[THE
SKIN screens Saturday May 23rd
at 5:00 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]
Review
by Bob Ignizio
Set
in 1943 Naples as American forces are driving the last of the Nazis
out of Italy, THE SKIN
shows the lengths regular people will go to in order to survive. For
the most part this is shown from the perspective of Curzio Malaparte
(Marcello Mastroianni), a pragmatist doing his best to use his
position as liaison to the American forces, led by General Mark Clark
(Burt Lancaster), to help his own people. When he's not doing that,
Malaparte tries to find time to romance Princess Consuelo Caracciolo
(Claudia Cardinale). American soldier Jimmy Wren (Ken Marshall) acts
as Malaparte's assistant and enjoy the company of Italian women,
including a possible real romance with Maria Concetta (Lilliana
Tari). There's also an Americna Senator's wife and ace pilot, Deborah
Wyatt (Alexandra King), who wants to see firsthand how operations are
going. Since General Clark doesn't want her getting in his way, he
pawns her off on Malaparte.
