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Goodnight, Ladies and Gentlemen

Goodnight, Ladies and Gentlemen (Signore e signori, buonanotte)

Movie · 1976 · 3 people

Signore e signori, buonanotte, known in English as Goodnight, Ladies and Gentlemen, is a 1976 Italian-French co-production, a satirical anthology comedy. In France it was released as Mesdames et messieurs bonsoir. It is in Italian and runs about 118 minutes.

The film is made of twelve episodes, each with a different writer and director, all credited collectively as "Cooperativa 15 Maggio". The episodes share a theme of corruption in various Italian institutions. Together they satirize a typical day of programming on a public broadcaster, with commercials, investigative reports, dramas and children's shows following one another. Tying it all together is a journalist on the fictional TG3 channel, played by Marcello Mastroianni, who interviews many of the other characters. The satire targets political corruption, the army, the Catholic Church and television itself through exaggerated, grotesque and paradoxical scenes.

The cast also includes Vittorio Gassman, Ugo Tognazzi, Nino Manfredi, Paolo Villaggio, Senta Berger, Adolfo Celi, Felice Andreasi, Andréa Ferréol, Carlo Croccolo, Eros Pagni, Carlo Bagno and Monica Guerritore. The team behind the film includes Luigi Comencini, Nanni Loy, Luigi Magni, Mario Monicelli, Ettore Scola, Furio Scarpelli, Agenore Incrocci, Leonardo Benvenuti, Piero De Bernardi, Ruggero Maccari and Ugo Pirro.

DirectorLuigi Comencini, Nanni Loy

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Cast

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Marcello Mastroianni Marcello Mastroianni Actor · died at 72 Monica Guerritore Monica Guerritore Film actor · 68 years old Luca Sportelli Luca Sportelli Actor · died at 72

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Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Twelve segments, several directors and one shared signature: "Cooperativa 15 Maggio". Bringing together names such as Comencini, Loy, Monicelli and Scola, this anthology builds a clever structure by mimicking a public broadcaster's day on air. The cuts between commercials, investigative journalism, dramas and children's programmes turn form itself into a tool of satire. But the familiar weakness of the anthology format is here too: the gap in quality between segments is noticeable, and the roughly 118-minute running time wears down the impact of the grotesque exaggeration towards the end. Mastroianni's interviewing journalist tying everything together is an elegant solution that keeps the film from falling apart. Valuable for the chance to see the great masters of Italian comedy side by side.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

Few films satirise the distrust of institutions in mid-1970s Italy as directly as this one. Political corruption, the army, the Catholic Church and television itself are all targets, and the critique is presented as an ordinary broadcast day on a public channel. That choice can be read as a deliberate comment on how television shaped the public agenda in those years. The writers and directors signing as a cooperative rather than as individuals also reflects an idea of collective creation. Some references may need historical context for today's viewers, but the relationship between institutions and the media remains as relevant as ever.

Yeşilçam Nostalgic A viewer raised on the classics, looking for warm storytelling and strong acting.

Seeing the great masters of Italian cinema together, from Mastroianni to Gassman, from Tognazzi to Manfredi, is a feast in itself. Yet for an eye that looks for warmth and a moral centre in cinema, the film stays somewhat cold: the satire is sharp, but to my mind the grotesque, exaggerated scenes at times tip over into mere mockery. Of course, the corruption it targets points to a real ill. Mastroianni's elegance lends each segment a touch of humanity. Interesting for lovers of classic Italian comedy, but not a film that touches the heart.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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