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The Patricia Roc Filmography One Night With You Two Cities / Rank UK 1948 92mins Black and White Directed by: Terence Young Cinematography by: Andre Thomas Starring: Nino Maritni, Patricia Roc, Bonar Colleano, Hugh Wakefield, Stanley Holloway Plot Synopsis 
A loose reworking of "It Happened One Night" set in
Italy. A film crew are trying to figure out a movie plot for
a singing star, Giulio, they have managed to sign for their
movie. Script writers struggle but when he arrives they are
still without a story. It turns out the man who has arrived
and they believed to be Giulio is an imposter and then the
real Giulio turns up. Giulo relates what has happened to him
and en route, how his luggage was stolen and he wound up
overnight with a beautiful girl, the daughter of an English
diplomat Mary Santell (Patricia Roc). They are in the middle
of Italy with no money, no papers and no luggage. Meanwhile
Mary's father and husband to be, along with hot blooded
latin lover Piero (Bonar Colleano) chase after them causing
more confusion while trying to agree her future between
them. Giulio relates their adventures until at the end of
his story the film crew realize the whole thing is perfect
for their film the only problem being it lacks a proper
ending. Dutifully the whole entourage arrive exploding onto
the scene and while the producer considers various endings
it's Mary who finally decides the ending. On seeing the film
with the suggested ending (and not liking it), she jumps up
and runs up into the cinema screen to become part of the
film and departs with Giulio so giving it the ending she
desired rather then the one her father, the two men or the
film producer wanted for her.
Commentry
Patricia Roc is gorgeous and plays her part well along with
dog, Floppy. I wonder if that actually was her dog as she
certainly had a similar dog at the time and it was called
Floppy as in the film. (Here is
a picture of her with her dog at a public event at around
the time of this movie - make your own mind up!).
Bonar Colleano plays his part as the hot blooded latin lover
to perfection chasing Pat's character around Italy without
any time for anyone else or any complications that get in
the way. He only stops his relentless pursuit to berate her
father for allowing the situation to happen. Charles Goldner
also puts in an excellent performance as Fogliati the
producer of the film with no story. Christopher Lee appears
in a bit part and Stanley Holloway plays a silent part as
the tramp who steals Giulio's luggage.
One of the most striking features of the movie is towards
the end when Patricia Roc's character jumps up and rushes
into the film screen to become part of the film they are
making (within the film) and ending it the way she wants it to. The
transition from her running up to the screen and then appearing
on screen as part of the film within the film is fairly smoothly done and must've been quite
startling as an idea at the time. It's one of the things
that makes me think that had it not been for the miscast leading
man the film would have been far better
known for it's self-referential aspects. A movie about
people making a movie which is finished by the leading lady
becoming part of the movie within the movie and forcing her
own ending. Of course the idea of moving
between screen and real world is perhaps most famously
explored in Woody Allen's Purple Rose of Cairo.
If you love Nino Martini's singing then perhaps this movie
has no faults at all... (though I'd still argue his acting
leaves something to be desired). If you don't like Nino
Martini's singing then I wouldn't let that put you off
watching as the singing is not too dominant in the film and
there is plenty of plot to keep you entertained.
The fact that the film seems to be a musical rework of Frank
Capra's "It Happened One Night" also explains why it
somehow manages to be a very European style film which
somehow feels a touch American in a difficult to define way.
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