The Couples
Three episodes. The refrigerator. A married couple of two poor emigrant workers spend almost all their money to buy a refrigerator (a must in the '70s). The purchase is too expensive for their familiar balance sheet. To earn some money they decide to go for prostitution. The wife is not so unhappy to the perspective. The room. To celebrate ten years of marriage a couple decides to spend a quick holiday in top luxury hotels in Sardegna. But the fashion luxury VIP world is too hard to enter; they soon will end in prison. The Lion. Two adulterous, Antonio and Giulia, are blocked by a lion, staying on the exit in the place they met. They both have to come back home, but couldn't move because of the lion presence. The critic situation soon drive them to their limit peak, showing their real essence.
Casts & Crew
Alberto Sordi
Monica Vitti
Enzo Jannacci
Rossana Di Lorenzo
Also Directed by Vittorio De Sica
Antonio, an unemployed man in the depressed post-WWII economy of Italy, at last finds a good job hanging up posters, the only requirement for which is that he must have his own bicycle. When Antonio’s bicycle is stolen, he and his son are forced to walk the streets of Rome in search of it, or else face ruin.
When elderly pensioner Umberto Domenico Ferrari returns to his boarding house from a protest calling for a hike in old-age pensions, his landlady demands her 15,000-lire rent by the end of the month or he and his small dog will be turned out onto the street. Unable to get the money in time, Umberto fakes illness to get sent to a hospital, giving his beloved dog to the landlady's pregnant and abandoned maid for temporary safekeeping.
Once upon a time an old woman discovers a baby in her cabbage patch. She brings up the child and, when she dies, the boy, Toto, enters an orphanage. Toto leaves the orphanage a happy young man, and looks for work in post-war Milan. He ends up with the homeless and organizes them to build a shanty town in a vacant lot. The squatters discover oil in the land and Toto sees a vision of the old woman who gives him a magic dove that will grant him anything he wishes.
A young woman teaches commercial writing and makes her students practice by writing letters addressed to an imaginary recipient from Vienna. One day, the love letter the woman writes to this non-existent man is accidentally sent by one of her students –and falls into the hands of a real person.
While on vacation in Rome, married American Mary Forbes becomes entangled in an affair with an Italian man, Giovanni Doria. As she prepares to leave Italy, Giovanni confesses his love for her; he doesn't want her to go. Together they wander the railroad station where Mary is to take the train to Paris, then ultimately reunite with her husband and daughter in Philadelphia. Will she throw away her old life for this passionate new romance?
A comedy of errors about marriage and infidelity. Vittorio De Sica's debut film.
Adriana De Mauro loves Cesar Braggi, but Cesar, honoring his father's dying wish, allows his brother, Antonio, to marry Adriana. As fate wills, Antonio dies in an automobile accident. Adriana's mourning for Antonio ends when Cesar steps in to rekindle her lust of life. Soon, Adriana begins having dizzy spells. Cesar helps her to a specialist, and the diagnosis is not good. She has an incurable disease. For the rest of their time together, Cesar woos Adriana and eventually proposes to her on a gondola. Yet, for some reason or other, Signora De Mauro, Adriana's mother, is not pleased with the relationship and argues bitterly with Cesar.
An anthology of four adult tales: a young couple tries to hide their marriage and the wife’s supposed pregnancy from their place of employment; a billboard photo of a scantily clad woman comes to life to torment the local censor; a lottery is held in which the prize is to spend the night with a beautiful woman; an aristocratic couple comes to terms with life and marriage after the domineering husband is caught visiting sex workers by the press.
Paolo and Maria are two elementary teachers, who love each other, but can not have a child.
Six vignettes set in the Villa Borghese gardens in Rome
Also Directed by Mario Monicelli
The artistic evolution of the great composer, whose work left an indelible mark in the history of Italian cinema. In this documentary Nino Rota's extraordinary musical production relives in the words of his friends and colleagues. His collaboration with Visconti and Fellini are truly memorable. His movie score and sequences of his performances in theaters all over the world hand us down a full and evocative outline of this outstanding artist.
Like every year, everyone is going back to the ancestral family's home for the Christmas holidays. But this time, the old folks have a surprise, a good surprise for them. They have decided to go living with one of their children and make him or her inherit the family house.
The four old friends meet on the grave of the fifth of them, Perozzi, who died at the end of the first episode. Time has passed but they are still up for adventures and cruel jokes, and while they recall the one they created together with the late friend, new ones are on their way, starting right there at the cemetery.
On New Year's Eve, an insecure, struggling actress (Anna Magnani) has nothing to do. When a colleague invites her to a New Year's party, she jumps at the opportunity. Accidentally she runs into an old acting acquaintance (Toto), who is helping a professional pickpocket (Ben Gazzara) steal from people during the hustle-bustle of New Year's Eve festivities. During the course of the evening, they have numerous crazy, humorous adventures all over Rome at different parties, restaurants, and even the Trevi fountain. Magnani's character (Tortorella) falls for Gazzara's character (Lello) without knowing what he's up to, while Toto tries to placate them both.
Four different directors present lighthearted stories about married Italian couples and their dilemmas with jealousy, sex and love.
After saving an infant of royal blood, knight Brancaleone forms a new army and sets out to return the baby to his father: a prince fighting in the Crusades.
An anthology of four adult tales: a young couple tries to hide their marriage and the wife’s supposed pregnancy from their place of employment; a billboard photo of a scantily clad woman comes to life to torment the local censor; a lottery is held in which the prize is to spend the night with a beautiful woman; an aristocratic couple comes to terms with life and marriage after the domineering husband is caught visiting sex workers by the press.
The adventures of a couple of scoundrels in the Spain of the 16th century.
Antonio Scaparro (Toto) is obsessed for women. He invents his own way to hide from them - in the attic of his house.
Also Directed by Alberto Sordi
The investigations of a private eye shake up the almost broken marriage of a middle aged couple.
Armando Andreoli, a well-known engineer of almost 80 years, is approached by Federica, an assistant nurse who then invites him to his hotel room. In the morning, Federica's boyfriend arrives in the room, suspecting a relationship that has never existed.
The incorruptible judge Annibale Salvemini, starts investigating over a classic Italian business/politics/corruption affair. He start to operate, as usual, very strongly. He orders numberless arrests. But the reaction of counterparts won't take long. In fact his strong energetic manners, drive him unintentionally on the opposite situation. Who is the real guilty the judge or the corrupted Italian society?
Romantic comedy-drama about a husband (Sordi) who is jealous of his wife's (Vitti) infatuation with a Professor.
The Roman taxi driver Pietro Marchetti finds himself to witness a mafia crime. Having to testify at the trial, he is checked by the police, especially when he has to go to the United States to attend the graduation of his son Francesco.
A three novels about an ordinary people discovering erotic movies.