Jacques Sernas

This is a two-part Italian television mini-series directed by Giorgio Capitani and broadcasted in April 2002 on Rai Uno. It is the life story of Pope John XXIII, nicknamed "the good Pope".

7.7/10

As every year, German brewery tycoon Karl Schneibel spends the summer holiday on an Italian island with his beloved grandson Christian, near the children's home run by his ma, Dr. Gioia. This year however, Christian's heart isn't in his summer fling but his lover at home, Anna, daughter of Karl's general manager Dr. Werner. Christian has a bad eye in Veronica, the woman who became Karl's much younger lover 'by travel fate', the first thing soon proved untrue. But by then, the Schneibel firm and estate have been taken over according to an elaborate conspiracy, which Christian takes on with some help from his friends.

5.1/10

In 17th century France, a theater troupe is allowed by its patron to go to Paris to produce an erotic play. The head of the troupe dreams of fame while his wife, the leading actress, and a new leading girl fall for each other.

6.3/10

Misery money-lender Arpagone is looking to arrange three weddings simultaneously - to cut down on costs. One for himself and the others for his two children. Of course he doesn't approve of the choices his son and daughter have made and conspires to arrange more well to do spouses against their will. However, fate will prove itself to be on the side of true love, not of the greedy.

6.1/10

Serious, logical Martha (Barbara Sukowa) and dreamy, superstitious Anna (Stefania Sandrelli) have been best friends. That is, until Martha's lover Victor (Sami Frey) decides he'd rather be Anna's lover. Mortified, Martha flees to Africa, leaving the field clear for her ex-friend. When Anna comes down with cancer, she pleads with Victor to get her to come back and somehow put this rupture in their friendship behind them. Curiously, Martha does come back, and after some understandable tension and a few bitter words, they manage to reestablish their friendship, though it is now on a different basis.

6.8/10

Anne is convinced she has found her husband's corpse, but Dr. Mark can only find out that the man has gone home. When he comes back, his wife does not trust Mark, who believes she suffers from schizophrenia.

4/10

A young man lies in a hospital suspended between life and death. The police know nothing about him. The patient, in his rare moments of consciousness, only remembers his gang’s involvement in a robbery of a rare painting, and the mysterious Madame Jacno who commissioned Fabrizio, the gang leader, to steal the work of art. But someone is still trying to kill the patient, and as his life is continually threatened, his memory slowly comes back to him…!

5.2/10

Naples, year 1943, in the middle of World War II. The city has just be liberated by American troops in an era in which nobody knows just when the war or where begins the peace; winners and losers face...

6.8/10

Italian tearjerker about an up and coming swimming star struggling with a serious illness.

6/10

The viscous conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is now a generation old. For many of the children of the region, the terrorist war has been going on for their entire lifetimes, killing their family and friends, and overshadowing their lives. They are the Children of Rage

5.8/10

Miniseries about the early life of Garibaldi.

7.7/10

A war film based on the novel "Journey into the Vertigo" by Evgenija Solomonovna Ginzburg

5.5/10

A Harlem drug dealer and his girlfriend retire to Rome, where he joins an African revolution.

5.3/10

An American commando who's the sole survivor of a parachute jump into WWII-era Italy leads a group of children in a campaign of sabotage against the Nazis.

5.8/10

Near the end of the Civil War, imprisoned Confederate raider Giuliano Gemma is sent under guard to warn both his men and the Army at Fort Yuma that an impending rebel raid is really nothing but a ruse by scoundrels from both sides, in cahoots to take the fort's gold for themselves during the chaos. Soon Gemma slips his treacherous escort and attempts to complete the mission himself.

6.2/10

A scepter is stolen, and it's hunted for by various groups of international robbers and spies, for various reasons - in a parody of 007 movies.

5.4/10

A U.S. intelligence general (Robert Ryan) recalls three Cold War cases of Soviet (Henry Fonda), French and Italian (Vittorio Gassman) spies.

5.7/10

An Interpol agent is tasked with investigating the deaths of several other agents.

5.1/10

Diplomats, soldiers and other representatives of a dozen nations fend off the siege of the International Compound in Peking during the 1900 Boxer Rebellion. The disparate interests unite for survival despite competing factions, overwhelming odds, delayed relief and tacit support of the Boxers by the Empress of China and her generals.

6.7/10
5.7%

The decurion Randus holds himself so well in the command of his troops, that Caesar promotes him to centurion. He is subsequently sent to Egypt, to keep Cesar informed on the actions and intentions of co-triumvir Marcus Licinius Crassus - a man too rich, and ambitious, for Caesar's comfort. A fateful sea trip from Egypt to Rome forces Randus in captivity by mercenary troops, and leads a revolt by which he gets freedom for himself, and all the other slaves. Through an amulet he received from his late mother, a man who had fought by Spartacus' side, identifies the young man as Spartacus' and Varinia's son. At first reluctant to accept this story about his origins, Randus will be forced by the circumstances to repeat the feat of his father, twenty years later.

5.9/10

Maciste's village is attacked by pirates. The women, including Maciste's fiancee Guja, are carried off to Salmanak, where dwells the lair of the blood drinking Kobrak. Maciste vows to rescue them.

5.8/10

Twin brothers were raised by wolves, revolt against tyranny in pre-Roman Italy and then come to a parting of the ways as they lead their people toward the founding of a new city, the founders of Rome.

5.9/10

A Roman nobleman, Horatius leads an imperial legion during the long and bloody war between the Romans and the Albans. A desperate arrangement is agreed on how to settle the war. Three valiant brothers are chosen from each side to fight one last fierce and bloody duel...

5.3/10

The tormented love story between an egoist academic and a superficial starlet.

6.7/10

Journalist and man-about-town Marcello struggles to find his place in the world, torn between the allure of Rome's elite social scene and the stifling domesticity offered by his girlfriend, all the while searching for a way to become a serious writer.

8/10
9.6%

An orphan, raised by a foreign tribe, becomes a warrior queen and falls in love with the leader of her enemies.

4.7/10

During the 3rd century B.C. a horde of barbarians are hired by the Phoenian city of Carthage to fight against the Roman empire, but when the city's ruler is unable to fulfill the promised payment made to the mercenaries, they attack the African settlement, where Salammbô --the king's daughter and high priestess of goddess Tanit- tries to settle the matter when the Barbarian leader who has fallen for her steals the sacred veil of Carthage from the temple, without taking into account the evil schemes of a powerful member of the council of wise men.

5.2/10

There is a lot of excitement in the high society of Venice: An Arab prince, who always travels incognito, is said to be in the city. By chance, the elegant Isabella gets to know the handsome heir to the throne - and it does not take long for her to fall madly in love with him. Isabella has no idea that her dream man is really the impostor Gérard, who looks remarkably like the prince and was hounded by the sleazy crook Alfredo on Isabella to steal their precious jewelry.

5.2/10

An actor fails to find success in the film world but falls in love with a theatre manager's daughter.

5.1/10

Zenobia, Queen of Palmira, revolts against Rome and defeats the Roman troops, but she makes a big mistake when she falls in love with enemy officer Marco Valerio.

5.6/10

Absurd historical drama starring Lee in the title role as an impulsive woman hopelessly in love with Sernas, a young swordsman in her brother's employ. She is dismayed to learn that he is in love with family arch enemy Mercier, who is loved from afar by the nutty Count Borgia.

5.3/10

The god Zeus sends Venus, the goddess of love, to Earth to find her own true love.

5.2/10

Prince Paris of Troy, shipwrecked on a mission to the king of Sparta, meets and falls for Queen Helen before he knows who she is. Rudely received by the royal Greeks, he must flee...but fate and their mutual passions lead him to take Helen along. This gives the Greeks just the excuse they need for much-desired war.

6.2/10

Arriving in IndoChina by parachute, Captain Guy Bertrand and his comrades make a courageous stand against the Communist forces. Jump into Hell is one of the first films to deal with the ongoing conflict in Vietnam or, as it was still known in 1955, French IndoChina.

5.6/10

The story takes plays during the annual Good Friday pageant in a tiny Italian village. Local priest Don Vincenzo faces a crisis when the girl selected to play the Virgin Mary shows up pregnant.

7.5/10

After her father commits suicide, a young woman asks for help to the son of a Countess and they fall in love.

6.2/10

An Italian woman has a son with an African American soldier after World War II ends.

A group of illegal immigrants find a job in a French mine and organizes strikes to improve their working condition.

An undercover policeman infiltrates a criminal gang.

Set in a tiny village near the Riviera, the story concerns a diverse group of has-beens and losers.The Countess (played by Denise Vernac,Von Stroheim's secretary and constant companion in real life) entertains her jaded guests by screening dirty movies. Failed writer Blaise (Jacques Sernas) is saddled with an alcoholic wife (Dora Doll). And idealistic young Violaine (Etchika Choureau) is slowly dying of tuberculosis. The lives of all these people become intertwined through a sudden -- but not unexpected -- act of violence.

6.6/10

The plot concerns a songwriter, played by Jacques Sernas who leaves his sweetheart and publisher when he learns that he is going blind.

Just before wowing international critics and moviegoers with his adventure romp Fanfan la Tulipe, director Christian-Jaque dashed off the lampoonish Barbe-Bleue. Ostensibly the story of the famed wife-killing potentate Bluebeard (Pierre Brasseur), this lighthearted costumer begins as the title character is poised to march down the matrimonial aisle for the eighth time. Barbe-Bleue's newest spouse Aline (Cécile Aubry) is kept in line by her husband's claims of murdering her predecessors. But when Aline opens the famous locked door to the equally famous hidden room, both she and the audience are in for quite a surprise. The frivolous nature of Barbe-Bleue is underlined by its pleasing utilization of the French Gezacolor process.

5.8/10

Piero is the leader of a group of university students who lead a carefree life. Finding himself in trouble and in need of money, he turns to criminal means—receiving aid from Daniela, the daughter of a rigid magistrate.

An archaeologist stumbles into the territory of an evil crime syndicate and struggles to set things right.

6.2/10

The title of this Italian melodrama translates to Pact with the Devil. However, His Satanic Majesty does not appear in the film. Rather, this expensively produced period piece is more along the lines of Romeo and Juliet, with young love threatened by warring families. In his first Italian film, Hollywood veteran Eduardo Cianelli goes through his usual villainous paces as the scheming father of the male lead (Jacques Francois). The most fascinating performance is rendered by Umberto Spadaro, as the village idiot, or is he? Patto col Diavolo makes the most of the visual dynamics of Italy's mountainous Calabrian region.

Two young men from the Navy fall in love with an actress.

5.5/10

Daniele, a 16 year old boy, runs away from boarding school after a catastrophic bombing, only to find his home destroyed and his parents dead. Alone in the world he meets Tullio, a disbanded boy who lives in an abandoned area with some girls, Carla, an eighteen year old girl who works as a prostitute, Giulia, younger and sick of tuberculosis, and a girl, Maria.

7.4/10

Marceline is pretty but inconstant. She has a brother, eccentric as well as invading, who serves as a go-between between the fickle young woman and her lovers. She has been the mistress of Richard for a while when Jeff, an engaging but but unrepentant dreamer, falls madly in love with her. Marceline first turns him down but finally accepts him after she breaks up with Richard. But the coquette has not given up her escapades to which the young florist, nicknamed "Jean de la Lune" for his naivety, turns a blind eye. Little time after their wedding , Marceline becomes infatuated with the good looks of a superficial young man, Alexandre. But Jeff, who has developed a fondness for Jean, intervenes to save the couple.

6.2/10

Returning home after a night of love spent in a woodman's hut with Orsola, Pietro is arrested by the police for a crime he did not commit. His mother and youngest sister, Rosaria, go to Orsola begging her to provide Pietro with the alibi that will clear him. But Rocco, Orsola's brother, dreading a family scandal, constrains Orsola to silence. Condemned despite his innocence, Pietro escapes from prison, but the police track him down and kill him, and his mother, before the eyes of Rosaria. Years pass, and one day Rocco stumbles upon a half-frozen young woman lying in the snow. He takes her home and confides her to the care of Orsola. Later, yielding to the pleas of Orsola, Rocco and Rocco's son, Salvatore, the girl stays on in the house, and Salvatore falls in love with the beautiful stranger, who is careful to keep the family members from learning she is Rosaria, the grown up sister of Pietro seeking revenge for the deaths of her brother and mother.

7.2/10

In impoverished post-war Rome, a gang of young thieves is lead by Stefano, the son of an illustrious professor. The police suspects that the criminals are actually university students; inspector Mariani, a young World War II veteran, enrolls and tries to find out more. He falls for a pretty fellow student, Luisa, but she is the sister of the gang leader...

6.9/10

The ordeal of Françoise who, deceived by her husband, sees her dying child. After a few events in the backdrop of a festival, the husband returns, she pushes him away, driving him to suicide. Another man she thinks she loves is already married.