THE SATURDAY NIGHT DANCE (1968) – comedy film online

Directed by: Geo Saizescu
Script: D.R. Popescu, Geo Saizescu
Cast: Sebastian Papaiani, Mariella Petrescu, Ana Széles, Octavian Cotescu, Constantin Băltărețu, Puiu Călinescu, Mișu Fotino, Coca Andronescu, Nineta Gusti, Ion Gheorghiu, Nucu Păunescu, Dorin Dron, Nicolae Ralea, Octavian Cosmuță, Emil Bozdogescu, Dumitru Chesa, George Motoi, Andrei Bursaci, Dragoș Mîrzan, Elena Mihalache, Elena Cristea, Maria Varlam, Emil Boroghină, Octav Ioniță, Sofrone Constantinescu, Maria Boboiceanu, Ștefan Oneci, Mariana Cercel, Cornel Patrichi, Traian D.R. Popescu
Producer: Ion Lascu, Vasilica Istrate (Studioul Cinematografic București)
Cinematography by: George Cornea
Edited by: Margareta Anescu
Sound: Nicolae Ciolcă
Music: Radu Șerban
Year: 1968
Category: Feature film
Genre: Comedy
Duration: 102 minutes

0 – Cinepub viewers

PLOT SUMMARY

Papă (Sebastian Papaiani) is a cheerful and charming young man, always in search of the “perfect love,” hiding his shyness beneath a thin veil of streetwise bravado. A truck driver at a construction site, he meets many beautiful girls. Among them, two catch his eye: a delicate blonde (Ana Széles) and a passionate brunette (Mariella Petrescu).

The young ladies’ man must choose between them. Through a prank, he puts both “princesses” to the test—pretending to be the victim of an accident to see how they react. He returns from the hospital by train and waits at the station… but no one is there. Just like the old saying goes: “He who chases two rabbits catches none.”

CRITICAL REVIEWS:

“The successful part of the film—the part that endures—is tied to Papă-Papaiani’s presence and to the relationship he establishes with the environment in which we see him. There are about fifteen minutes at the beginning of the film that are genuinely amusing, well-crafted, and effectively introduce Papă’s character. The cart with the traditional little dog tied underneath, the vegetable delivery truck that makes everyone laugh, Papă’s room decorated with reed mats, and the hero’s attitude toward all these things—together they create comic situations full of promise. Promise of what? Of an entertaining, lively comedy, with a well-conceived hero and a well-chosen prop (that same truck, mentioned earlier). But the filmmakers aimed for more. They wanted, at all costs, to make a lyrical comedy. Our Papă is searching for the ‘ideal woman’; he is waiting for the ‘mistress of his heart,’ whose photograph will take the Sunday place in his calendar filled with vamps. And this ‘ideal’ appears before him in the blonde guise of Lia and the dark-haired allure of Raluca. Thus begins the hero’s ‘chase after two rabbits,’ which ends—quite fittingly—with the old proverb.” — Alexandru Racoviceanu, Cinema magazine, no. 5, May 1968

“On the level of acting, alongside Sebastian Papaiani—who carries the weight of the film (and who, more than once, manages to overcome unconvincing situations)—I would also mention Octavian Cotescu, an actor too rarely seen in our films, who here demonstrates, if proof were still needed, a genuine talent for comedy. The ‘blonde ideal’ and the ‘brunette ideal,’ characters rather conventionally portrayed in the script, gain a special touch of charm thanks to the performances of Ana Széles and Mariella Petrescu.”— Alexandru Racoviceanu, Cinema magazine, no. 5, May 1968

“A young director—25 or 26 years old—took over the mantle of cinematic comedy in 1958. It was Geo Saizescu (with prior experience in ‘student films’), who achieved a remarkable feat—one that remains unique in the history of Romanian cinema: he managed to convince the ‘master of well-chosen words,’ Tudor Arghezi, to allow one of his works to be adapted for the screen. Eager ‘by all means’ (as he himself put it) to tackle the comic genre, yet without repeating the experience of his predecessor in comedy, director Jean Georgescu—whose work was rooted in Caragiale’s writings—Geo Saizescu turned his attention to a recently published Arghezi volume, Pages from the Past, discovering a delightful short piece that would become the ‘raw material’ for his film Two Neighbors.” – Călin Căliman, istoriafilmuluiromanesc.ro

“With The Saturday Night Dance(1967), director Geo Saizescu regained his comic ‘energy,’ and his collaboration with writer D. R. Popescu once again found fertile ground. The film presents two love episodes in the life of a young truck driver with a ‘predestined’ name, Papă (the character’s peculiar name could very well come from Papă-Lapte—meaning ‘milk boy’—but it could just as easily be a diminutive of Papaiani, as the role was clearly written for the talented actor). One love is blonde, appearing spectacularly in the form of a luminous, transparent young woman standing on a roadside; the other, brunette, emerges just as spectacularly from the ripple of a river. The moral is easy to predict—it belongs to universal folklore: the one about chasing ‘two rabbits.’ Alongside Sebastian Papaiani, in this love triangle (and in a contest of beauty), appear Ana Széles and Mariella Petrescu.” – Călin Căliman, istoriafilmuluiromanesc.ro

“Throughout the film, the candid Papă’s attention oscillates between the two women, with the young ladies constantly generating the romantic encounters and acting as the driving forces of the relationships. Lia — about whom there are, however, some hints, in her repeated roadside meetings with ‘Uncle’ Gigi, that she might be a ballerina and that her life is not exactly settled or virtuous — appears consistently as a carefully crafted embodiment of the mysterious and docile ‘eternal feminine’. She often gazes downward and, although she has moments of boldness worthy of classic screwball comedy heroines, she remains, by and large, the woman who allows herself to be courted and desired from a certain distance — a mental projection that invites all sorts of overlapping fantasies, both ethereal and (slightly) mischievous, though never indecent.” – Andrei Rus, cinepub.ro

“Raluca, on the other hand, makes her entrance in far more provocative and transgressive ways — she is first seen naked, bathing in the Danube. (…) The film includes two other memorable sequences built in parallel and in contrast, much like the ones introducing the two heroines. I’m referring to the first proper dates of each couple, during which Papă remains the same placid, passive character, while the women express their sexuality around him — with differing effects. Lia, for instance, ends up dancing alone at night in the middle of the street, within an idyllic urban setting beneath the domes of massive, erect trees. Though exuberant and uninhibited in her movements, she allows herself only to be watched and admired, constantly rejecting the protagonist’s repeated attempts to touch her—to turn her from an apparition into a tangible presence. Papă fails to dance with her, or to break free from his dull apathy.” – Andrei Rus, cinepub.ro

TRIVIA:

• Filming took place in the summer of 1967 in Poiana Bulzului, Ada Kaleh, and Turnu Severin.
• The residents of Turnu Severin recall that, at the time, the presence of actor Sebastian Papaiani among them was an extraordinary event. They watched his every move with great attention and spent hours near the film crew, hoping the director might ask them to appear as extras. “When he needed a few minor background scenes, he turned to us. He cast a neighbor — Aunt Mărculescu, may she rest in peace — to chase a man with a twig, and that scene ended up in the movie,” recalls a local. Another woman remembers hosting actress Mariella Petrescu during the shoot, since she couldn’t find a room at the hotel across the street.
• Maria Iachimovski, a resident of Carol I Street, told adevarul.ro: “She was so kind, so delicate—when I brought her tray of food, she’d say, ‘Don’t give me too much, I’m not allowed to get a belly or I’ll upset Mr. Saizescu.’ Papaiani would come by and talk with her, but Mr. Saizescu never did. The OJT (Tourism Office) came to check my room, saw I had a phone and all the amenities, and asked me to host her. They paid me for it.”
• Another resident told the same publication: “People were crazy about Papaiani—it was as if he were the god of the city, as if they were touching something sacred. I think this man was born with talent; there’s nothing else he could have been but an actor. It’s a pity that in the family where most of the film was shot — Mrs. Ciolan’s — no one is left; they’ve all passed away one by one. I remember a scene where Papaiani climbed onto the terrace. Everyone was so curious. I went there with a sister-in-law who had come from Bucharest to the pool, and when we got home, she hung her underwear on the terrace to dry. A man came rushing over and asked us to take down the laundry because they were filming.”
• Eugen Buricea, another resident of Carol I Street, was a student when Geo Saizescu was filming The Saturday Night Dance in Turnu Severin. He was thrilled to meet the beloved actor Sebastian Papaiani, who often asked him to buy his favorite cigarettes, “Snagov”: “They had both day and night shoots; I lost a lot of sleep back then. During the day, they used silver reflector panels to bounce light. I remember Mr. Saizescu always walking around with his director’s megaphone, shouting instructions, getting angry when Papaiani didn’t play the scene the way he wanted. Saizescu liked everything to be perfectly arranged — if even the smallest detail didn’t work, he’d start over immediately. We mostly hung around Papaiani; he was our idol. The whole courtyard was packed — people came from everywhere, sitting on the grass to watch. Papaiani was very focused; during breaks, when he had to change for the next scene, he didn’t go inside — he changed clothes right there on the bench, without embarrassment. Sometimes he’d send us kids to buy cigarettes, saying, ‘Hey, maybe you won’t come back — with the money or the smokes!’ There was a restaurant under the theater called Dunărea; that’s where his Snagov cigarettes were sold, so of course we went…”
• In his directing journal, later published in the book A Smile at… The Saturday Night Dance, Geo Saizescu wrote about how he chose his cast: “René Clair said that once the director’s breakdown is done, the film is done! I think that’s a metaphor—a call for a professional, higher-level approach to the literary screenplay, which they call cinematic, though it’s not always written by or with the director. But R.C. — the Frenchman — like Jean Georgescu, a Romanian director with a French background, also said that good casting guarantees 50% of a film’s success. That’s no metaphor. I’ve proven it myself — it’s true. So far. But what do I do now, with this new cast, this new story I’m about to begin? A young man, a hardworking man, whose weekdays are full, but whose Sundays — after a week of labor — are lonely. A poor milk-drinker, dreaming of a Saturday night dance where he might find a girl to fill his Sundays with love, suddenly meets not one but two: a blonde and a brunette. Greedy for love, he likes… both! Countless adventures, surprises full of humor and poetry make his lonely Sundays a thing of the past. There’s a certain sadness to the story, not without hope. Papaiani, who enjoys my full trust, is the perfect choice for the role. In fact, that’s why I worked on this story with D.R.P. — because I already had the actor. If you don’t have the actor who can truly embody the character, it’s better to give up. For Papă’s friends, I chose some big guys, fellow truck drivers from the Iron Gates site — full of spirit and humor: Octavian Cotescu and Constantin Băltăreţu. For the wandering hitchhiker, the great artist Ninetta Gusti. And the scatterbrained one, who could have had an international career if he’d been born—or ended up—in America, dear Puiu Călinescu, as an eccentric, curious, buffoonish passenger,” wrote Geo Saizescu (adevarul.ro).
• About the two actresses playing the leading female roles (Mariella Petrescu and Ana Széles), the director noted in the same journal: “Them? Screen tests, my dear! Dozens of girls — brunettes and blondes — they’re not all the same! I come out of the screening room after the tests. For the brunette, there are several possible candidates. I go into my office and find an ID card on the desk. It’s not mine. Curious, I open it — it belongs to one of the candidates, naturally a brunette, born in Severin in ’43: Mariella Petrescu. She had outplayed me — and won! I’ve always been haunted by the idea of putting together, if not an entirely Oltenian crew, at least partly so. The same goes for the cast. The brunette was found — our country’s full of brunettes, even if they’re not gypsies — but where do I find… the blonde? A Romanian ballet troupe made a sensation in Italy, in Agrigento, Sicily. One of our blondes, who had taken part in an international competition, a rather folk-style dancer, was chosen ‘Miss Festival.’ And she deserved it! I looked her up, she came, we talked. Exceptional appearance, but… When you talked to her normally, she was fine; when she had to say written lines, it was a disaster! Still, we did the tests. Florica Mălureanu, a great artist in the making — as a costume designer — put stunning clothes on the young dancer, and with Papaiani in full swing, the tests were excellent — if I were making a silent film. But since it was a sound film… material fit for the trash,” (adevarul.ro).
• About the same dancer’s misadventures, G.S. added: “A screening with Victor Iliu and some other filmmakers — because that’s the trend now: the Artistic Council that approves the script also approves the casting, to avoid unpleasant surprises like in some past cases. Papas speaks on screen. The dancer — nothing! ‘Why can’t we hear her?!’ Iliu kept asking. ‘It’s a sound system malfunction,’ quickly blurted out Ion Lascu, the film’s director. ‘Make a report to the Studio Director! Have the equipment fixed! This is unacceptable. We’re no longer in the silent era!’ We weren’t in cinema di altri tempi, but I was at the start of those events. Sitting in the usual sound engineer’s chair, hand on the volume knob—when Papas spoke, I turned it up, when it was the dancer’s turn… I muted her! And that’s how the dancer won the role of the Blonde. I called her and met her at Podgoria. Eager to know the test results, I played a little game—pretending disappointed, as if nothing had worked out. But when the glasses of red wine arrived, I clinked glasses and told her she’d got the part. She jumped across the table at me, hugged me with joy, and spilled her wine all over her short dress. We agreed to meet with Papas to rehearse the lines. A phone call the next day? None. Nor the third day. Nor the fourth—and the costumes had to be made, the dance rehearsed with Dorina Andronache to Radu Şerban’s music. Papas, kept sober for rehearsals, cursed the one who had thrown this girl into his arms,” (adevarul.ro).
• Since the blonde dancer had vanished, the director had to quickly find a replacement. This time, he didn’t take risks and chose a genuine actress. “I go to Târgu Mureş. I pick Ana Széles. She’s delighted. As are her Székely people. They’re so excited to meet me that they proudly take me along the Mureş River and through the mountains, showing me how beautiful the Székely Land is — that is, not Romania, but their country! I didn’t say anything and thought: ‘First let me cast you in the film, and then we’ll see about this… country of yours, supposedly different from Romania!’” (adevarul.ro).
• The film was applauded in Australia, Tunisia, France, Portugal, Russia, Italy, Bulgaria, Spain, and Germany, receiving enthusiastic reviews.
• Director Geo Saizescu also filmed in Drobeta Turnu Severin for his later feature Tonight We Dance in the Family.
• The film marked the third collaboration between director Geo Saizescu and writer Dumitru Radu Popescu, following A Midsummer’s Day Smile (1964) and At the Gates of the Earth (1966).

LINES:

• “Either I’ve gone crazy, or that’s a princess turned into a witch.” – Papă (Sebastian Papaiani)
• “They must be Catholic, being so fleshy. You can tell they don’t fast!” – The Repentant Peasant (Puiu Călinescu)
• “Saint Baby. The strongest of all saints.” – Papă (Sebastian Papaiani)
• “Go dance with your own girl. With one, with two, with nine, with ninety-nine!” – Puiu Călinescu
• “On Sunday, after the dance… will that girl love me?” – Papă (Sebastian Papaiani)
• “We’re going to my place. Are you afraid to come to my place? (…) I forgot — Martian girls aren’t afraid of anything.” – Papă (Sebastian Papaiani)
• “In our building, everyone works in three shifts. And when they get home, they beat their kids in three shifts too.” – Papă (Sebastian Papaiani)
• “You’re beautiful… you’ve got a neck, a nose — you’ve got everything.” – Papă (Sebastian Papaiani)
• “I’ll whistle at you! I know where you live!” – Raluca (Mariella Petrescu)
• “So what if I drink?” – Toma (Octavian Cotescu)
• “Let’s go to the island, to Ada Kaleh. I’ve never been there anyway.” – Raluca (Mariella Petrescu)
• “Your eyes are like two headlights… wickedly bright.” – Papă (Sebastian Papaiani)
• “If I like someone, I don’t take him straight to the priest.” – Raluca (Mariella Petrescu)
• “You coming alone, or with Raluca? Or maybe with the blonde. Or maybe with both — so the guy can have a real premiere.” – Toma (Octavian Cotescu)
• “I’m no Casanova, no Don Juan. Just an ordinary driver. Ordinary and modest.” – Papă (Sebastian Papaiani)
• “Look at that — I love them both! But what about them?” – Papă (Sebastian Papaiani)
• “Whichever one gets to the station first — that’s the one I’ll marry.” – Papă (Sebastian Papaiani)

ARTICLES:

• “The Saturday Night Dance” – film review by Alexandru Racoviceanu – aarc.ro
• Director Geo Saizescu and the Relay of Cinematic Comedy – istoriafilmuluiromanesc.ro
• “The Saturday Night Dance” – istoriafilmuluiromanesc.ro
• Director Geo Saizescu Filmed “The Saturday Night Dance” in Turnu Severin. Locals Adored Sebastian Papaiani, the Leading Actor – adevarul.ro
• “Behind the Scenes of Cinema.” How Ana Széles Ended Up Dancing in “The Saturday Night Dance” – adevarul.ro
• The Documentary “The World of Geo Saizescu,” Screened on January 14 in Bucharest – mediafax.ro

This premiere is part of a national archive project supported by the Romanian National Film Centre.
Special thanks goes to the Romanian Filmmakers Union and to the Romanian Film Archive.

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