malvestito, Adriana Novelli
Production Design: Carlo Egidi, Luigi Scaccianoce, Ferdinando Scarfiotti
Set Decoration: Francesco Bronzi, Gabriele D'Angelo, Dante Ferretti
Cast: Marcello Mastroianni (Mario / Michele / Mario Gasparri), Catherine Spaak (Giovanna), Virna Lisi (Dorotea), Luciano Salce (Arturo Rossi), Pamela Tiffin (Pepita), Lelio Luttazzi (Michele's Friend), Raimondo Vianello (Police Commissioner), Ugo Tognazzi (Driver), William Berger (Benny)
By Greg Ferrara
