Italy

  • Amleto Palermi – L’allegro fantasma AKA The Happy Ghost (1941)

    1941-1950Amleto PalermiClassicsComedyItalian Cinema under FascismItaly

    The nobleman Pantaleo of Santa Paola has deceased recently, but in the preamble to his will is read his confession in which he declares to have had, in his youth, an affair with a circus horsewoman from which were born two twin sons.
    The search for these twins will bring the notary Pensabene and their cousins heirs, Rosa, Lilli e Titti, to fortuitously find Nicolino, the first of the twins. The search will continue with other hilarious adventures that will see the figure of Toto alternating with several phantasmagorical characters, surrounded by a family that wants to undermine their safety in order to collect the money of Pantaleo’s inheritance.Read More »

  • Mauro Bolognini – Il bell’Antonio (1960)

    1951-1960DramaItalyMauro Bolognini

    Women love handsome Antonio because they think of him as the perfect lover. But he has problems to fullfill this ideal and Barbara only notices his failures when they are married. When the town learns about his trouble they start laughing at him…Read More »

  • Mario Monicelli & Steno – Le infedeli AKA The Unfaithfuls (1953)

    1951-1960ComedyDramaItalyMario MonicelliSteno

    An industrialist has his wife tailed because he secretly hopes she is betraying him so that he can ask for a divorce and marry the model he’s fallen in love with. This leads to a series of thefts, blackmail and a suicide as well.Read More »

  • Roberto Rossellini – Intervista a Salvador Allende: La forza e la ragione (1973)

    1971-1980ItalyPoliticsRoberto RosselliniTV

    Quote:
    This year, the 65th edition of the Venice International Film Festival screened and restored this movie in a Golden Age retrospective. It’s a 36′ interview in 16mm with Salvador Allende, the socialist politician who had became President of Chile at that time, filmed at Allende’s villa in Santiago. Two years after the interview, Allende was overthrow and murdered by the general Augusto Pinochet, in a coup d’état which involved active C.I.A. collaboration. Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that’s it. Rossellini’s title became prophetic and as it often happened in the History, the brute force killed the reason. This is just a Tvrip from RAI3, not the restored copy.Read More »

  • Gianni Amelio – Lamerica (1994)

    1991-2000DramaGianni AmelioItaly

    Quote:
    Two Italian racketeers come to Albania just after the fall of the communists to set up a fictive firm and pocket the grants. They need a stooge. They choose an old one in a jail : Spiro. But the youngest italian, Gino, once alone with Spiro, encounter a few problems. Far from his roots, loosing his identity in deep Albania, he begins to change…Read More »

  • Mario Monicelli – La ragazza con la pistola AKA The Girl with a Pistol (1968)

    1961-1970ComedyCommedia all'ItalianaDramaItalyMario Monicelli

    Girl with a Pistol, directed in 1968 by Mario Monicelli and starring Monica Vitti, Stanley Baker and Carlo Giuffrè, is one of the most successful Italian comedies. Monica Vitti is Assunta, a Sicilian girl seduced and abandoned by Vincenzo (Carlo Giuffrè) who then escapes to London in order to avoid a shotgun wedding. Assunta’s only chance to restore her lost honour is to find and kill her seducer.Read More »

  • Luigi Comencini – La Donna della domenica aka The Sunday Woman (1975)

    1971-1980ComedyItalyLuigi ComenciniMysteryQueer Cinema(s)

    Synopsis:
    Police commissioner Santamaria is investigating the murdering of the ambiguous architect Mr. Garrone. The investigations soon drive him into the Torino’s high society. Santamaria suspect Anna Carla and at the same time falls in love for her. Lello is the lover of Massimo, a homosexual platonic friend of Anna Carla. He is following another direction in order to find out the truth, and his results are confusing the Policeman. But another murdering happens…Read More »

  • Paolo Taviani & Vittorio Taviani – La Masseria Delle Allodole AKA The Lark Farm (2007)

    2001-2010DramaItalyPaolo TavianiVittorio TavianiWar

    As adapted from the roman by Antonia Arslan and co-directed by legendary Italian brothers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, The Lark Farm marks one of the few international features to tackle the Armenian genocide head-on. The story (with its thematic parallels, in the early scenes, to De Sica’s 1970 Garden of the Finzi-Continis) concerns the Avakian clan. An Armenian family living an affluent lifestyle and periodically shuttling back and forth between their two comfortable homes, the Avakians feel convinced that the rising tide of Turkish hostility on the horizon means little to them and will scarcely affect their day to day. Read More »

  • Romolo Guerrieri – Liberi armati pericolosi AKA Young, Violent, Dangerous (1976)

    1971-1980CrimeItalyRomolo GuerrieriThriller

    Synopsis:
    Paul, Joe and Louie go on a bloodthirsty and pointless crime spree, much to the dismay of Paul’s girlfriend (Eleonora Giorgi) and the local police commissioner (Tomas Milian) . The group starts by robbing a gas station where Paul guns down three people. They later rob a bank and a grocery store where Paul kills off an entire other gang that was helping him rob the place. It isn’t long before the entire police force is out to nab the 3 criminals, who pick up the girl and proceed to hightail it to the Swiss border.Read More »

Back to top button