‘Torna!’ or — Warning! Contains Geological Jump Scares?

I deliberately kept my expectations low last night for Raffaello Matarazzo’s ‘Torno!’ (1954) because not only was this my first foray into the post-war melodramas of the Italian director, meaning I wasn’t too sure what I was letting myself in for, but that this was meant to be one of Matarazzo’s lesser efforts. Would this be awful? Well, let’s take the plunge and find out.

‘Torna!’ starts off innocuously enough as we observe a man, Roberto (Amedeo Nazzari), arriving at a mansion for the reading of his uncle Ernesto’s will. Also in attendance are his cousins, Susanna (Yvonne Sanson) and Giacomo (Franco Fabrizi), with whom the inheritance will be split. However, Roberto soon discovers Uncle Ernesto died heavily in debt so the inheritance, including the shipyard, is more a financial burden than a gift. Although what Roberto hasn’t discovered is that Susanna and Giacomo were once young lovers (Giacomo still loves Susanna and still has her love letters) but that was many years ago and, besides, for Susanna it was nothing more than a childish infatuation and not true love, true love she now feels for Roberto.

With the inheritance worthless the feckless Giacomo heads off for a life of gambling, travel and loose women whilst Roberto convinces Susanna he can save the shipyard and, with some hard honest work, turn the family’s fortunes around. Yet when Giacomo returns a few years later and finds Roberto is not only on the verge of making the shipyard a success but has also married Susanna and started a family with her Giacomo is determined to not only wrest the business from Roberto but also win back his childhood sweet-heart by any means necessary, something that’s quite achievable considering Giacomo still has Susanna’s letters. Oh no!

So it’s all your usual melodramatic stuff and you can easily imagine this made by Sirk and starring Hudson, Stack and Bacall. Except what I’ve described is only the first twenty minutes or so (this film has so much going on in it) with the movie soon careening into legitimately bonkers territory covering everything from — blackmail, extortion, corporate takeovers, gaslighting, attempted rape, physical assault, accidental murder, potential infanticide, cuckolding, insanity and natural disasters. So while the film might seem somewhat mundane on its surface narratively it’s barreling along at a furious rate of knots.

And it’s all really nicely put together with each decision or moment of action leading, inevitably, onto the next piece of ridiculousness.

For example — that opening shot of Roberto arriving at the mansion is far from innocuous but carefully placed because it allows us to see him arriving alone and entering a location that’s explicitly the domain of a pre-existing unit, a unit that might now be planning to ruin him. So everything we see is paid off and everything that’s paid off has already been set up and the way it all fits together is highly satisfying, albeit totally nuts.

Another great example is when Roberto is talking to his daughter on the phone and she tells him that her baby doll is broken, and it just so happens this is the exact moment Roberto has been told his wife might be having an affair so we know he knows exactly how she feels. Subtle? God no, but it’s effective as hell.

What’s also a blast is the dialogue with lines such as — “I’ll forget you one day because hatred wipes out memories”, or “My only aim in life is to destroy your happiness” and my personal favourite “Does my jealousy flatter your ego?”

Although the best part of the film, and something I think is a stroke of genius by Matarazzo, is when the editing starts quickly cutting between the plights of three separate, desperate women. The music builds, thunder booms, lightning flashes, emotions reach fever pitch and we know there has to be a climax, but what will it be? Then — BOOM! One of them is suddenly killed by a landslide.

What’s remarkable about this is how is comes completely out of nowhere. Sure, like everything else, the threat of a potential landslide had already been previously mentioned but when it happens it’s so fast and dramatic it’s like it’s a serial killer or horror movie monster pouncing on its victim… and it’s awesome.

Sure, the sexual politics are all over the place with the female roles reduced to being either hussies, suffering mothers or widows driven mad with grief but they’re also, by far, the more interesting characters to watch and the performances are wonderful. They also get to wear some outstanding outfits with Yvonne Sanson getting a number of particularly stunning costumes to uncontrollably weep in.

I was shocked at how much I got into ‘Torna!’ (it’s a very compelling watch) and if this is an example of Matarazzo’s average work then I can’t wait to see some of his good stuff. I spoke to someone from Italy only last week and they informed me that his movies were incredibly popular on TV sets in nursing homes during the 1990’s (apparently this was Berlusconi’s attempting to woo the elderly vote). What can we learn from this? I have no idea other than I now, obviously, have the same taste in cinema as a 120 year old Italian pensioner.