Renoir made The Golden Coach in threeversions-English, French and Italian; ours is the English version. Inthis story, set in Peru in the 18th century, Renoir takes as his subjectthe contrast between theater and life, focusing on a commedia dell'artetroupe and their temperamental star, Camilla-the luminous Anna Magnaniat her comic best. Camilla is courted by three suitors, an actor, abullfighter and a viceroy, each of whom loves her for somethingdifferent, and something different than she loves in herself. Thissublime comedy of manners is at once a tribute to the commedia dell'arteand to Magnani, who soars above the other actors and is only matched inthe film by Renoir's own intelligence and expansive humanity. As inother of Renoir's international productions, the dubbing of minorcharacters is sometimes inept and the original English of the stars attimes awkward; but these are surface blemishes on a many-leveledmasterpiece.