Nostalgic feeling. This stolen pic by Paolo di Paolo, a kind of ante-litteram Scott Schuman, is from 1960. The man you see in it, half-lying on the raling of the Fontana dei Fiumi in Piazza Navona, is composed in his uncomposure. He is Un-Composed. Probably the jacket is buttoned even if it’s single-breasted (that shouldn’t be buttoned), because otherwise it would dangle, adding more disorder. Probably, if this picture was set today, this man wouldn’t wear anything like this. Try to imagine: unlaced sneakers, baggy sweater, jeans or gym pants. Or shorts. And, of course, instead of the newspaper, he would hold an iPhone or iPad. Don’t you miss that ‘900 style?

Signature Pinstripe. Alfred Hitchcok filmed Suspicion in 1941, almost half a century before the invention of the technologies that today allow to create the glorified special effects. There’s a very famous scene, full of suspense, with Cary Grant bringing a glass of milk up the stairs to his wife – interpreted by Joan Fontaine. I leave in doubt who hasn’t watched the movie: the milk could be poisoned. And that glass, declared the filmmaker to Francois Truffaut in a book-interview, had the role of “illuminating the scene”; to obtain the effect he wanted, he used a very simple but effective trick: the glass contained a light bulb. The other stage lighting and the setting create a very fascinating play of geometries and symmetries: the stairs, the paintings, the column, the stripes and the lapels of Grant’s suit, the skylight’s structure that projects a cage-shaped shadow on the wall. An unmissable classic of one of the most famous and less appreciated by americans (at that time) angloamerican directors.