Fumo di Londra (internationally released as Smoke Over London and Gray Flannels) is a 1966 Italian comedy film written, directed and starred by Alberto Sordi. For his performance Sordi won the David di Donatello for Best Actor.

Plot

Dante Fontana is an antique dealer from Perugia infatuated with the culture of the British upper classes. His wife and relatives mock him and snub him, seeing him as a silly daydreamer doing no serious work. Unfussed, Dante plans a vacation to London to learn more about the culture he so admires. However, once in London, he struggles to fit in, is awkward, often makes mistakes betraying his Italian origins, attracting the scorn of the British upper classes he would like to impress. After taking part in fox hunting, Dante is invited to the house of an English aristocrat and showed a supposedly ancient Etruscan statuette. Dante says the object is fake and breaks it, provoking the angry reaction of the English who open fire on him. Terrified, Dante hides with a group of hippies and joining them in a demonstration. Arrested, Dante is sent back to Italy where he resumes his monotonous routine.

Fumo di Londra

Belvoir Castle was the location (as country-house of the Duchess of Bradford).

Fumo di Londra

Cast

Alberto Sordi as Dante Fontana

Fiona Lewis as Elizabeth

Amy Dalby as Duchess of Bradford

Alfredo Marchetti as Count Bolla

Clara Bindi as The Wife

Michael Trubshawe as The Colonel

Jean St. Clair as Headmistress

References

External links

1966 films

Italian comedy films

1960s Italian-language films

English-language Italian films

Films directed by Alberto Sordi

Commedia all'italiana

1966 comedy films

Films scored by Piero Piccioni

Films set in London

1960s Italian films

Fumo di Londra