THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO (1972, Italy)

The Adventures
of Pinocchio

(aka PINOCCHIO, UN BURATTINO DI NOME PINOCCHIO)
(1972, Italy) color animated 95 minutes
Cartoons Cinematografica Italiana
Story: Carlo Collodi
Screenplay: Albert D'Angelo
Music: Vito Tommaso (as "Victor Thomas"), Renato Rascel
Cinematography: Renzo Cenci (as "Ralph Cenci")
Art Direction: Italo Marrozi (as "Earl Martin")
Directed by: Giuliano Cenci (as "Jesse Vogel")

English-Language Version:
(178) N.W. Russo / G.G. Communciations

Plot Outline:

I originally presumed this to be a condensation of a TV serial, but from checking the Italian title in Google, it seems to have been released theatrically. It's basically a very straightforward and faithful retelling of the Collodi story, with some incidents from the book not dramatized, but instead depicted as expository B & W "illustrations" in a story book appearing on the screen accompanied by a British sounding narrator.

The animation itself is 'adequate' -- nothing more, but certainly nothing less, as it is far superior to any of the limited junk perpetrated for several decades on American TV. As always (in my opinion) the problem is the American dubbing which is generally flat, and the inappropriate music (which I don't know is Italian or US dubbed) which alternates between a marching flute number and 70s sounding pop. I'm still not sure how to describe the latter music. Mid-70s disco perhaps?
-- Marc Berezin

Video/DVD availability: VHS (out of print)