"The Young Montalbano" MUCH better than the older one.....

[Dave2002]

I wonder what will happen when the two time-periods collide; it can't be long now.

Having now watched more of the youncger one than I had when this thread began, I think the 'earlier' characters are even more stereotypical. But I enjoy both. I pretend I'm practising my Italian.

Yes, but it's quite an odd form of Italian I think.

I actually do like the old one - but the picture quality in some of the sequences is diabolically awful. Is that deliberate, or did the series start in the analogue era, and nobody thought that digital was coming, or would catch on?

[jean]

Most of it is standard Italian - I asked an Italian friend to bring me a Sicilian dictionary for the bits I couldn't understand, but she said it isn't proper Sicilian. She brought me instead I luoghi di Montalbano: una guida so that I can make a pilgrimage around the places I see on TV (if I ever get round to it).

[slarty]

hi Dave, nobody realised it was going to be such a world wide hit. Some of the early episodes are from 1998-99 and were not thought of as anything else as only for Italian domestic consumption and were probably made with a much lower budget than now. Mrs Slarty and I have been travelling around some of the best known of the locations during the last few days. It is a wonderful part of Sicily to visit.
The language of the series Is pretty straight Italian with the odd well known Sicilian word thrown in.
Anyone wanting to stay in the "Montalbano house" need look no further than
lacasadimontalbano.com
check it out, we did and are here.

[johncorrigan]

hi Dave, nobody realised it was going to be such a world wide hit. Some of the early episodes are from 1998-99 and were not thought of as anything else as only for Italian domestic consumption and were probably made with a much lower budget than now. Mrs Slarty and I have been travelling around some of the best known of the locations during the last few days. It is a wonderful part of Sicily to visit.
The language of the series Is pretty straight Italian with the odd well known Sicilian word thrown in.
Anyone wanting to stay in the "Montalbano house" need look no further than
lacasadimontalbano.com
check it out, we did and are here.

V jealous, slarty. Me and Mrs C are convinced that one day we'll get there. Glad to hear there's some new ones coming.

[johncorrigan]

Just caught up with the first of the new series on BBC4. Have to say I think YM is so much more interesting and funny and enjoyable than M and that was certainly the case in this new episode. It's up against a lot of competition in the schedules just now but holds its own very well, I think.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06vn81l/the-young-montalbano-series-2-1-the-man-who-followed-funerals

[Anna]

Just caught up with the first of the new series on BBC4. Have to say I think YM is so much more interesting and funny and enjoyable than M

I saw last night's episode (having dismissed Old Montelbano as unwatchable) No-one told me it was a comedy! I confess I enjoyed it as well! (even tho the film quality is dire)

[eighthobstruction]

....it's a laugh isn't....the telegraphed interpersonal relationship plots....the quirks of characters (Ikeep expecting the receptionist cop to appear with a parrot on his shoulder)....I love the way the cast gets behind the plot/subplot of the week (like Dads Army)....I enjoy the raw baldy side humour .... the landscape/ the tourism possibilityies ( much like that John Thaw serial ref Provence). The dust and sea....Oh and especially the bad acting (the professor last night was particularly impressive)....it's a romp /a lark on a cold Sat' evening....it's wallpaper, there when we have all got in from walking the dog, when we are finished reading our heavy lists, our quilting, etc and like....

....I never liked the infidelity in Old M....

[johncorrigan]

....it's a laugh isn't....the telegraphed interpersonal relationship plots....the quirks of characters (Ikeep expecting the receptionist cop to appear with a parrot on his shoulder)....I love the way the cast gets behind the plot/subplot of the week (like Dads Army)

I agree eighth. I find myself laughing a lot during the programme. I loved the bit about the tennis last night - he's great that cop - never does things right in Salvo's eyes. The uniformed cops remind me of characters from Jacques Tati's 'Jour de Fete'.

....The dust and sea....Oh and especially the bad acting (the professor last night was particularly impressive)..

The young boy, Christian I think was his name, was particularly bad at grieving...and the sexy unfaithful wife as well... ...adds to the laughs.

....I never liked the infidelity in Old M....

Me neither.

[Nick Armstrong]

....it's a laugh isn't....the telegraphed interpersonal relationship plots....the quirks of characters (Ikeep expecting the receptionist cop to appear with a parrot on his shoulder)....I love the way the cast gets behind the plot/subplot of the week (like Dads Army)....I enjoy the raw baldy side humour .... the landscape/ the tourism possibilityies ( much like that John Thaw serial ref Provence). The dust and sea....Oh and especially the bad acting (the professor last night was particularly impressive)....it's a romp /a lark on a cold Sat' evening...

I'm a week behind - watched the first one last night, from last Saturday.

Have to say there was not too much bad acting there; and it did nothing to displace my love of this series which launched this thread. The comic elements seem to work, somehow - the running gags in the police station work, I think because of Montalbano's way of reacting, sort of deadpan plus flare-ups of irritation which make me chuckle and remind me of my Roman friends. He really is very good, Michele Riondino - so many little understated touches, like the look he gave the waiter in the 'mafia' café when he was served once the 'mafioso' had arrived, having been refused before; his reactions to food &c &c.

A particular reason I like it is the subtle conveying of the 1990s setting - basically the cars and the absence of mobile phones. The early 1990s were when I spent most time in Italy, not quite that far south, but Rome - Naples, and the sight of those cars transports me (excuse pun!). It was then that I was driving a Lancia Beta 'Integrale' - I was thinking early in the programme that we were unlikely to see one of those down in Sicily... and then lo and behold, the 'mafioso' in the above café scene turns up in a red one (mine was graphite grey ). I almost had to suppress a sob...

I saw last night's episode (having dismissed Old Montelbano as unwatchable) No-one told me it was a comedy! I confess I enjoyed it as well! (even tho the film quality is dire)

Do try and see the first one too, Anna, on iplayer (link in one of johnc's posts below).

But I'm surprised to read you think the film quality is dire! Old Montalbano looked bad - but these YMs are in High Def. on my screen, they look wonderful I think. There's some lovely filming too, which is an additional layer of pleasure - that scene when the 'funeral follower' is stabbed - off screen, seen only in shadow, and then two of his ?apples roll back across the cobbles in vision... Or the cut from YM and inspector refusing food at the witnesses' home due to being 'on duty', to them tucking into melanzane parmigiana with the family

And the shots of the house........

Anyone wanting to stay in the "Montalbano house" need look no further than

http://lacasadimontalbano.com

check it out, we did and are here.

Goddammit slarty!!!! Rarely have I been so envious on this Forum!! I really dream of that house (see my #1 above!!)... daydream about retirement weeks and months spent there, visits there... . A mere Euromillions rollover win, and it's mine !!

But I'm equally grateful - I didn't know it was a B&B. It shall receive a visit, Euromillions or no !!

[teamsaint]

OT, I'd like to stay in one of those " Prisoner" houses in Portmerion.

Anyway, Look forward to your photo booth snaps from Montalbano's pad, in the not too distant, Cals.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I seem to be the only person in Britain who enjoyed "Bald Montalbano" nearly as much as the younger version - the bad actors were a feature there, too; I often wondered if they were famous faces from Italian TV; the equivalent of Emmerdale actors turning up in Midsomer or Death in Paradise (both of which I never miss, either); the Mafia boss bald Montalbano used to visit frequently was a real prosciutto. Comedy was less well integrated into the older series; usually the bad slapstick of Catarella - and this sometimes jarred distastefully against some of the more serious plots (the child prostitution racket particularly). But the scenery (and the sea-nery) of the locations in both series I could gaze on for hours - as I could the smile of Sarah Felberbaum, which just makes me melt ...


And then there's the FOOD! Time was after "Bald Montalbano" we'd be famished - and Sundays were reserved for "Montalbano Dinners": fish and/or seafood; white wine and cream sauces; pasta ...

[jean]

I seem to be the only person in Britain who enjoyed "Bald Montalbano" nearly as much as the younger version...

No. you're not; I'm still not sure that I don't enjoy the older one more. I caught up with a YM from last August before starting on the new ones, and the stereotyping was just as bad, and in the case of Mimi, worse. I rather like the older Mimi.

...the bad actors were a feature there, too; I often wondered if they were famous faces from Italian TV; the equivalent of Emmerdale actors turning up in Midsomer or Death in Paradise...

I've never thought they were all that bad; Italians just behave a bit like that IRL.

I have to keep reminding myself that the sexism is a bit how Italians behave, too. But there's no excuse for for the too-frequent ageism.

[Anastasius]

Young Montalbano is the best cure for insomnia I have come across. Five minutes and one is in the Land of the Nod. Excellent.

[Nick Armstrong]

Young Montalbano is the best cure for insomnia I have come across. Five minutes and one is in the Land of the Nod. Excellent.

[kernelbogey]

I recommend the books. Camillieri (at least in English) has a simple style, direct language, short chapters. The translator, Stephen Sartorelli, adds helpful notes at the back on some of the more obscure Sicilian dishes, and political scandals that may not have reached UK/US newspapers.

The 'Older' Montalbano series were, it seemed to me, direct versions of the original novels. I haven't checked the credits carefully enough on the YM series, but I'd guess they're all from plots newly ceated for tv about 'the character Commisario Montalbano created by Camilleri'. Some of old Montalbanos were too, IIRC.

Re Livia/Boehm voice - aren't all Italian movies dubbed, as a matter of production routine? Many actors have someone else as their 'voice', e.g Marcello Mastroianni.