Le Carrosse d'or

LE CARROSSE D’OR, adapted very freely from Prosper Mérimée’s “Le Carosse du Saint Sacrément”, takes place in the 18th century and revolves around the golden coach that the viceroy of Peru had delivered from Europe. His mistress hopes that he will give it to her as a love token, but he chooses instead to bestow it on Camilla, the star of a touring commedia dell’arte company from Italy. The viceroy’s ministers threaten to depose him if he goes through with his ruinously extravagant gesture. Camilla resolves the impasse by donating the coach to the bishop of Lima. “My principal collaborator on this film”, renoir recalls in his sketchily autobiography, “was the late Antonio Vivaldi. I wrote the script while listening to records of his music, and his wit and sense of drama led me on to developments in the best tradition of the Italian theater.” Nonetheless, the film, as well as the coach itself, was conceived primarily as a vehicle for the tempestuous talents of Anna Magnani. Renoir considered her incarnation of Camilla “dazzling” and clearly built the film around her. (Andrew Sarris)