Sophia Loren
Nancy Vincenza Kulik, an Italian-American grandmother from Fort Lee, New Jersey, has experienced many challenges and triumphs. But she always meets life's journey with love, resilience and joy, inspired in part by another Italian grandmother, movie star Sophia Loren.
In seaside Italy, a Holocaust survivor with a daycare business takes in a 12-year-old street kid who recently robbed her.
"The Italian Jobs: Paramount Pictures e l'Italia" tells the story of two men, two Italian-American executives, Pilade Levi and Luigi Luraschi, who came to Italy at the end of the Second World War to recreate the Italian film industry; their work went on to have a significant influence on cinema worldwide. The idea of producing European films financed by American funds, in fact, originated in Italy with Paramount Pictures. Masterpieces such as Nights of Cabiria, Romeo and Juliet and The Conformist, to name just a few, were created precisely thanks to the work of these two men. The exclusive testimonies of Gioia Levi and Tony Luraschi, the children of the two executives, describe how their fathers were not only businessmen but how their lives were dedicated entirely to cinema.
Edoardo Ponti interviews his mother, the Academy Award-winning actress Sophia Loren, in a show taped before a live audience at the 2015 TCM Classic Film Festival.
It is a musical portrait that shines a spotlight on unknown aspects of the creative, visionary and groundbreaking talent of filmmaker and writer, Lina Wertmüller.
The story of the gold-plated statuette that became the film industry's most coveted prize, AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... traces the history of the Academy itself, which began in 1927 when Louis B. Mayer, then head of MGM, led other prominent members of the industry in forming this professional honorary organization. Two years later the Academy began bestowing awards, which were nicknamed "Oscar," and quickly came to represent the pinnacle of cinematic achievement.
'Human Voice' is based on Jean Cocteau's iconic one woman play of the same name. Set against the backdrop of Naples, Italy, in 1950, this romantic drama tells the story of Angela, (played by Sophia Loren), a woman in the twilight of her years who rides the emotional roller coaster of her last telephone conversation with the man she loves as he is leaving her for another woman.
Sophia Loren's story told by Loren herself. The greatest Italian movie star of all time describes her life and career through a selection of the materials dating from between the fifties and the present day preserved in the archives of the Istituto Luce Cinecittà and the Rai. An exploration of the myth of a "unique" actor, relying exclusively on precious and sometimes rare archive footage, with a commentary in Loren's own words drawn from over half a century of interviews and firsthand accounts of the most important moments in her private life and her career. A documentary made to celebrate this great actor's eighty years and her immense charm and talent.
Girlfriend in a Coma is a documentary that exposes the dire situation of Italian politics and the process of economic and social decline the country has suffered during the last two decades, treating the decline as a warning of what might happen elsewhere in the West. The decline has occurred amid a collapse of moral values and the victory of “Mala Italia” over “Buona Italia”. It has been lauded as being ground-breaking in its creative combination of animation, interviews and hard facts, and has caused fierce controversy in Italy.
The untold and intimate life story of one of the greatest American photographers of all time, Bert Stern. After working alongside Stanley Kubrick at Look Magazine, Stern became an original Madison Avenue 'mad man', his images helping to create modern advertising. Ground-breaking photos of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Marilyn Monroe and Twiggy, coupled with his astonishing success in advertising, minted Stern as a celebrity in his own right.
A documentary about Vittorio de Sica with clips of his films and testimonials from friends and family.
Arrogant, self-centered movie director Guido Contini finds himself struggling to find meaning, purpose, and a script for his latest film endeavor. With only a week left before shooting begins, he desperately searches for answers and inspiration from his wife, his mistress, his muse, and his mother.
We are drowning in celebrity culture and certainly no tabloid topic has been as big as Paris Hilton. Her incarceration and subsequent release, then re-incarceration and her ultimate release once again-left us submerged knee-deep in the twists and turns of her life. Famous for doing nothing, she's the ultimate manifestation of our obsession with celebrity culture and the massive profits that it wields. As long as we are willing to watch and read, who can resist feeding our habit?
Documentary exploring the formidable life and career of Italian film star Sophia Loren. With interviews with the actress herself, as well as thoughts from colleagues and admirers, including Woody Allen.
Vittorio Innocente, a young man, estranged from the tragedies of his Italian immigrant family, has spent his adult life denying his past. When his estranged father starts to stalk Vittorio's sister, Rita, with murderous intent, Vittorio is moved to return to his family and uncover the decades-old secrets that have torn his family apart.
After a long marriage, Maria and Jeffrey are now in crisis. Trying to keep the family together, she tries to convince their children to attend the birthday of the old grandmother Assunta, owner of the beautiful house in which they live. But their children are going through a rough patch. Francesco is a writer who is ashamed of having achieved fame with a book of literary shoddy, why his wife has lost respect. Marco is a doctor and is happy with his family, but his wife is determined to throw it all away for that to become an actress. Meanwhile, Miriam, a young emancipated, discovers she is pregnant, but does not know which of her lovers is the father.
Looking for Sophia is a documentary about Loren's remarkable life and career, featuring rare newsreel footage, highlights from her films, and insights from her friends and colleagues.
While silent-film star Charlie Chaplin may have charmed American audiences with the onscreen antics of his lovable "Tramp" character, the actor's private life was marred by a series of public scandals that eventually pushed him into exile. In addition to his penchant for much younger women, Chaplin was unjustly hounded by Senator Joe McCarthy's notorious anti-Communist witch hunts, for which the U.S. revoked his visa in 1952. A bitter and disenchanted Chaplin responded by moving his family to Switzerland, where he remained until his death in 1977. This documentary chronicles Chaplin's life and career during those so-called "forgotten years" (during which he became a prolific and highly respected film-score composer) through previously unreleased archival footage and intimate interviews with his friends and family, including his children Geraldine, Michael, and Eugene.
At the beginning of the century, in Italy, a wealthy woman Francesca (Loren), adopts a poor little girl named Nunziata. The years pass, Nunziata falls in love Federico (Bova), her adoptive brother, son of Francesca.
A family wedding reignites the ancient feud between next-door neighbors and fishing buddies John and Max. Meanwhile, a sultry Italian divorcée opens a restaurant at the local bait shop, alarming the locals who worry she'll scare the fish away. But she's less interested in seafood than she is in cooking up a hot time with Max.
Paris Fashion Week draws the usual bunch of people; designers, reporters, models, magazine editors, photographers. Follows the various storylines of these characters, centering around a murder investigation of a prominent fashion figure. Features an all-star cast.
In this domestic comedy, Rosa (Sophia Loren), a mature mother of several children, is concerned that her beloved husband Don Peppino (Luca de Filippo) is losing interest in her, and does his best to provoke some jealousy in him. She is a masterful cook, and if her romantic charms are fading, her culinary skills are not. By one means and another, and after some amusing confrontations, she succeeds in keeping her husband from taking her for granted and harmony is restored.
A documentary about the Italian cinema as art form and industry.
Dramatization of the life of Italian actress Sophia Loren who plays herself during adulthood and also that of her mother Romilda Villani.
Titina Paterno, a widow in a small coastal town in Sicily, goes insane after the death of her husband. She cannot stop telling whoever wants to hear her that Vito Acicatena, the fascist bigwig of the region was the one responsible of the crime. Justice, alas, will not do anything to punish this criminal, but Titina, in her own way, will be Vito's worst nightmare.
General George S. Patton died in a car accident in 1945. However, now speculates that his death was actually a murder carefully prepared by his staff to cover a large theft of gold.
The film is set during the late 1930s: the occasion is the first meeting between Mussolini and Hitler. Left alone in her tenement home when her fascist husband runs off to attend the historic event, Antonietta strikes up a friendship with her homosexual neighbor Gabriele. As the day segues into night, Antonietta and Gabriele develop a very special relationship that will radically alter both of their outlooks on life.
Passengers on a European train have been exposed to a deadly disease. Nobody will let them off the train. So what happens next?
A desperate woman, whose son is on trial for murder, blackmails the judge and kidnaps his wife.
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.
Two strangers, both married to others, meet in a railroad station and find themselves in a brief but intense affair.
Sister Germana, a beautiful woman who took the vows following the death of her fiancé Guido, is forced to return from Libya, and becomes the mother superior in a hospital in Lombardy. A young Communist, pretending to be sick, has established himself in the hospital where he has been for some time now, though he tries to make himself useful in whatever way he can. Realizing that the nun does not tolerate his presence, the young man leaves the hospital, and in order to make a living, busies himself as a ‘nurse’ in the town. During the course of a strike, he is wounded. He is brought to the hospital where he is reconciled with the mother superior...
In the sixteenth century, Miguel de Cervantes, poet, playwright, and part-time actor, has been arrested, together with his manservant, by the Spanish Inquisition. They are accused of presenting an entertainment offensive to the Inquisition. Inside the huge dungeon into which they have been cast, the other prisoners gang up on Cervantes and his manservant, and begin a mock trial, with the intention of stealing or burning his possessions. Cervantes wishes to desperately save a manuscript he carries with him and stages, with costumes, makeup, and the participation of the other prisoners, an unusual defense--the story of Don Quixote.
The story concerns the difficulties and reactions of Maddalena (Sophia Loren), an Italian visitor to New York City. She has come to the country carrying a huge mortadella sausage which she intends as a gift for her fiancé. But Customs do not allow processed meat to enter the U.S., so she is held at JFK airport...
After discovering her boyfriend for the past four years is married, a distraught and depressed young woman turns to a Catholic priest for counseling -- and finds mutual attraction. Now the inseparable couple are thwarted by his holy vow of celibacy, and must rely on the Vatican for a solution to their dilemma.
At the end of World War II, Giovanna, a war bride living near Milan refuses to accept that her husband, Antonio, missing on the Russian front, is dead. There's a flashback to their brief courtship near her hometown of Naples, his 12-day leave to marry her, ruses to keep from deployment, and the ultimate farewell. Some years after the war, still with no word from Antonio, Giovanna goes to Russia to find him, starting in the town near the winter battle when he disappeared. Armed with his photograph, what will she find?
The psychotic son of a film producer becomes obsessed with a beautiful blonde starlet while in Cannes, lures her to his hotel room and strangles her. His mother finds out, but can she keep her mouth shut to protect her son? Meanwhile, the young killer meets another pretty blonde...
A fairy tale of the misadventures of a beautiful but temperamental Neapolitan peasant, Isabella, when she meets the ill- tempered Spanish Prince Rodrigo Ferrante y Davalos. The King of Spain has ordered Rodrigo to choose a wife among seven Italian Princesses, but he is smitten by the lowly peasant.
Pasquale and Maria, husband and wife, live in a palace supposedly haunted by ghosts and pay no rent. When Pasquale finds some food in the cupboard he thinks the ghosts are at work.
A Russian countess stows away in the stateroom of a married U.S. diplomat bound for New York.
In the fall of 1967, intermedia artists Ture Sjölander and Lars Weck collaborated with Bengt Modin, video engineer of the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation in Stockholm, to produce an experimental program called Monument. It was broadcast in January, 1968, and subsequently has been seen throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States. Apart from the technical aspect of the project, their intention was to develop a widened consciousness of the communi - cative process inherent in visual images. They selected as source material the "monuments" of world culture— images of famous persons and paintings.
Sophia puts the spotlight on her life with music. At her Rome villa, Peter Sellers is WWII Axis officer and Jonathan Winters a 16th century sculptor. Sophia sings "Out of Town" to children and animals. Tony voices "Summertime in Rome."
When a plot against a prominent Middle Eastern politician is uncovered, David Pollock, a professor of ancient hieroglyphics at Oxford University, is recruited to help expose the scheme. Pollock must find information believed to be in hieroglyphic code and must also contend with a mysterious man called Beshraavi. Meanwhile, Beshraavi's lover, Yasmin Azir, seems willing to aid Pollock -- but is she really on his side?
This insightful documentary features some of the major and most beautiful actresses to grace the silver screen. It shows how the movie industry changed it's depiction of sex and actresses portrayal of sex from the silent movie era to the present. Classic scenes are shown from the silent movie, True Heart Susie, starring Lillian Gish, to Love Me Tonight (1932), blending sex and sophistication, starring Jeanette MacDonald (pre-Nelson Eddy) and to Elizabeth Taylor in, A Place in the Sun (1951), plus much , much more.
Allied agents infiltrate the Nazi rocket complex at Peenemunde in order to obtain their secrets and sabotage the plant.The film alternates between German developments of the V-1 missile and V-2 rocket (with a German cast speaking their own language) and discovery by British Intelligence of the weapon.
In Naples, in the Second World War, the wolf businessman Domenico Soriano meets the seventeen years old whore Filumena Marturano in a brothel during an allied bombing. Two years later, in the post-war, they meet each other by chance and begin a long affair. For twenty-two years, Filumena is his mistress and administrates his shops in Naples while Domenico is traveling. When Domenico decides to marry the young cashier of his bakery, Filumena lures him as if she were near to death and he marries her. Later he annuls their matrimony, and she tells him that she has three sons that she raised secretly, one of them is his legitimate son but she does not disclose his identity. The middle-age Domenico uses the most different subterfuges trying to find which teenager might be his son.
Drawn from the same events that later inspired Gladiator, the film charts the power-hungry greed and father-son betrayal that led to Rome's collapse at the bloody hands of the Barbarians.
Sophia Loren, who was born in Rome and lived there as a child, returns to the city that will forever be in her blood and gives her impressions of and reactions to the mosaic of Rome and the people she encounters there during her visit. She meets Marcello Mastroianni and Vittorio de Sica as she visits the sights, affectionately commenting on the grandeur of the Eternal City and the irrepressible nature of its people.
Documentary footage (from the 1950s) and accompanying commentary to attempt to answer the existential question, Why are our lives characterized by discontent, anguish, and fear? The film is in two completely separate parts, and the directors of these respective sections, left-wing Pier Paolo Pasolini and conservative Giovanni Guareschi, offer the viewer contrasting analyses of and prescriptions for modern society. Part I, by Pasolini, is a denunciation of the offenses of Western culture, particularly those against colonized Africa. It is at the same time a chronicle of the liberation and independence of the former African colonies, portraying these peoples as the new protagonists of the world stage, holding up Marxism as their "salvation", and suggesting that their "innocent ferocity" will be the new religion of the era. Guareschi's part, by contrast, constitutes a defense of Western civilization and a word of hope, couched in traditional Christian terms, for man's future.
Three tales of very different women using their sexuality as a means to getting what they want.
A dying German magnate invites his youngest son and daughter-in-law home to discuss the future of the family's shipbuilding empire. There, the daughter-in-law stumbles upon a secret of the family's Nazi past.
Immediately after Lisa (Loren) declares that she is leaving her immature, abusive, but easy-going husband Robert (Perkins), he is reported dead in a plane crash. Secretly still alive, he convinces her to collect his life insurance, although she knows that it's a bad idea. Lisa must contend with the complications of the scheme, which involve an aggressive suitor (Young), Robert's jealousy, and her own guilt.
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.
Catherine Hubscher, who washes the shirts of young Napoleon and other soldiers fighting the Revolution, falls in love with Sergeant Lefebvre. Circumstances bring Lefebvre a noble title and even more -- Napoleon decides to make him the local ruler over a large territorial fiefdom. But trouble brews when Madame Sans-Gene, now elevated to the nobility along with her man -- cannot keep her frank observations under control.
Mike Hamilton, a Philadelphia lawyer, comes to Naples to settle the estate of his long estranged "black sheep" brother. Once there, he discovers that the deceased has left an 8 year old boy who is being raised by Michael's sister-in-law Lucia Curcio. To make matters worse, Lucia happens to be a sexy nightclub dancer.
Nineteenth century Wyoming: the wild West. Mild-mannered Tom Healy has a two-wagon theater troupe hounded by creditors because Angela, his leading lady and the object of his affection, constantly buys clothes. In Cheyenne, they meet with applause, so they hope to stay awhile: the theater owner likes Angela, and she keeps him on a string. She's also the object of the attentions of Mabry, a gunslinger who's owed money by the richest man in Bonanza.
When her father dies, Epifania Parerga, an Italian in London, becomes the world's richest woman. She feels incomplete without a husband and falls in love with a humble, Indian physician, Ahmed el Kabir, much loved by his indigent English patients.
Widowed shopkeeper Cesira and her 13-year-old daughter Rosetta flee from the allied bombs in Rome during the second World War; they travel to the remote village where Cesira was born. During their journey and in the village and onward, the mother does everything she can to protect Rosetta. Meanwhile, a sensitive young intellectual, Michele, falls in love with Cesira.
A European princess jeopardizes her crown when she falls for an American millionaire.
A young GI (Tab Hunter) falls in love with a kept woman (Sophia Loren) on a train to New York.
An aging widower fights family disapproval when he falls in love with a gangster's widow.
Ephraim Cabot is an old man of amazing vitality who loves his New England farm with a greedy passion. Hating him, and sharing his greed, are the sons of two wives Cabot has overworked into early graves. Most bitter is Eben, whose mother had owned most of the farm, and who feels who should be sole heir. When the old man brings home a new wife, Anna, she becomes a fierce contender to inherit the farm. Two of the sons leave when Eben gives them the fare in return for their shares of the farm. Meanwhile, Anna tries to cause some sparks by rubbing up against Eben.
In wartime England, circa 1941, poorly-armed tugs are sent into "U-Boat Alley" to rescue damaged Allied ships. An American named David Ross arrives to captain one of these tugs. He's given a key by a fellow tugboat-man -- a key to an apartment and its pretty female resident. Should something happen to the friend, Ross can use the key.
Phaedra is a poor sponge diver on the lovely Greek isle of Hydra. While diving, she discovers an ancient brass and gold stature of a boy riding a dolphin, which is said to have the magical power to grant wishes. Her shiftless boyfriend wants to sell it to an unscrupulous art collector, but Phaedra wants to give it to anthropologist Jim Calder, who would return it to the Greek government.
During the Napoleonic Wars, when the French have occupied Spain, some Spanish guerrilla soldiers are going to move a big cannon across Spain in order to help the British defeat the French. A British officer is there to accompany the Spanish and along the way, he falls in love with the leader's girl.
American ne'er-do-well Joe January is hired to take Paul Bonnard on an expedition into the desert in search of treasure.
A photographer named Corrado snaps a picture of Antonietta. When it shows up on the front page of a magazine, she wants to take him to court over it.
A lecherous governor of Naples in 1680 lusts after the wives of several peasants, particularly after the miller's wife Carmela. The miller himself plans to avenge his honor by seducing the wife of the governor.
Marshall Antonio Carotenuto comes back to native Sorrento to take care of the local fire brigade. But since Sofia, a very nice fishmonger, occupies his native house Antonio share another home with Donna Violante, secretly fall in love with him. Sofia accepts to marry Antonio almost as a joke to make Nicolino, a traffic policeman, getting jealous. The chances for the two deloused sweethearts aren't over as it could appear.
Agnese has many men who woo her and live with her cousin Cesira Franca Valeri, who has the opposite problem with men and wishes she would also have men woo her.
When young and attractive Lina Stroppiani, a thief like the rest of her family, tries to steal the taxi of Paolo, together with two accomplices, she can't possibly know that this will have far reaching consequences.
Magistrate (Judge) Del Russo presides over four cases brough before him during a period of one day. "Adultery in 16mm" focus on Elena who brings her salesman husband to court on charges of abandonment where he springs surprise evidence involving her affair with her lawyer. In "The Priest and the Prostitute," Don Michele, a young priest, is charged with wrecking a pool room who claims he was robbed by Anna, a prostitute, and beaten by her pimp. In "Indecent Exposure," Meniconi is a man arrested for indecent exposure who claims he was swimming in the nude and his clothes where stolen. The last case "Lustful Lieutenant," involves Gloriana, a middle-aged prostitute, who's brought before Del Russo on charges of soliciting and who apparently knew Del Russo from a time years ago.
Five part vignette film; episodes include "The Baby" "The Hand of Providence" and "On Location"
Sophia Loren plays a dual role, as both the sultry Queen of the Nile with a "man-a-night" appetite and a beautiful slave girl who takes her place and is wooed by a bodyguard who thinks she's the real monarch.
Music, ballet, folk dances and mime eliciting the spirit of Naples across the ages are loosely tied together by the comedic wanderings and exploits of the Esposito family.
Eugene, a young nobleman, asks two penniless idlers to impersonate his noble relatives to help him marry Gemma, the daughter of an enriched cook. From the homonymous comedy by Eduardo Scarpetta
Tribute to Naples, where director De Sica spent his first years, this is a collection of 6 Napolitean episodes : a clown exploited by a gangster ; an inconstant pizza seller (Sofia) loosing her husband's ring ; the funeral of a dead child ; the gambler Count Prospero B. defeated by a kid ; the unexpected and unusual wedding of Teresa, a prostitute ; the "professor" Ersilio Micci, a "wisdom seller".
When peasant girl Nives is deserted by smuggler Gino Lodi, she betrays him to the police. Police officer Enzo Cinti, who loves Nives, traces her to the Po River cane-fields, where she is working as a cutter to support herself and an infant son, and warns her that Gino has escaped from prison and is seeking revenge. She rejects his offer to protect her. Gino finds Nives, mourning the drowning death of their son. He surrenders himself to the police and then walks at Nives' side in the funeral procession.
The troublesome daughter of an American millionaire accompanies him aboard his yacht on a deep sea diving expedition in the Red Sea and falls in love with the captain.
Ignazio Panizza goes from one failure to the other until he meets a singer, Caterina, provided with an exceptional voice.
In the background of the football match Roma - Napoli different stories intertwine.
A police officer meets a girl who is near to falling into the net of shady individuals. To prevent this, he invites her into the police station and tells her a story.
The young Uguccione is mistaken for Rascelito Villa called "C6", a dangerous revolutionary, and then immediately sent to Parazuela where he leads the insurrectionist troops.
In the prison of San Vittore there is, among other detainees, a strange type that they call "Il Cavaliere". The latter suffers a conviction for theft and his fellow prisoners have a certain respect for him.
A rich American arrives in a little village in the mountains because he wants to advertise a drink he produces. In the village there are also two men from Rome who are at logger-heads with the locals. The coming of the American complicates matters.
The Milanese Luigi Pizzigoni, photographer, and the Neapolitan barber Peppino Avallone, resident in Milan, are opponents in the sports field. The first is a proud Inter supporter, while the second is from Napoli.
Set against the back drop of Rome in crisis, General Marcus Vinicius returns to the city from the battle fields and falls in love with a Christian woman, Lygia. Caught in the grip of insanity, Nero's atrocities become more extreme and he burns Rome, laying the blame on the Christians. Vinicius races to save Lygia from the wrath of Nero as the empire of Rome collapses around them.
Anna is a 1951 Italian drama film directed by Alberto Lattuada and starring the same trio as Bitter Rice: Silvana Mangano as Anna, the sinner who becomes a nun; Raf Vallone as Andrea, the rich man who loves her; and Vittorio Gassman as Vittorio, the wicked waiter who sets Anna on a dangerous path. Silvana Mangano's real sister, Patrizia Mangano, acts as Anna's sister on the film. Sophia Loren has got a small uncredited role as a nightclub assistant. Future film directors Franco Brusati and Dino Risi cowrote the script. [Wikipedia]
Totò, the mythical comedian of Italian stage and screen, was the illegitimate child of a noble man in one of Naples's poorest neighborhoods. As a child, he enlisted in the army simply to eat three square meals a day. Later, his dizzying success in show business brought him riches he had never dreamed of, plus stories of love and jealousy, the most important being with 16 year old Diana who eventually became his wife, only to leave him and inspire the Italian classic torch song Malafemmina, meaning bad woman.
