Catherine Spaak: The Year in Review - 1971

September 12, 1971 Italian TV magazine

As 1971 started, Catherine was still working with Johnny Dorelli, as they toured Italy with their stage production of Promises, Promises.

• The January 27, 1971 Variety reported that the "Johnny Dorelli-Catherine Spaak troupe touring 'Promises, Promises,' head for San Remo Casino last four days of Jan."

I am not yet sure of when Catherine was formally divorced from Fabrizio Capucci, but apparently it was official (or at least well on its way to being official) by July of 1971, based on an article in Time.

• Time, in the July 12, 1971 edition included an article called "Italy:  Undoing the Gordian Knot" about the difficulty of divorcing in Italy.  The article notes that "Aside from a few celebrities such as Vittorio De Sica, Maria Callas and Catherine Spaak, those who do go through the struggle in the courts are usually middle-class people anxious to legalize long-term liaisons and second families."  

By the summer of 1971, Catherine was in the U.S. for the filming of Un uomo dalla pelle dura in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

• The July 28, 1971 Variety reported:   "Franco Prosperi stepped in for director Alberto De Martino on 'Tough Guy' now filming in Albuquerque with Robert Blake and Catherine Spaak for Cinegai."

• The August 11, 1971 Variety reported:  "Cast of Cinegai's 'Tough Guy' is topped by Robert Blake, Ernest Borgnine, Catherine Spaak, Gabriele Ferzettl and Tomas Milian with Franco Prosperi now directing in New Mexico."

Around late August or early September Catherine began work on Causa di divorzio in Carpi and Rome, Italy.

• The June 30, 1971 Variety reported:  "July start for producer Dino De Laurentis is 'Cause for Divorce' with a cast including Senta Berger, Catherine Spaak, Enrico Montesano, directed by Marcello Fondato."

• The August 12, 1971 Variety noted that "Cause for Divorce" was scheduled to start August 28.

• The August 25, 1971 Variety reported:  "DDL starts this week were Marcello Fondato's 'Cause of Divorce' with Santa Berger, Enrico Montesano and Catherine Spaak."  It noted that filming was started August 23 in Modena, with interiors at Dinocitta.

• The October 13, 1971 Variety reported from Rome:  "Latest Columbia acquisition here is Marcello Fondato's 'Cause for Divorce,' recently completed at Dinocitta."

I have not yet found any information to indicate how Catherine finished out 1971, during the October through December period (after winding Causa di divorzio).

Note:  As we will soon see in future posts, Catherine married Johnny Dorelli in 1972.  Catherine gave birth to their son, Gabriele, sometime in 1971.  My guess is that it was in the summer of 1971, just before she went to New Mexico for filming of The Boxer.  I have seen an Italian tabloid report from 1971 (see picture below) indicating that Catherine was pregnant with Dorelli's child and telling close friends.  A July 19, 1971 tabloid (see picture below) purports to show a newborn picture of their child.  Also, as shown below, one tabloid in 1971 ran pictures of the child's baptism, and another 1971 tabloid ran a headline that Catherine had left the child just days after being born (perhaps to work on a film?).  Finally, as pictured below, the September 20, 1971 edition of Oggi has a cover photo of Catherine, Johnny, and Gabriele at the child's baptism. 

I have no information on these press photos, but it seems to me like Catherine's look in The Boxer, so they may be from 1971 (the second photo appears to show Catherine with Sabrina).

Here are some magazines featuring Catherine from 1971:

Causa di divorzio (1972)

Italian One Piece Poster

As far as I can tell, Causa di divorzio is amongst the most elusive movies on Catherine's filmography.  I have seen no indication that it has ever been released on home video in any format or in any country.  I have also seen no indication that it has ever been aired on television and recorded by any fans.  I am completely perplexed as to how a film starring Catherine Spaak and Senta Berger and produced by Dino de Laurentiss could be so hard to find.  I would put this film at the top of my list of most sought-after Catherine Spaak film that I have never seen in any format.

Here is a synopsis (It was in Italian, and I used googletranslate to help get it into comprehensible English, as best as I could):

After military service in Carpi, the young Roman Sylvester Parolini (Enrico Montesano) marries Ernesta (Catherine).  Instead of taking her to Rome, as he had promised, she remains in the Emilian town and works in a wool mill.  Because everyone in Carpi make shirts at the mill, Ernesta bought a frame house like everyone else, but that only made the need to earn money more pressing. She ended up neglecting both the house and her husband.  Sylvester knows Enrica (Senta Berger), who is dedicated completely to her husband and her household duties, but they have marital problems. Sylvester and Enrica decide to get married, but there is the problem of divorce.  If you got married in the church, it is easy to obtain a divorce in a short time, by the Sacred Rota, the declaration of nullity of marriage.  For Sylvester, who was married in the town hall, the matter is much more complicated.  Ernesta and Sylvester provide the reason for the separation, the first step on the road to divorce. Meanwhile, however, money is scarce, so Enrica is also forced to buy a frame house.

With that synopsis in mind, it appears that the film is a comedy that attempts to make light of the difficulty of divorce in Italy at the time.  My guess is that this film is probably comparable in quality to Certo, certissimo, anzi...probabile.  If it was anywhere near being a classic, then you would think that it would have been released on home video at some point.  If anyone knows the story behind why this film is so difficult to find, please let us know.

According to IMDB, the film was shot in Carpi (in northern Italy) and in Rome.  Filming began around the end of August 1971 and was finished by mid-October.

• The June 30, 1971 Variety reported:  "July start for producer Dino De Laurentis is 'Cause for Divorce' with a cast including Senta Berger, Catherine Spaak, Enrico Montesano, directed by Marcello Fondato."

• The August 12, 1971 Variety noted that "Cause for Divorce" was scheduled to start August 28.

• The August 25, 1971 Variety reported:  "DDL starts this week were Marcello Fondato's 'Cause of Divorce' with Santa Berger, Enrico Montesano and Catherine Spaak."  It noted that filming was started August 23 in Modena, with interiors at Dinocitta.

• The October 13, 1971 Variety reported from Rome:  "Latest Columbia acquisition here is Marcello Fondato's 'Cause for Divorce,' recently completed at Dinocitta."

The film was released on March 3, 1972 in Italy and on August 19, 1974 in Spain, according to IMDB.  I have seen no information concerning how it performed at the box office.

Here is an Italian locandina poster and film program:

Italian fotobustas:

A Spanish poster and lobby card set:

On-set photos and stills:

I'm not sure of the source of this publicity item:

  
A magazine cover:

A Continental Film Review magazine picture from October 1972: