The Battle of the Villa Fiorita

I saw this movie as a teenager when it came out. Typical of its time and genre. Two kids go alone across Europe to bring their mom, who has left dad for new man, back to dad. Great scenery. O K young teenager travel adventure fantasy. O'Hara and Brazzi OK but film stolen by kids. A young Olivia Hussey prior to her starting in Romeo and Juliet. The result of their attempt is in keeping with the morals of its time.

While this should have been a rousing success given the stars (Richard Todd none other in a support role) it is lamed by a hopeless script in which a selfish woman (O'Hara) runs off to have an affair pursued by her pretty awful kids. The lover has a daughter (Hussey) who for some reason joins in the plot to separate the lovers and falls in love with the boy. The whole thing is unpleasant and it is difficult to know who is worse, the kids or the adults, so when Hussey gets a (well deserved) spanking from her father you just want to boot his backside to wake him up to his own responsibilities. All together a complete waste of time.

Delmer Daves created some of the great lush romantic dramas of my youth such as A Summer Place, Parrish and Rome Adventure all starring Troy Donahue, and then also at WB directed Spencer's Mountain starring Henry Fonda and Maureen O Hara. Daves then cast the beautiful Maureen in this film shot in Italy. In her book 'Tis Herself Ms. O Hara said she was simply aghast when seeing the rushes she noted that her face was shot with shadows. At first I did not believe a major star would be photographed against her wishes and that the veteran renowned cinematographer Oswald Morris held a grudge against the lovely star because of a football bet! Whether this is true or not, the fact is that La O Hara one of the cinema's great beauties has some scenes that back up her complaint.

I thought the film was fine and the casting of Ms. O Hara with Rosonna Brazzi who was in Daves' Rome Adventure as well- also very fine. The location shot were gorgeous.

If you're looking for a different type of role for the prim and proper Maureen O'Hara, check out the romantic drama The Battle at Villa Fiorita. She has a devoted wealthy husband, Richard Todd, two children, and a place in society in England. But when she meets visiting Italian Rossano Brazzi (no, this isn't a different type of role for him), she realizes her life will be empty without him. A whirlwind romance, and she leaves her family to join him in Italy. Can you believe it?

Richard is devastated and humiliated, but he lets her go without a fight. If she's that determined to wreck their home, nothing he says will convince her to stay. Their children, Martin Stephens and Elizabeth Dear, aren't of the same mind, and they make it their mission to go to Italy and bring Maureen home. Once there, Rossano tries to win them over with great efforts, but they team up with his pre-teen daughter, Olivia Hussey, who also doesn't approve of the match.

For someone like me, who particularly doesn't like children, I wouldn't recommend this movie. I was cringing the entire time, wishing bad things would happen to the kids when they tried to sabotage their parents. I kept thinking that when the children grow up and have romantic relationships of their own, they'll continue to be selfish and mean-spirited. If their own children try to interfere, they'll go right ahead with their own interests and tell themselves they'll be better parents if they're happy - that they'll be setting a good example to put themselves first. Where did they learn that behavior? Certainly not from their own parents. Maureen and Rossano suffer terribly when their children are unhappy, and they don't subscribe to the theory of putting their own happiness first as a good example.

Watching The Battle Of The Villa Fiorita I was struck at how similar this was to another Maureen O'Hara film, The Parent Trap. This is a great example of how one can take the same plot situation and treat it either comically or quite seriously. In this case the comic treatment was far better.

Maureen O'Hara is a 40 something wife and mother who experiences a mid life crisis. While part of a welcoming committee for concert pianist Rossano Brazzi the two of them begin an affair that breaks up Maureen's home and hearth, the one she shares with husband Richard Todd and children Martin Stephens and Elizabeth Dear.

Todd's not happy, but willing to let things go. But the kids are determined one way or another that the Brazzi/O'Hara marriage will never take place. Curiously enough when they hitchhike to Italy they find a willing ally in Olivia Hussey who is Brazzi's daughter. Brazzi is a widower, still Hussey wants no one taking her mother's place.

The kids use all kinds of wiles and strategies to break their parents up. Nothing with any parent trap like cuteness, this film never would have been done for Disney. It ends with an uncertain future for all concerned.

If there's a message here it misses the mark considerably. If you think you'll be seeing Maureen O'Hara after reading the description in another Parent Trap than The Battle Of The Villa Fiorita will disappoint you greatly. It doesn't quite cut it as drama either.