Genre: Drama

Language: Italian with English Subtitles

Director: Francesco Patierno

Cast: Elio Germano, Corrado Fortuna, Laura Chiatti, Martina Stella, Carlo Monni, Gerardo Amato

Released: 2008

Duration: 110 Minutes

Rating: M contains offensive language

Distribution: Palace Films & Raitrade

‘The Early Bird Catches the Worm’ follows the rise and fall of one of Italy’s most famous radio presenters – Marco Baldini – a man who was an expert at brightening up other people's days while he made his own more miserable with a secret obsession. 

Baldini (superbly played by Elio Germano) studied finance and was expected to pursue a career in banking.  But his heart was never in it.  When he is offered a job at a radio station in Milan he jumps at the chance. Baldini soon finds himself teamed up with impulsive funnyman Rosario (Corrado Fortuna) on the station's morning show, and to his surprise he quickly becomes one of the nation's most popular on-air personalities. But with his newfound riches and long afternoons to kill, Marco's casual gambling habit becomes an addiction.

Loosely adapted from Baldini’s autobiographical book ‘Il giocatore (The Player)’, this elegant, acidic comedy offers an engaging, self-ironic commentary as it traces the highs and lows of Baldini’s double existence which unfolds against a convincing backdrop of Italian life in the 1980s.