Commissario Montalbano, the famous detective from Sicily, is a keen user of the Staedtler Noris [1]with and without eraser tip. Even though he’s driving around in an old Fiat Tipo his home is fantastic and is furnished and and decorated with classic and vintage bits and bobs, just like the grand homes of the criminals he is visiting. The Noris is a suitable pencil for him to use as it is the archetypal European pencil – even though it is a surprising choice as it is clearly a branded item.
PS: Does anyone know what those cards / brochures / journals are that most civil servants in this TV series seem to have pinned to their walls.
The images in this blog post have been taken from Episode Le Ali della Sfinge / The Wings of the Sphinx and episode La Pista di Sabbia / The Track of Sand of the RAI TV series Il commissario Montalbano. I believe that the use of the images shown in this blog post falls under “fair dealing” as described by the UK Copyright service.
References
| ↑1 | with and without eraser tip |
|---|
The images you’ve asked about are just wall calendars issue by Carabinieri police force. Usually they are offered by local Carabinieri to most public authorities (mayors, other police forces like Montalbano’s Polizia di Stato, etc). They are also appreciated collectables. Every year they are focused on particular theme, see
http://www.carabinieri.it/Internet/Editoria/Calendario+Storico/
(sorry only in Italian)
Thank you very much for this explanation. My wife and I were wondering about these calendars, but couldn’t figure out what they were.
Nice to see Montalbano using a Noris though for me, the tradition is the quintessential European pencil.
Anyway, The Killing (Forbrydelsen) III starts this Saturday on BBC Four. I hope that Sarah Lund can find the time to use a Staedtler in between changes of knitwear.
Thanks for your comment.
I never watched The Killing, but plan to watch it this time. I heard it’s supposed to be good. Now I’ll have to pay attention to the knitwear, too 8^)
I did spot a Noris in another Danish TV series (Borgen, was on BBC Four, too), but the Noris was actually shown in a scene when the previous Prime Minister of Denmark was in London. I took a screen shot at the time, but didn’t have a chance yet to show it. I might show it when I show the Noris in Fawlty Towers.
Other Danish TV series (Those Who Kill, The Bridge) didn’t yield any exciting pencil results so far.
I have recently watched The Bourne trilogy, after reading the books, and was surprised to see in “The Bourne Supremacy” a Rotring 600. Matt Damon (Jason Bourne in the movie) is making calls from a phone both, and uses the Rotring to take notes.
The Rotring appears 3 times during the movie but only in this scene you can clearly see it.
Here is a link to it:
Rotring 600