I clowns

I clowns (also known as The Clowns) is a 1970 mockumentary film by Federico Fellini about the human fascination with clowns and circuses.
Plot summary
Cast
Main
Riccardo Billi as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Billi)
Federico Fellini as himself
Gigi Reder as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Reder)
Tino Scotti as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Scotti)
Valentini as himself – Italian Clown
Fanfulla as himself – Italian Clown
Merli as himself – Italian Clown
Carlo Rizzo as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Rizzo)
Colombaioni as Themselves – Italian Clowns (credited as I 4 Colombaioni)
Pistoni as himself – Italian Clown
Martana as Themselves – Italian Clowns (credited as I Martana)
Giacomo Furia as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Furia)
Alvaro Vitali as himself (The Troupe)
Dante Maggio as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Maggio)
Galliano Sbarra as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Sbarra)
Peppino Janigro as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Janigro)
Carini as himself – Italian Clown
Maunsell as himself – Italian Clown
Nino Terzo as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Terzo)
Osiride Pevarello as Clown (Credited as Peverello)
Nino Vingelli as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Vingelli)
Alberto Sorrentino as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Sorrentino)
Fumagalli as himself – Italian Clown
Valdemaro as himself – Italian Clown
Luigi Zerbinati as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Zerbinati)
Ettore Bevilacqua as himself – Italian Clown (credited as Bevilacqua)
Maya Morin as Maya (La troupe)
Anna Lina Alberti as herself – Alvaro's mother (La troupe) (credited as Lina Alberti)
Gasparin as Gasparino (La troupe)
Alex as himself – French Clown
Georges Loriot as himself – French Clown (credited as Père Loriot)
Maïs as himself – French Clown
Bario as himself – French Clown
Ludo as himself – French Clown
Nino as himself – French Clown
Charlie Rivel as himself
Pierre Étaix as himself
Annie Fratellini as herself
Victor Fratellini as himself
Jean-Baptiste Thiérrée as himself (credited as Baptiste)
Tristan Remy as himself
Liana Orfei as herself
Rinaldo Orfei as himself
Nando Orfei as himself
Franco Migliorini as himself – Animal Tamer
Anita Ekberg as herself
Cameo/Uncredited
Maria Grazia Buccella as herself
Aristide Caporale as Railwayman
Victoria Chaplin as herself
Liliana Chiari as herself
Dante Cleri as Fascist
Shirley Corrigan as Audience member
Feverello as himself – Italian Clown
Gustavo Fratellini as himself – Italian Clown
Adelina Poerio as Dwarf nun
Production
The film was made for the Italian TV station RAI with an agreement that it would be released simultaneously as a cinema feature. RAI and co-producer Leone Film compromised on its release, with RAI broadcasting it on Christmas Day, 1970, and Leone Film releasing it theatrically in Italy the following day, December 26, 1970.
It is a docufiction: part reality, part fantasy. The film has sometimes been referred to as one of the first mockumentaries in film history (Woody Allen's Take the Money and Run having been released in just the previous year). Being documentary and fiction in one, The Clowns distinguishes itself by being a mockumentary with unique characteristics, not the least of which is reflecting Fellini's own increasing fascination with how documentary films reflect "reality". Fellini had already explored this semi-fictional documentary genre in 1969's Fellini: A Director's Notebook and would further do so in 1987's Intervista, both of which contain unreliable depictions of Fellini himself making the film within the film narrative.
Reception
The film has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 18 reviews with an average rating of 6.9/10. Film Critic Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four.
References
External links
The Clowns at Rotten Tomatoes
Docufiction films
1970 films
1970s fantasy comedy films
Films directed by Federico Fellini
1970s Italian-language films
Films about clowns
Films with screenplays by Federico Fellini
Films scored by Nino Rota
Italian fantasy comedy films
1970 comedy films
1970s Italian films