Al Diavolo la Celebrita on AllMovie

Al Diavolo con Celebrita is one of two Italian films hurriedly made in 1948 by comic actor Mischa Auer. Like the first (Snow White and the 7 Thieves), it is hardly representative of Auer at his best. The star plays U.S. diplomat Bernard Stork, whose timid young interpreter Professor Bricci (Leonard Cortese) is hopelessly in love with Stork's secretary Ellen Rawlins (Marilyn Buford). Somehow, Bricci comes into possession of a magic artifact that enables him to assume the bodies and personalities of recently deceased individuals. The Professor hopes to profess his love for Ellen in one of these guises, but is always prevented from doing so. When Mr. Stork dies suddenly, Bricci takes over his body, resulting in a bizarre finale at the United Nations, with look-alikes for President Truman, Churchill, and Stalin engaging in silly slapstick. Somewhere there's an antiwar message in Al Diavolo con Celebrita, but it's buried under mounds of nonsense.