MORE THAN A MIRACLE (1967)
aka C’era una volta…
Article 1869 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-27-2006
Posting Date: 9-24-2006
Directed by Francesco Rosi
Featuring Sophia Loren, Omar Sharif, Georges Wilson

A willful prince meets and falls in love with a fiery peasant girl, but the path of true love never runs smooth…

Usually I like quirky movies, but I’m afraid that this one does nothing for me. I like some of the touches (a flying monk, an eccentric chef, a miracle involving three thousand eggs, and a dish washing competition), but the movie has a way of making all these touches seem rather pointless. It also doesn’t help that I don’t care much for either of the main characters, even if they’re being played by two very charismatic actors, Sophia Loren and Omar Sharif; the prince in particular comes across as mean-spirited, and I really don’t find myself caring at all whether they get together at the end of the story. The dubbing is fairly decent, but that’s usually the case when a movie seems to be slated more for the art house circuit. I suspect most men will like the dish-washing sequence the best; Sophia Loren certainly knew how to make such a mundane task look incredibly sexy.