Smog (1962) User Reviews

Los Angeles on Film

[dre-27 · 8/10 · 8 April 2008]

I went to see this wondering if there was any connection to Italo Calvino's short story, "La nuvola di Smog." There wasn't, but I did find a nice little cinematic gem. There is a lot of interest among some Angelenos in seeing Los Angeles depicted in films, especially "lost" films like this one, which have not been seen since their initial release and are not on DVD. This film shows some interesting locations, from the opening at LAX to Sunset and Hollywood Boulevards, to oil fields in (what is referred to as) Culver City. ( There are of course drills still pumping near Culver City, along La Cienega, but I could not tell if this was that same location in 1962 ). It's interesting to see what's changed and what has stayed the same. Beyond just the physical locations, it's interesting to see the portrayal of an ex-pat community in Los Angeles, since communities of foreign-born people, like the landmarks, are characteristic of the city. In 2008, I have not encountered any large community of Italian-born people in LA, and I wondered whether this reflected a reality in 1962 that has since changed. But the attitudes and ideas could be transposed to Korean or Latin-American or what-have-you. It's a simple set-up: A lawyer from Italy has a stopover in LA on his way to handle a case in Mexico. He is released from the airport without passing through immigration by an airline attendant who keeps his ID. He intends to do some brief sightseeing in Hollywood, but quickly discovers that the real Hollywood is nothing like what he imagined. Unable to function in English, he quickly falls in with various Italian ex-pats, making friends with their affluent well-connected American contacts. Most of the Italian people Vittorio comes in contact with are hustling different jobs, installing stereo equipment, teaching Italian language to rich housewives, doing caricature artwork, etc. One of them, Mario, is a particularly ambitious Jack-of-all-trades type who sinks below Vittorio's standard of morality with his credo of "A little ingenuity, a lot of nerve." Vittorio sees himself in a different class of people than most of the countrymen he meets in Los Angeles. When asked by an airline attendant if he would like to pass time in a waiting room with an Italian couple he'd met on the plane, Vittorio shrugs them off, saying, "They're just some immigrants I met on the plane. Italians are OK in Italy, but..." He seems to find much more in common with the affluent people he meets at a Pasadena cocktail party, even if they mispronouce his name, insist that he is the "ambassador of somewhere," or generally rely on him for entertainment. I read the film as a statement on the difficulty of connecting on an honest human level with anyone in the city, regardless of their language or nationality. It's a familiar theme in many movies about Los Angeles, and is explored visually through Vittorio's outsider perspective. At times, the "smog" layer which inhibits human contact is so thick (as in a bowling alley's barroom, choked with cigarette smoke) that it is nearly impossible to see the faces in front of you. Race, class and language are the obvious barriers dividing people, but even Mario and Gabriela, who shared a language, culture and situation as foreigners, seemed to be pursuing dreams on parallel but separate paths, only overlapping when they needed the comfort of each other. In this regard, although Smog may have originally been made primarily for an Italian audience (not sure about this, but it is mostly English-subtitled Italian language), it belongs solidly among the ranks of other films about LA, many of which observe the isolation of its people.

Exceptional film

[Massimolazio · 10/10 · 3 March 2002]

Amazing Italian film directed by the great Franco Rossi. He was able to show, with a great style and costume satire, a day spent in Los Angeles by an Italian visitor accidentally there for 24 hours while waiting for his visa. Brilliantly acted by a superb cast that includes Enrico Maria Salerno, Renato Salvatori and Annie Girardot and beautifully shot in a sumptuous black and white, this masterpiece of a film still remains after forty years since it was made, the perfect portrait of the city of LA and some of the residents. No movie has ever showed the Los Angeles life in such a funny, romantic, nostalgic way. It is a rare, unique film. Do not miss it, if you can find it!