Feature film
The Counterfeit Coin
Η κάλπικη λίρα
Giorgos Tzavellas · 1955
Synopsis
Anárgyros, an honest engraver, has spent his life amassing a hundred gold pounds. Seduced by the beautiful Fifí, who needs money, he spends them all setting up a counterfeiter's workshop in his cellar, and produces only one coin, so obviously fake that nobody wants it. The pound then passes from hand to hand: a false blind man who disputes a street corner with a prostitute, a poor little girl and the miserly landlord who threatens her family with eviction, and finally a young bohemian painter and his wife, who swear to keep it.
Context
Shooting began in 1954 in the studios of the Anzervós company, with limited means, and the director himself handled production management. A narrator, played by Dimítris Myrát, links the four stories; the music is by Mános Hadjidákis, and the cast brings together Logothetídis, Livykoú, Fotópoulos, Vraná, Makrís, Lambéti and Horn. The film was shown at Cannes and Karlovy Vary, then returned to cinemas in 2012 in a digital restoration in which the play appears in colour.
Who it is for
About two hours, in Greek, in four stories linked by a narrator; it is seen today in the 2012 digital restoration.
Prizes and reception
The first anthology film of Greek cinema and the top film at the box office of its season, it figures among the thousand best films selected by Georges Sadoul.
Sources for this page 12
The pages consulted to check this page.