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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tgmxcrf0iwqn1zsm5a2ki4hthwn_5.jpg]]
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3''Rigoletto'' is a 1993 film produced by Creator/FeatureFilmsForFamilies, and tells the story of a young girl who befriends a lonely, disfigured man. When her family faces eviction from their Depression-era home, Bonnie begins working for Mr. Ribaldi in his mansion so that they can stay. Upon the discovery that she can sing, Mr. Ribaldi begins giving her music lessons.
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5Meanwhile, many in the town are being evicted from their homes and suspect the mysterious Ribaldi. The villagers spread rumors about Ribaldi and most believe that he is a monster. The children of the town, on the other hand, are drawn to Ribaldi. Incidentally, the sick and handicapped people of the village are miraculously healed. Despite this the townspeople threaten to keep Bonnie from singing in the state singing competition unless she stops visiting Ribaldi. Bonnie tells Ribaldi she will not leave him, but he tells her that to abandon the competition would waste all their hard work and insists that Bonnie forget about him and follow her dream.
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7While Bonnie is singing in the competition, Georgie, a young girl from the village, goes to visit Ribaldi. Along the way home, Georgie falls into a river, and Ribaldi saves her. When he tries to bring her to town, the townspeople attack him, thinking he has hurt her. Afterward they destroy Ribaldi's home in search of evidence that he has been taking their homes and land. Instead of this proof, however, they find lists of people Ribaldi has helped.
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9Bonnie returns home to find that Ribaldi has died from his injuries. While visiting his house after the funeral, she hears Ribaldi's piano being played and goes inside. There she finds a man who looks like Ribaldi, only without scars. When Bonnie asks him his name, he says "Some people call me Rigoletto, but you don't believe that, do you?" before leaving with Hans and Gabriella. It is implied by this that the curse on Ribaldi, hinted at throughout the film, has been lifted because Bonnie had seen the true beauty of Ribaldi's heart.
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11The plot is a modified telling of ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast'' with elements of ''Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera''. No relation to the {{opera}} ''Theatre/{{Rigoletto}}''.
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13!!This film provides examples of:
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15* AbominationAccusationAttack: The townsfolk launch a number of unjust accusations at Mr. Ribaldi.
16* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Mr. Ribaldi is surprisingly popular with the ladies.
17* AmbiguousSituation: Was Mr. Ribaldi cursed, or was his face just injured? Even more ambiguously: is the man at the end of the story really [[spoiler:Mr. Ribaldi BackFromTheDead]]? And how much of the story actually happened?
18* AngelFaceDemonFace: Mr. Ribaldi.
19* ArtisticLicenseLaw: The climax hinges on Mr. Ribaldi getting falsely accused of [[spoiler:buying several of the townspeople's homes and forcing them out (it was actually someone else)]]. But in RealLife, [[spoiler:the true buyer]]'s identity most likely would have been public knowledge: when someone buys land in the United States, they nearly always have to pay a property tax to the county or municipality where it's located, and property tax records are usually publicly accessible. Apparently, nobody in the town bothered to investigate who was evicting them.
20* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:Mr. Ribaldi.]]
21* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Bonnie and the Princess Gabriella. PlayedWith in the case of Mr. Ribaldi. His demeanour is about as ugly as his face, but he's also pretty much ''the'' most altruistic characters in the film. Bonnie also invokes the trope in regards to his beautiful singing voice, firmly believing that an evil person couldn't possibly produce such beautiful music.
22* BitchInSheepsClothing: Bonnie's singing rival.
23* ButtMonkey: Hans, especially when he tries to sing. Mr. Ribaldi hits him with his cane and [[ThrowTheBookAtThem throws a book at him]] on one occasion, but Hans doesn't ''really'' mind.
24* CharacterDevelopment: Mr. Ribaldi is all about character development.
25* ComeToGawk: The kids tried their hand at this early on.
26* CurseEscapeClause: Mr. Ribaldi will return to normal if, and only if, someone truly loves the inner him. Given that he already has Gabriella, though, it probably had to be non-romantic love.
27* DespairEventHorizon: After Mr. Ribaldi makes Bonnie leave for the contest, the audiance is lead to believe this is inevitable. [[spoiler:But this is quickly subverted.]]
28* DisappearedDad: Bonnie's father is never mentioned.
29* TheElevenOClockNumber: "The Melody Within".
30* FoodAsBribe: In exchange for promising never to venture into Ribaldi's quarters, Hans promises to make Bonnie any dessert she requests each day that she works in Ribaldi's home. She chooses banana split.
31* {{Foreshadowing}}: When the townspeople think that Mr. Ribaldi has kidnapped Papanickolas's little girl they start to head up to torch Mr. Ribaldi's mansion, but the little girl stops them before they get a chance. Later on [[spoiler: the townspeople actually manage it when they think Mr. Ribaldi]] has drowned Georgie in the dam.
32** Which is, in itself foreshadowed when Bonnie's mother tells the children not to play by the dam.
33* FriendToAllChildren: Turns out Mr. Ribaldi is.
34* GoodAllAlong: Mr. Ribaldi, as it turns out. Despite his fiery temper and general threatening aura, he's revealed to have been secretly using his wealth to help the people of the town, healing their sicknesses and ailments without taking any credit.
35* TheGreatDepression: The primary setting of the movie.
36* HappilyEverAfter: Bonnie wins the singing competition, and Mr. Ribaldi's deformed face is fixed ([[AmbiguousEnding maybe...]]).
37* HollywoodToneDeaf: Poor Hans really ''does'' try to sing but [[EpicFail fails miserably]]. Averted with Bonnie, who actually sounds like a pretty realistic example of an untrained amateur singer (albeit one with potential) who has more passion than skill.
38* {{Homage}}: ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast''.
39* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: The townspeople qualifiy.
40* IJustWantToBeBeautiful: This is Mr. Ribaldi's desire, after being transformed from a handsome prince into a terrifying scarred man.
41* IncorruptiblePurePureness: '''''Bonnie'''''. She's humble, hardworking, patient, honest, kind to everyone she meets (even people who mistreat her), has no glaringly negative traits, and resists every possible temptation to do anything remotely bad. Even the handful of times she calls Ribaldi out on his jerkishness, it comes off more as BrutalHonesty (and being an ExcellentJudgeOfCharacter) than like genuine meanness.
42* InformedAbility: Mr. Ribaldi ostensibly has such a beautiful singing voice that Bonnie is left ''speechless'' upon hearing it, and immediately comes to the conclusion that he can't possibly be evil (because [[BeautyEqualsGoodness only someone with a pure heart could produce music so beautiful]]). While his actor certainly isn't a ''bad'' singer, most viewers will likely find that to be a bit of an overstatement.
43* IntergenerationalFriendship: Ribaldi and Bonnie.
44* IronicName: "Ribald" means "fond of coarse and irreverent humor", which [[NoSenseOfHumor Signor Ribaldi]] most definitely ''isn't''.
45* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Mr. Ribaldi starts off as this until he meets Bonnie. Quite a lot of the male adults who have lost their jobs and are under a lot of pressure would probably come under this category as well.
46** Except [[spoiler: considering their actions towards Mr. Ribaldi, many would probably constitute as JerkWithAHeartOfJerk]].
47*** Although they do [[spoiler: repent and feel sorry for their actions when the truth comes out]].
48* LoveRedeems: Thanks to Bonnie, Mr. Ribaldi becomes a kinder person.
49* MagicMirror
50* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: It's left deliberately ambiguous whether Mr. Ribaldi's deformed face is the result of a magical curse or a mundane injury. And at the end of the film, it's similarly left ambiguous whether [[spoiler:he's been brought BackFromTheDead with his deformities healed--or if Bonnie just imagined the whole thing]].
51* MeaningfulName: "Bonnie" is derived from the Latin word for "good", which is quite appropriate for an unfailingly kind and humble girl who sees the best in everyone.
52* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: This is the reaction from the townsfolk after the ''incident'' with Mr. Ribaldi.
53* NeverTrustATitle: The film's connection to the opera ''Theatre/{{Rigoletto}}'' is pretty tenuous, with the story being predominately inspired by ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast''. Rigoletto was a hunchbacked jester who accidentally had his daughter murdered due to a curse ([[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane maybe...]]); Signor Ribaldi is a tormented nobleman and singer with a deformed face caused by a curse that can only be lifted by an act of nobility and goodness ([[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane maybe...]]).
54* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Ribaldi and Gabriella speak with American accents, even though they really shouldn't (Ribaldi is ostensibly Italian, and Gabriella is ostensibly either Italian or Spanish). Ribaldi's butler Hans (who's ostensibly either German or Austrian) does have a ''slight'' German accent, but [[OohMeAccentsSlipping it comes and goes]].
55* NotEvilJustMisunderstood: Mr. Ribaldi. He's a bit hot-tempered and arrogant, but ultimately a much better person than most people give him credit for.
56* SettingUpdate: It's ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast'' set in America during {{the Great Depression}}, but with the love story reimagined as a platonic IntergenerationalFriendship between a girl and her singing teacher. (Despite the title, the story doesn't actually have that much in common with the opera ''Theatre/{{Rigoletto}}'')
57* StoryWithinAStory: [[OrWasItADream Maybe]]. The BookEnds make it rather vague as to where the separation is - if there even is one.
58* TorchesAndPitchforks: When the townspeople come to wreck Mr. Ribaldi's mansion.
59* TrueBeautyIsOnTheInside: One of the defining themes.

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