Luchino Visconti

  • Luchino Visconti – Ossessione AKA Obsession [+Extras] (1943)

    1941-1950CrimeDramaItalian Neo-RealismItalyLuchino Visconti

    Gino, a young and handsome tramp, stops in a small roadside inn run by Giovanna. She is unsatisfied with her older husband Bragana : she only married him for money. Gino and Giovanna fall in love. But Bragana is inhibiting for their passion, and Giovanna refuses to run away with Gino.Read More »

  • Luchino Visconti – Senso (1954)

    1951-1960DramaItalyLuchino ViscontiRomance

    Quote:
    This lush, Technicolor tragic romance from Luchino Visconti stars Alida Valli as a nineteenth-century Italian countess who, during the Austrian occupation of her country, puts her marriage and political principles on the line by engaging in a torrid affair with a dashing Austrian lieutenant, played by Farley Granger. Gilded with ornate costumes and sets and a rich classical soundtrack, and featuring fearless performances, this operatic melodrama is an extraordinary evocation of reckless emotions and deranged lust, from one of the cinema’s great sensualists.Read More »

  • Luchino Visconti – Morte a Venezia AKA Death in Venice (1971) (HD)

    1971-1980DramaItalyLuchino Visconti

    Quote:
    In this adaptation of the Thomas Mann novel, avant-garde composer Gustave Aschenbach (loosely based on Gustav Mahler) travels to a Venetian seaside resort in search of repose after a period of artistic and personal stress. But he finds no peace there, for he soon develops a troubling attraction to an adolescent boy, Tadzio, on vacation with his family. The boy embodies an ideal of beauty that Aschenbach has long sought and he becomes infatuated. However, the onset of a deadly pestilence threatens them both physically and represents the corruption that compromises and threatens all ideals.Read More »

  • Luchino Visconti – La Caduta Degli Dei (Götterdämmerung) AKA The Damned [English dub] (1969)

    1961-1970DramaItalyLuchino ViscontiQueer Cinema(s)War

    Quote:
    This brooding, operatic movie about Nazism makes Cabaret look like wholesome family fare. The family in The Damned is a symbol of German society circa 1934. The Krupp-like steel magnate Baron von Essenbeck represents the spineless establishment. The Nazis kill the baron, then frame one heir apparent, a socialist (married to the stunning Charlotte Rampling). A bearish, boorish Essenbeck representing the SA, the Nazis’ early goon squad, takes the reins. But Hitler murdered the SA in the 1934 “Night of the Long Knives,” providing The Damned with its bravura action scene, a Nazi massacre at a gay SA orgy. The winning Essenbeck is the murderous, pedophilic, transvestite, mother-rapist Martin (sharp-featured Helmut Berger), who represents Nazism. Though he’s better in director Luchino Visconti’s 1971 Death in Venice, Dirk Bogarde is classy as Martin’s stepdad. The Damned got an Oscar screenplay nomination, and Vincent Canby called Berger’s Martin “the performance of the year.”Read More »

  • Luchino Visconti – La Caduta Degli Dei (Götterdämmerung) aka The Damned (1969)

    1961-1970DramaItalyLuchino ViscontiWar

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    The Damned has often been regarded as the first of Visconti’s films described as “The German Trilogy”, followed by Death in Venice (1971) and Ludwig (1973). Henry Bacon (1998) specifically categorizes these films together under a chapter “Visconti & Germany”. Visconti’s earlier films had analyzed Italian society during the Risorgimento and postwar periods. Peter Bondanella’s Italian Cinema (2002) depicts the trilogy as a move to take a broader view of European politics and culture. Stylistically, “They emphasize lavish sets and costumes, sensuous lighting, painstakingly slow camerawork, and a penchant for imagery reflecting subjective states or symbolic values,” comments Bondanella.Read More »

  • Luchino Visconti – Bellissima (1951)

    1951-1960DramaItalyLuchino Visconti

    http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/514L9HWWfYL.jpg

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Maddalena (Anna Magnani) is a screenstruck mother convinced of her daughter Maria’s (Tina Apicella) star potential. Dreaming of a better life for her family – as a means of escape from the struggles of everyday existence in working-class Rome – she invests everything, including her last penny, into the dream that her daughter will be discovered at an open casting.Read More »

  • Luchino Visconti – Rocco e i suoi fratelli aka Rocco and His Brothers (1960)

    1951-1960DramaItalyLuchino Visconti

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    The widow Rosaria moves to Milano from Lucania with her 4 sons, one of whom is Rocco. The fifth son, Vincenzo, already lives in Milano. In the beginning, the family has a lot of problems, but everyone manages to find something to do. Simone is boxing, Rocco works in a dry cleaners, and Ciro studies. Simone meets Nadia, a prostitute, and they have a stormy affair. Then Rocco, after finishing his military service, begins a relationship with her. A bitter feud ensues between the two brothers, which will lead as far as murder… Written by Kornel Osvart
    Read More »

  • Luchino Visconti – Morte a Venezia AKA Death in Venice (1971)

    1971-1980ArthouseDramaItalyLuchino ViscontiQueer Cinema(s)

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    from imdb:
    In this adaptation of the Thomas Mann novel, avant-garde composer Gustave Aschenbach (loosely based on Gustav Mahler) travels to a Venetian seaside resort in search of repose after a period of artistic and personal stress. But he finds no peace there, for he soon develops a troubling attraction to an adolescent boy, Tadzio, on vacation with his family. The boy embodies an ideal of beauty that Aschenbach has long sought and he becomes infatuated. However, the onset of a deadly pestilence threatens them both physically and represents the corruption that compromises and threatens all ideals. Written by Eric Wees
    Read More »

  • Mauro Bolognini, Vittorio De Sica, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Franco Rossi, Luchino Visconti – Le streghe (1967)

    1961-1970ClassicsComedyCommedia all'ItalianaFranco RossiItalyLuchino ViscontiMauro BologniniPier Paolo PasoliniVittorio De Sica

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Plot:
    A film of five separate comedy to drama segments–directed by Visconti, Bolognini, Pasolini, Franco Rossi and de Sica. The international cast includes Clint Eastwood, Annie Girardot and Alberto Sordi, and features Silvana Mangano. Important Note: This film has been manufactured from the best-quality video master currently available and has not been remastered or restored specifically for this DVD release. 16 x 9. Important Note: This film has been manufactured from the best-quality video master currently available and has not been remastered or restored specifically for this DVD release. From Warner Brothers Website!Read More »

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