Based on Shakesphere’s play, Verdi’s opera depicts the devastating effects of jealousy, “…the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds upon”. Believing Otello has promoted the fast-rising Cassio over himself, Iago plots to destroy both Cassio and Otello. Iago convinces the jealous Otello that his beautiful wife Desdemona is unfaithful, and that Cassio is her lover. Jealousy is followed by tragedy, then retribution, “Has Heaven no more thunderbolts?”Read More »
Based on Pier Paolo Pasolini’s second novel, A Violent Life (Una Vita Violenta) tells the story of a group of kids who live in one of the poorest and most disreputable neighborhoods in Rome. The story is set at the end of WWII. Thomas lives at the expense of others, like all his other companions, stealing and wasting time. But one day after a theft, Thomas gets arrested. When he comes out of prison he contracts tuberculosis, going through an inner struggle which changes his worldview. He begins to think about his future as a human being and vows to change his life. Hoping to become honest, Thomas gets engaged to the beautiful Irene and also decides to participate in political activity, joining the Communist Party. Then there is a sudden accident, and Thomas once again is faced with the most important challenge of his life.Read More »
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This is a quite a rare example of a political sci-fi filmed without means. An excessive and schizophrenic creature, DINNI E LA NORMALINA allows Grifi’s more playful soul to see the light, while not dispersing the dark reflection on the exploitation by media institutions. Although the film is completely finished, in 2004 Grifi filmed new material to be integrated into the editing process: a homeless man who wanders among carcasses of burned scooters, queues of employees who show their feces to the health inspectors. Unfortunately this material remains unpublished.Read More »
Criminal psychologist Dr. Herbert Lyutak (Mickey Hargitay of BLOODY PIT OF HORROR and THE WILD, WILD WORLD OF JAYNE MANSFIELD) is a deranged sex maniac who murders young women. His beautiful wife (the luscious Rita Calderoni of NUDE FOR SATAN and THE REINCARNATION OF ISABEL) is tormented by visions of medieval torture and lesbian orgies. But as their madness grows more twisted, they will descend even deeper into a nightmare of dementia, depravity and most of all, DELIRIUM!Read More »
Giovanni is a young man who has been used by a catholic publishing house to advertise, with his face, a publication by installments concerning Jesus life. Francesca is a mysterious girl he met on the street and who’s being sought by the police.Read More »
A young man from north Italy named Amedeo decides to come to Rome. He has a crazy idea in his head to meet the pope.Read More »
The ’60s for Italian cinema were the decade of the film a episodi, with 3-4 segments that may almost reach the feature-film length and were directed by celebrated directors such as Fellini, Visconti, Pasolini, Monicelli.
Nanni Loy’s Made in Italy is composed instead by many microepisodes, which give him way to depict several facets of Italian society and, not unimportantly, to cast several stars: Manfredi, Sordi, Spaak, Chiari, Fabrizi, Magnani, Lisi, Koscina, P. de Filippo…Read More »
Plot Synopsis from allmovie.com
Doctor Beware was the U.S.-released title of Vittorio DeSica’s 1941 effort Teresa Venerdi. DeSica not only directed, but played the leading role of orphanage official Dr. Vignali. The thinnish storyline finds the good doctor becoming romantically involved with three women. It is up to orphaned girl Teresa Venerdi (Adriana Benedetti) to untangle all the plot lines–and, as a bonus, to come to the financial rescue of the improvident Vignali. When the film was released to the U.S. in 1951, supporting actress Anna Magnani, cast in a secondary role as one of Dr. Vignali’s amours, was given star billing.Read More »
Although this is basically a WIP movie, it differs greatly from both the popular Corman produced US/Filipino versions and the much sicker European variant typified by the work of Jess Franco. It is a mid-70’s Italian film, so about half of it is a crime thriller with the usual car chases and violent Mafia intrigue involving a missing load of heroin. The WIP subplot comes in when the daughter of kidnapped Mafia boss (the not-even-remotely-Italian-looking Anita Strindberg)goes undercover in a woman’s prison to protect and get information from the “new fish” (Jenny Tamburi), whose dead boyfriend was transporting the heroin. However, this surprisingly complex plot still leads to the usual shower scenes, catfights, lesbian groping, and everything else audiences have come to expect from these type of films.Read More »