Mr. Rossi Looks for Happiness (1976)
Where? Far from home,from work and his boss, far from city traffic and his alarm clock, far from the monotony of his life... The farthest away possible. Travelling against time, visiting places of other centuries. How? Thanks to a magic whistle given him by "Fairy Sicura" the most nutty, thoughtless, happy fairy still to be seen around. A golden whistle which can catapult him back into prehistory, or in ancient Rome, in Medieval time, on a desert island, in Fairy tale land, in ancient Egypt, in the far West or in the future.With whom? He travels with Gastone, his boss'dog, tiny,naive and a little bit spoiled : after many adventures he will realize how much more valuable a friend is rather than a cream pie. Will he find it? Yes, but not in the past, not in other centuries, full of incredible and miserable adventures for him. Happiness was much closer,at hand's reach. He only had to think about it... Isnt that right, Mr Rossi?
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Reviews
Undescribable Perfection
Simply Perfect
Excellent adaptation.
It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny
VOICES: Friedrich W. Bauschulte (Signor Rossi), Edgar Ott (Gastone, the dog), Arnold Marquis (the boss), Inge Wolffberg (the over-confident fairy), Wolfgang Draeger, Jürgen Thormann (other voices).Director: BRUNO BOZZETTO. Screenplay: Bruno Bozzetto, Guido Manuli, Maurizio Nichetti. Music: Franco Godi. Animators: Franco Pacifico, Flora Sperotto, Edo Cavalli, Giorgio Valentini, Massimo Vitetta, Anna Pezzotta, Gianfranco Pirovano. Backgrounds: Antonio Dall Osso. Photographed in Eastman Color by Enzo Lucchesi, Ugo Magni. Film editors: Ugo Micheli, Giancarlo Rossi. Animation technicians: Carlo Caccialanza, Fabio Andreoni. Music composed, arranged and conducted by Franco Godi. Art director: Guido Manuli. Producer: Bruno Bozzetto.Copyright 1976 by Bruno Bozzetto Film. German release: 4 March 1976. Italian release as Signor Rossi cerca la Felicitá: 25 November 1978 (sic). German release as Herr Rossi sucht das Glück. 81 minutes (German version); 75 minutes (Italian version). Also known as Mr Rossi Looks for Happiness, Mr Rossi Searches for Happiness. British TV title: The Fantastic Adventures of Mr Rossi. SYNOPSIS: Rossi is a plump, little, middle-aged man who lives alone in a small apartment in a big city. Rossi doesn't have much of a future. By day, he works as a packer in a fish factory, right under the beady eyes of his rich-as-Croesus boss (who lives in a luxury apartment at the top of the same block of units, but doesn't bother giving Rossi a lift to work and then lowers the boom if he reports in a few seconds late). By night, even the neighbor's dog barks at Rossi. In all, his life is miserable. But then, enters a Fata Sicura (as she is called in both the Italian and German versions). Hard to translate. The Germans gave up and didn't even try. A fata in Italian is a fairy. Sicura means safe, secure, confident, and even reliable. But of course, although she is confident enough, this fairy godmother is not so safe, secure or reliable, so the title is being used ironically. Anyway, she presents Rossi with a magic whistle that enables him to travel through time and space (presumably to find a happier place). Rossi is joined on these journeys by the dog-next-door. His first adventure takes him to prehistoric times where he falls into the lap of a huge, plump dinosaur. Next up is Ancient Rome. He also drops into Ancient Egypt, the Future, the Middle Ages, and the American Wild West; in addition, he tangles with pirates and fairy tale characters. Both the German and Italian DVDs also include two short cartoons including the technically rough and rather primitive An Oscar for Mr Rossi (1960).NOTES: Sequels are Herr Rossi traümt or I sogni del signor Rossi (1978); Die Ferien des Herrn Rossi or Le Vacanze del signor Rossi (1981).COMMENT: Bruno Bozzetto directed Allegro Non Troppo (1977), that wonderful send-up of Walt Disney's Fantasia. An absolute delight though that film is, this one is not only funnier but far more engaging. Rossi is a stroke of genius, the little man who battles against all odds, including a garrulous Fata who is not so secura. But despite all reverses, and everything that Fate can fly at him, he still carries on. The incidents are outrageous but exciting; the jokes clever and often subtle. All the characters are skilfully drawn and most engagingly played, particularly by the four credited principals. (Whoever plays the brilliantly designed hobby horse also deserves congratulations). Technically, the film is always a joy just to watch. The animation is perfect, the music score a delight (the songs are especially catchy and inventive), the editing swift (except of course when the dottily garrulous Fata floods the screen) and many of the backgrounds are marvels of beautiful design and masterly inspiration.I watched the German NewKSM DVD version rather than the Italian, as it runs 6 minutes longer. I assume the superb technical quality of the German disc is duplicated in the Italian version.
The pathetic, little image of proletarian Mr. Rossi packing fish in a factory and being constantly humiliated by his boss has lingered in my mind and my life since I first saw the series on Spanish television as a child. So many years later, I've managed to get a tape with the "Mr.Rossi looks for Happiness" movie (what was aired on TV was the movie fragmented into episodes). Now that I write for television and that I am a University professor teaching European Television, I understand, even more,how marvelous and humane Mr. Rossi was. My students are American, and whenever they tell me how "countercultural" The Simpsons or South Park are, I make them watch "Mr. Rossi Looks for Happiness". Have you ever seen a more acute criticism of our society? If you want to know more about that series, contact me. I'll be publishing an article on it soon.
I used to watch a lot of television when I was a boy. And one cartoon that has always stayed dear to my heart was "Die Avonture van Mnr Rossi." Of course, that was a translated from Italian, with the three movies divided into a series of aproximately 20 minutes each. That would have made the series about 12 episodes. I'm not even sure if the series was translated from an earlier foreign series or just divided up by the local broadcaster. But still these cartoons that have reached animation cult classic status in continental Europe are far better, in a certain sense, than any of the cartoons that the US comes up with.Signor Rossi is about the adventures of a big nosed man and his dog and their sureal situations that they find themselves in. It is much better than Animaniacs, although there is less anarchy and more character building. Not that developes a lot, really, but it shows that it has at least depth."Signor Rossi cerca la felicità" specifically, although the second movie, it is really, chronologically, the first.Rossi is a small man who has formed a routine. He eats his breakfast (overlooking his heartless boss' mansion who just happens to be his neighbour), gets attacked by Gastone (Harold in the English versions) the Boss' dog, works at a fish-packing plant, then goes home and eat a fish. The routine is driving him nuts and he calls out for help!Suddenly a Fairy godmother appears on a wooden horse and hands him a magic whistle that let's him travel through time and space! Soon Rossi and Gastone go the Middle Ages, ancient Egypt and the bizarre fairy land. And all this with truly SUREAL song numbers. The Cannibal's Song (Boo-Boo-Bo-Hanna-Boo) is the most memmorable of them all, next to "Tut-Ankhkamen Cha-cha-cha" and in "Mr Rossi's Dream" the "Cat Blues Tune". These songs have no real words, not even in Italian, but they are great! Moulin Rouge, beware!Mr Rossi, unlike Tintin the Reporter (one of my favourites), Superman, Batman, Asterix, et cetera is that it Mr Rossi is an everyman. He could be you, me, anyone! His dreams of breaking free from routine and finding happiness is really what we all desire!Does the movie has a message? Sure! But that would be giving away the ending! The other two movies don't really have messages or character building, but they are great!Three cheers for Bonzotto!I wouldn't mind having this on DVD!