Tonino Delli Colli
Part one in a documentary trilogy about the making of "C'era una volta il West". An Opera of Violence begins with a biography of director Sergio Leone. A part about the difficult path Leone had to take to make this film, follows. Part one concludes with the decisions about casting. Who was asked to act in this film, why did Leone choose these actors ?
The second of three parts detailing the making of the movie: Once Upon A Time In The West
The life and works of one of the great masters of Italian cinema, Sergio Leone; a rich and fascinating portrait. Unpublished testimonies of collaborators, actors, directors and critics reconstruct every aspect of his creative activity.
A touching story of an Italian book seller of Jewish ancestry who lives in his own little fairy tale. His creative and happy life would come to an abrupt halt when his entire family is deported to a concentration camp during World War II. While locked up he tries to convince his son that the whole thing is just a game.
A political activist is convinced that her guest is a man who once tortured her for the government.
An embittered husband, paralyzed and in a wheelchair, buttonholes a complete stranger and begins to tell him the story of his marriage. The stranger would like to escape, but cannot. For one thing he grows fascinated by the story. For another he is mesmerized by the man's wife, who has perfected that trick of looking a man boldly in the eye until, by looking away, he concedes sexual supremacy.
A parable on the whisperings of the soul that only madmen and vagabonds are capable of hearing. The odd couple, Ivo Salvini, a fake inspector of wells, and Gonnella, a former prefect, wander through the Emilia-Romagna countryside and discover a dystopia of television commercials, fascism, beauty pageants, rock music, Catholicism, and pagan rituals.
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.
As a boy the orphan Antonio Stradivari heard for the first time in his life the sound of a violin and he was fascinated by its voice. He tried to construct a violin and attracted the attention of Niccolò Amati, a famous lutist of Cremona. Antonio became apprentice in his bottega (workshop). Grown up, he fell in love for Francesca and he succeeded in marrying her. Afterwards he became more and more famous for his violins and he was granted a diploma from the king of Spain. After the death of his wife he was almost forced to marry again. He was chosen by Antonia Maria and it will be a happy marriage. In the background we have a look at the history of Northern Italy during the seventeenth century.
Federico Fellini welcomes us into his world of film making with a mockumentary about his life in film, as a Japanese film crew follows him around.
14th-century Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his young novice arrive at a conference to find that several monks have been murdered under mysterious circumstances. To solve the crimes, William must rise up against the Church's authority and fight the shadowy conspiracy of monastery monks using only his intelligence – which is considerable.
Amelia and Pippo are reunited after several decades to perform their old music-hall act, imitating Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, on a TV variety show.
A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.
A couple of young movie makers have secretly filmed for over a year what was going on in a hotel room, trying to realize a "live act" of common people living their life. They get in touch with old and money-tight producer Mengaroni to edit their movie, but while they contact the accidental actors for gathering authorization, he starts to manipulate their work.
Poet/lecturer Charles Serking awakens from his alcoholic haze long enough to take a bus back to L.A. and plunge into an orgy of drink and sexual depravity.
Over two decades after their affair ended, a married man is haunted by the presence of his former lover.
Antonio Barozzi moves from Lago Maggiore to Rome to become an actor. He does not realize his agent and acting coach are only manipulating him to further their own careers.
A sex comedy anthology containing four stories, each from a different country (England, France, USA and Italy). "An Englishman's Home" "The French Method" "Armando's Notebook" "Skippy"
In Caro papá, Dino Risi is telling the story of the decadent lifestyle, and dysfunctional family, of a wealthy businessman (played to perfection by Risi's favorite leading man, Vittorio Gassman). Risi paints his portrait against a backdrop of an Italy where the new permissiveness has run rampant, traditional socio-cultural values have been usurped by consumerism, and the streets have become an open battleground for politically extremist groups (the '70s were dubbed "The Years of Lead" due to the great number of terrorist acts, and politically motivated assassinations).
American actress on vacation in Italy falls for her friend's married Italian lover.
Ugo is an old actor who feels too young to be in an "old actor's house". He just can't stand the rules of the other old people so he escapes with a young girl.
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.
Summer Sunday at a small beach house at the coast of Rome. Many people and stories: women's basketball team, two sports-obsessed soldiers, two men with their girlfriends and the priest with a big secret, an elderly couple with their pregnant granddaughter, and engagemented couple wanting to have sex for the first time.
15 years after the monumental "I mostri" which was a great example of Italian sketch comedy, 3 of the greatest Italian directors ever (Risi, Monicelli, Scola) the best Italian writers ever (Age, Scarpelli) the best Italian actors ever (Tognazzi, Gassmann, Sordi) one of the most beautiful woman in the world (Ornella Muti) participate to this great tribute.
Michael is the younger son of a middle-class family, a strong-willed and free-thinking fellow, who is off in some distant country fighting for a revolutionary cause.
Four corrupted fascist libertines round up 9 teenage boys and girls and subject them to 120 days of sadistic physical, mental and sexual torture.
Nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Director, Seven Beauties stars Giancarlo Giannini (Swept Away) as Pasqualino Frafuso, known in Naples as "Pasqualino Seven Beauties." A petty thief who lives off of the profits of his seven sisters while claiming to protect their honor at any cost, Pasqualino is arrested for murder and later sent to fight in the army after committing sexual assault. The Germans capture him and he gets sent to a concentration camp where he plots to make his escape by seducing a German officer.
In Louis Malle's lauded drama, Lucien Lacombe is a young man living in rural France during World War II who seeks to join the French Resistance. When he is rejected due to his youth, the resentful Lucien allies himself with the Nazis and joins the Gallic arm of their Gestapo. Lucien grows to enjoy the power that comes with his position, but his life is complicated when he falls for France Horn, a beautiful young Jewish woman.
The Marquise Eugenia di Maqueda, an orphan raised by the nuns, marries Raimondo Corrao, but on their wedding night she finds out that he is her brother. The piece of news is in a letter written from Paris by their father, a womaniser who lives and hides from them in the French headtown. The pair decide, to avoid the scandal, to live as brother and sister. He will later leave for the war in Lybia, she will find solace and sexual satisfaction in the arms of the family chauffeur.
In this unusual spaghetti western departure for exploitation filmmaker Paolo Cavara (La Tarantola dal Ventre Nero), two friends help Sam Houston work for Texas statehood. Johnny Ears (Franco Nero) and his deaf-mute sidekick Erastus "Deaf" Smith (Anthony Quinn) go after a Mexican general (Franco Graziosi) under orders from Germany to agitate the populace. The film looks terrific, thanks to cinematography by Tonino Delli Colli (Once Upon a Time in America), but is often lacking in the story department. Perhaps part of the blame belongs to co-screenwriter Harry Essex, fresh off the dreadful sci-fi flop Octaman (1971). Pamela Tiffin appears as a prostitute, and the film co-stars Tom Felleghy and Renato Romano.
Glimpses of Chaucer penning his famous work are sprinkled through this re-enactment of several of his stories.
A master thief, just out of prison, concocts a risky final score that would net him over a million dollars.
In this artsy drama, a nihilistic youth from a wealthy family involves himself with an assortment of troubled souls until his father (who may be behind the son's troubles--psychoanalytically speaking) dies. When the young man goes to the wake, he soon chases all of his hypocritical relatives away by ritualistically dropping food from the buffet to exorcism them.
An adaptation of nine stories from Bocaccio's "Decameron": A young Sicilian is swindled twice, but ends up rich; a man poses as a deaf-mute in a convent of curious nuns; a woman must hide her lover when her husband comes home early; a scoundrel fools a priest on his deathbed; three brothers take revenge on their sister's lover; a young girl sleeps on the roof to meet her boyfriend at night; a group of painters wait for inspiration; a crafty priest attempts to seduce his friend's wife; and two friends make a pact to find out what happens after death. Pasolini is up to his old tricks satirizing the Church, and throwing in liberal doses of life and love
The capital of Yemen, the city of Sana'a, holds an important part of history within its walls filled with medieval architecture and culture. But that same culture was about to disappear with the country's modernization which came after the civil war in the 1960's. To impeach such modern invasion, director Pasolini pledges to UNESCO for the recognition of Sana'a as a World Heritage Site.
Michele is a three-testicle, sexually insatiable man who goes around bedding all women in town (regardless of age), until one day things goes terribly wrong.
An American playwright living in Rome consults a quack psychiatrist to combat his fears of balding and save his failing marriage.
In WWII, a commando was sent in a secret mission in Sicily. They had a reluctant Italian prisoner of war to help them.
Two dramatic stories. In an undetermined past, a young cannibal (who killed his own father) is condemned to be torn to pieces by some wild beasts. In the second story, Julian, the young son of a post-war German industrialist, is on the way to lie down with his farm's pigs, because he doesn't like human relationships.
A liberal-thinking author watches his wife as she attempts to seduce his best friend at a dinner party. She ends up taking on another man as well, and the writer has an affair with the another dinner guest. Soon the three men and two women are entangled in a confusing series of partner-swapping sex sprees where everyone's morals are challenged in the wake of the sexual revolution.
A widow whose land and life are in danger as the railroad is getting closer and closer to taking them over. A mysterious harmonica player joins forces with a desperado to protect the woman and her land.
A secret agent is sent to the Middle East to destroy a gang of assassins.
Set in Sicily, this violent crime drama tells the tale of an Italian cop who heads to a small island town to look into the death of a construction supplier. Once there he is shocked by the influence the Mafia has over the people and even himself.
Three directors each adapt a Poe short story to the screen: "Toby Dammit" features a disheveled drugged and drunk English movie star who nods acceptance in the Italian press and his producers fawn over him. "Metzengerstein" features a Mediveal countess who has a love-hate relationship with a black stallion - who it turns out is really her dead lover. "William Wilson" tells the story of a sadistic Austrian student with an exact double whom he later kills.
A pair of working class lovers - a secretary and an accountant, scheme to marry into the rich landed gentry.
A secret agent is charged with preventing a crime syndicate's plot to assassinate a young heiress.
While the Civil War rages between the Union and the Confederacy, three men – a quiet loner, a ruthless hit man and a Mexican bandit – comb the American Southwest in search of a strongbox containing $200,000 in stolen gold.
A man and his son take an allegorical stroll through life with a talking bird that spouts social and political philosophy.
Lisa, a fashion photographer, has an affair with a married man. They both know that the relationship forces them to have fun. When he goes through a delicate family situation caused by his daughter's adventure with a much older man, Lisa understands how much she is in love and how little she can expect from him.
"Andremo in città" (We'll Go to the City) is a 1966 Italian drama film directed by Nelo Risi. It is based on the novel of the same name by Edith Bruck, Risi's wife. Bruck, a Hungarian concentration camp-survivor, settled in Italy after the Second World War and wrote about her experiences in autobiographical and fictional formats.[1] The film stars Geraldine Chaplin and Nino Castelnuovo.
In WWII, Lieut. Martino and his men are assigned to lead a group of prostitutes through the mountainous ways to serve in brothels for Italian soldiers in Albania.
Microphone in hand, Pier Paolo Pasolini asks Italians to talk about sex: he asks children where babies come from, young and old women if they are men's equals, men and women if a woman's virginity matters, how they view homosexuals, how sex and honor connect, if divorce should be legal, and if they support closing the brothels (the Merlina Act). He periodically checks in with Alberto Moravia and Cesare Musatti. Bersani is intrusive and judgemental, prodding those who answer. The film's thesis: despite the booming post-war economy, Italians' attitudes toward sex are either rigidly Medieval (the poor and the South) or muddled and self-censoring (the bourgeoisie and the North).
Pier Paolo Pasolini's Biblical drama follows the life of Jesus Christ as depicted in the Gospel of Matthew from the New Testament. Which focuses on the teachings of Jesus, including his parables, and on their revolutionary nature. As Jesus travels along the coast of the Sea of Galilee, he gradually gathers more followers, leading him into direct conflict with the authorities.
Three episodes of varying pitch and quality. In the first a maid plans the elimination of her lover's wife with him, but she doesn't enjoy the fruits of victory. In the second (The patrol) a soldier of the Foreign Legion neglects his duties for running after a prostitute. The third segment has as its protagonist a general of the belle époque that goes on a date.
Young Italian writers and directors express themselves in four episodes about sex and love. "Love and Language," the first tale, centers on the difficulties of a Sicilian immigrant who is unable to master proper Italian. the second tale "Love and Life" centers on a jealous and unhappy wife who becomes so desperate to be free of her constantly philandering husband she takes on a lover of her own. "Love and Art" a nearly exhausted screenwriter hires a secretary to help manage his typing. She's a pretty lass and this makes his insecure wife crazy until he fires the female and hires a male secretary. "Love and Death," the final episode centers on the love affair between a middle-aged widower and the grieving young widow he meets at the cemetery. Unfortuantely for his bank statement, the young, impoverished beauty isn't as bereaved as she seems.
Five swindle stories, taking place in five international cities: Tokyo, Japan ("Fumiko's Five Benefactors" by Hiromichi Horikawa); Amsterdam, The Netherlands ("A River of Diamonds" by Roman Polanski); Naples, Italy ("The Road Map" by Ugo Gregoretti); Paris, France ("The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower" by Claude Chabrol); and Marrakesh, Morocco ("The Confidence Man" by Jean-Luc Godard). Godard's segment was not included in the original French cinema release, and Polanski's segment was not included on the 2016 home disc release.
This consists of four short films by different directors. Rosselini's 'Chastity' deals with an attractive air hostess who receives the unwelcome attentions of a middle aged American. Godard's 'New World' illustrates a post-apocalypse world the same as the pre-apocalyptic one but for an enigmatic change in attitude in most people, including the central character's girlfriend. In Pasolini's 'La Ricotta' (Curd Cheese), a lavish film about the life of Jesus Christ is being made in a poor area. The impoverished people subject themselves to various indignities in the name of moviemaking in order to win a little food. The central character is hoisted up on a cross for filming, and dies there. Finally comes Gregoretti's 'Free Range Chicken' in which a family of the materialist culture inadvertantly illustrate the cynical, metallic voiced doctrine of a top sales theorist.
Made as part of the omnibus film RoGoPaG, this short is a hilarious religious farce. At the Cinecittá film studio a director (played by Orson Welles) begins shooting a film dealing with Christ's cruxification. Among the cast is a Jesus who has sex with boys in the bushes, and a peasant who plays one of the thieves crucified alongside Jesus - the actor literally dies on the cross, but not of inflicted wounds, but of indigestion caused by too much cheese.
An undertaker gets married to an old executioner's daughter and, although he doesn't like it, must continue the profession of his father-in-law after his retirement.
After years spent working as a prostitute in her Italian village, middle-aged Mamma Roma has saved enough money to buy herself a fruit stand so that she can have a respectable middle-class life and reestablish contact with the 16-year-old son she abandoned when he was an infant. But her former pimp threatens to expose her sordid past, and her troubled son seems destined to fall into a life of crime and violence.
A 16th-century Spanish overlord hires Thomas Stanswood (Stuart Granger) to protect his, less than eager, fiancee (Sylva Koscina) from rebels. Thomas finds himself drawn to both the fiancee and the rebels side.
Young Aladdin (Donald O'Connor) has a series of wild adventures after he discovers a magic lamp containing a genie (Vittorio De Sica).
When Karim impersonates a prince Osman, he steals the heart of Amina the Sultans daughter. The real prince intends to get Amina back by giving her a love potion. But his plan backfires and Amina becomes deathly ill. Karim must make it through 7 doors to retrieve the only thing that can save his love-a mystical blue rose. A timeless, enchanting story!
After a series of misunderstandings and other unfortunate incidents, the honeymoon of two young couples ends sooner than planned. Back at their starting point, the ensuing conflict leads to one of the couples separating. Salvatore, who moves away, is hit in the street by a car and loses his memory: he has lost his memories of his friends and family - until he meets his wife Marisa, in which he falls in love again ...
Ugo meets the 18-year-old Renata in the hostel where she is staying. He falls in love with and leaves with her for several romantic places until the money ends. Ugo will try to get the girl engaged on a local TV station, but Renata falls in love with a manager.
The "casanova" gondolier Bepi struggles to accept his future monogamous life, being Venice a hub of attracting tourists.
Salvatore and Romolo are two young and poor young men that are neighbours and friends. They live with their parents in Piazza Navona, Rome. They are poor but handsome, and both fall in love with Giovanna.
Raffaele, a Neapolitan student, get the news that his beloved grandmother Sabella is dying. He immediately goes to Pollena to be beside her.
The Russian women's basketball team faces to the American team for the championship of the world, in Rome. Upon arriving at the 'Eternal City', the Russian athletes find ways to evade the strict surveillance and meet some Italian guys. After many persecutions, the Russians are confined by their guardians under the promise that, if they win, they can stay and live in Italy. But as they conquer the championship, their guards forget the promises and put them on a plane to Moscow.
In The White Angel, Raffaello Matarazzo’s sequel to his blockbuster Nobody’s Children, the perpetually put-upon Guido and Luisa return for a new round of trials and tribulations.
Brigitte Bardot stars in this romantic thriller about love and high treason in WWI-era Italy. Matinee idol-turned-filmmaker Mario Bonnard directs this opus.
A barber, murderer because of jealousy, spends twenty years in jail. He cannot, however adjust himself to a changed world and to the hypocrisy of his own relatives and decides to return behind bars.
Collected at the age of two, under extreme conditions, by a company of Gypsies, Jolly grew up among them, together with the man who accompanied her.
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.
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.
