After the Fox 1966  N/R, 102 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Peter Sellers, Britt Ekland, Victor Mature, Paolo Stoppa, Martin Balsam, Akim Tamiroff, Lydia Brazzi, Maurice Denham
This Neil Simon vehicle follows a lovable crook who manages to get caught and imprisoned every time he attempts a crime. He escapes and begins his next caper of smuggling $3 million via an Italian seashore by pretending to be making a movie. Though not one of Neil Simon's best, it still has some good laughs. Mature, as an over-the-hill actor, is great.
|  | |
The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders 1965  N/R, 126 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Terence Young
Cast: Kim Novak, Richard Johnson, Angela Lansbury, Vittorio De Sica, Leo McKern, George Sanders, Lilli Palmer, Cecil Parker, Claire Ufland, Liam Redmond, Mary Merrall
An 18th-century woman, Moll Flanders (Kim Novak), looks for love in all the wrong places, which leads to more than one sexual exploit.
| | |
Austerlitz 1960  N/R, 180 min.
Genre: Action
aka: The Battle of Austerlitz
Director: Abel Gance
Cast: Pierre Mondy, Martine Carol, Leslie Caron, Vittorio De Sica, Jean Marais, Jack Palance, Orson Welles, Ettore Manni, Claudia Cardinale, Elvire Popesco, Michel Simon, Georges Marchal, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Rossano Brazzi
At the beginning of this film, the private life of Napoleon Bonaparte (Pierre Mondy) unfolds–showing his family life with wife Josephine (Martine Carol)–before the story moves on to the battlefields of the Napoleonic War and Napoleon proclaiming himself Emperor of France.
| | |
 The Bicycle Thief 1948  N/R, 90 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
aka: Bicycle Thieves
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell, Gino Saltamerenda, Vittorio Antonucci, Guilio Chiari, Sergio Leone, Elena Altieri, Carlo Jachino, Michele Sakara, Emma Druetti, Fausto Guerzoni
This film has consistently placed high in polls asking for the greatest films of all time. Set during the Great Depression, the plot involves the plight of Antonio (Lamberto Maggiorani) who has finally landed a job but needs his bike to deliver posters. As luck would have it, on his first day of work someone steals the bike. As Antonio takes his son, Bruno (Enzo Staiola), through Rome in search of the bicycle, father and son bond–despite their entrapment in poverty. Winner of an Honorary Academy Award for Best Foreign film.
| | |
Blood for Dracula 1974 R, 93 min.
Genre: Horror / Thriller
aka: Andy Warhol's Dracula
Young Dracula
Director: Paul Morrissey
Cast: Udo Kier, Joe Dallesandro, Arno Juerging, Vittorio De Sica, Maxime McKendry, Roman Polanski, Milena Vukotic, Dominique Darel, Stefania Casini, Silvia Dionisio
Count Dracula (Udo Kier) pursues the blood of virgins as his means of sustenance in this offbeat, Andy Warhol production.
| | |
Boccaccio '70 1962 N/R, 205 min.
Genre: Foreign / Comedy
Director: Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini, Mario Monicelli, Luchino Visconti
Cast: Marisa Solinas, Germano Gilioli, Anita Ekberg, Peppino De Philippo, Romy Schneider, Tomas Milian, Romolo Valli, Sophia Loren, Luigi Giuliani, Alfio Vita
Based on the style of Boccaccio's tales, four popular Italian directors present four tales celebrating womanhood–nudity and all. Some U.S. prints contain only three of the stories.
| | |
A Brief Vacation 1973  PG, 106 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Florinda Bolkan, Renato Salvatori, Daniel Quenaud, Jose Maria Prada, Adriana Asti, Teresa Gimpera, Anna Carena, Miranda Campa, Hugo Blanco, Angela Cardile
Clara (Florinda Bolkan) has her hands full trying to support her family–children, disabled husband, obnoxious brother-in-law, and senile mother–on the meager wages of a factory worker. Things take a turn for the better when she is diagnosed with tuberculosis and enters a sanatorium where her spirits and body are improved. Sadly, it's only a brief vacation before she must return to her former life.
| | |
The Children Are Watching Us 1944 N/R, 92 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
aka: The Little Martyr
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Emilio Cigoli, Luciano De Ambrosis, Isa Pola, Adriano Rimoldi, Giovanna Cigoli, Jone Frigerio, Maria Gardena, Dina Perbellini, Nicoletta Parodi, Tecla Scarano
This story about a young mother (Isa Pola) deserting her husband (Emilio Cigoli) and four-year-old son (Luciano De Ambrosis) and running off with her lover (Adriano Rimoldi) is often told through the young son's perspective as he reacts to his mother's relationship with a man he really does not know.
| | |
A Farewell to Arms 1957 N/R, 152 min.
Genre: Drama / Romance
Director: Charles Vidor, John Huston
Cast: Rock Hudson, Jennifer Jones, Vittorio De Sica, Alberto Sordi, Mercedes McCambridge, Oskar Homolka, Elaine Stritch, Leopoldo Trieste, Franco Interlenghi, Victor Francen, Kurt Kasznar, Jose Nieto, Georges Brehat, Johanna Hofer, Eduard Linkers
American ambulance driver for the Italian Army, Lt. Frederic Henry (Rock Hudson), meets Red Cross nurse Catherine (Jennifer Jones) during World War I, and they fall in love. Their affair results in Catherine's pregnancy, but Frederick returns to the front, and they lose contact with each other. The war ends for Frederic when he deserts the army and travels to Switzerland searching for Catherine.
| | |
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis 1971 R, 95 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Dominique Sanda, Lino Capolicchio, Helmut Berger, Fabio Testi, Romolo Valli, Raffaele Curi, Camillo Cesarei, Inna Alexeievna, Katina Morisani, Cinzia Bruno, Barbara Pilaven
Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, this is the story of the wealthy Jewish family, Finzi-Continis, who ignored the dangers of fascism in the late 1930s that overtook Italy–until it was too late. While many Jewish families left Italy, the Finzi-Continis family remained believing that their sprawling estate would protect them from fascism. Giorgio (Lino Capolicchio) is invited to their home to do research for his school studies and falls in love with Micol Finzi-Contini (Dominique Sanda). Giorgio tries to draw Micol away from Italy, but she refuses, and now the politics of war close in on them.
| | |
It Started in Naples 1960 N/R, 100 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Melville Shavelson
Cast: Clark Gable, Sophia Loren, Vittorio De Sica, Marietto, Paolo Carlini, Claudio Ermelli, Giovanni Filidoro
Michael Hamilton (Clark Gable) travels to Naples to bring home his orphaned nephew. Once there, he meets the boy's sexy aunt, Lucia (Sophia Loren), and falls in love.
| | |
Madame De... 1953  N/R, 171 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
aka: The Earrings of Madame De...
Director: Max Ophuls
Cast: Danielle Darrieux, Charles Boyer, Vittorio De Sica, Mireille Perrey, Jean Debucourt, Serge Lecointe, Lia Di Leo, Jean Galland, Hubert Noel, Paul Azais, Josselin, Madeleine Barbulee, Gerard Buhr, Michel Salina, Colette Regis
Set in Paris during the early 19th century, the story begins when the wife, Comtesse Louise de... (Danielle Darrieux), of General Andre de... (Charles Boyer) sells her earrings to pay off a gambling debt and then tells her husband that she lost them. This sets off a series of events as the earrings are again bought and resold, revealing depth in the characters of the general and his wife. Good acting and directing.
| | |
Marriage Italian Style 1964 N/R, 102 min.
Genre: Foreign / Comedy
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Aldo Puglisi, Tecla Scarano, Marilu Tolo, Gianni Ridolfi, Generoso Cortini, Pia Lindstrom, Alfio Vita, Vito Moricone
Neopolitan businessman Domenico Soriano's (Marcello Mastroianni) long-time mistress, Filumena (Sophia Loren), tricks him into marriage by pretending to be on her deathbed. Great chemistry between Mastroianni and Loren. Academy Award nominations were received for Best Actress and Foreign Language Film.
| | |
The Millionairess 1960 N/R, 90 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Anthony Asquith
Cast: Sophia Loren, Peter Sellers, Alastair Sim, Vittorio De Sica, Dennis Price, Gary Raymond, Alfie Bass, Miriam Karlin, Noel Purcell, Graham Stark
This film, based on George Bernard Shaw's play, is about the dilemma of wealthy Epifania (Sophia Loren) who meets Doctor Kabir (Peter Sellers), a man whose love she cannot buy.
| | |
The Shoes of the Fisherman 1968 N/R, 165 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Michael Anderson
Cast: Anthony Quinn, Laurence Olivier, Oskar Werner, David Janssen, Vittorio De Sica, Leo McKern, John Gielgud, Frank Finlay, Clive Revill, Barbara Jefford
Based on Morris L. West's best-selling novel, this is the story of Pope Kiril Lakota (Anthony Quinn) who strives to prevent nuclear war.
| | |
Shoeshine 1946 N/R, 93 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Franco Interlenghi, Rinaldo Smordoni, Annielo Mele, Bruno Ortenzi, Pacifico Astrologo, Francesco DeNicola, Antonio Carlino, Enrico DeSilva, Emilio Cigoli, Antonio Lo Nigro
With a cast of non-professional actors, Vittorio DeSica and collaborator/screenwriter Cesare Zavattini have put together a powerful story of everyday life. Two shoeshine boys (Franco Interlenghi and Rinaldo Smordoni) hustle American soldiers to have their shoes shined. The orphaned boys dream of making a better life in war-torn, post-World War II Rome and have saved much of their money. But their dreams are shattered after they are talked into a shady deal and end up in a bleak reformatory.
| | |
Sunflower 1970 G, 101 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Lyudmila Savelyeva, Galina Andreyeva, Anna Carena, Germano Longo, Nadya Serednichenko, Glauco Onorato, Silvano Tranquilli, Marisa Traversi, Gunars Cilinskis, Carlo Ponti Jr., Pippo Starnazza
Just days before the beginning of World War II, Giovanna (Sophia Loren) and Antonio (Marcello Mastroianni) marry in Italy. When Italy enters the war, Antonio is sent to the Russian front where, after the pressures of war, he meets and marries a Russian, Mascia (Lyudmila Savelyev). Years pass, the war ends, and Giovanna tries to find Antonio by going to Russia and searching through records to find what became of him. She does find him with Mascia and then leaves to begin a new life back in Italy where she marries Ettore (Germano Longo), and they have a son. More time passes, and then Antonio appears in Italy to discuss reconciliation with Giovanna. But they both realize that they must live separate lives, and Antonio leaves for Russia with no plans to return.
| | |
Terminal Station 1953 N/R, 90 min.
Genre: Drama / Romance
aka: Indiscretion of an American Wife
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Jennifer Jones, Montgomery Clift, Gino Cervi, Richard Beymer, Paolo Stoppa, Nando Bruno, Clelia Matania, Enrico Viarisio, Giuseppe Porelli, Maria-Pia Casilio, Patti Page, Gigi Reder
American housewife Mary Forbes (Jennifer Jones) is enjoying her stay in Rome–complete with Italian lover Giovanni Doria (Montgomery Clift)–when they are caught making love in an empty railroad car and are arrested. Now comes the probability that word of the indiscretion will get back to Mary's husband. What is Mary to do?
| | |
Two Women 1960 N/R, 105 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Sophia Loren, Eleonora Brown, Raf Vallone, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Renato Salvatori, Pupella Maggio, Carlo Ninchi, Andrea Checchi, Emma Baron, Bruna Cealti, Antonella Della Porta, Franco Balducci, Luciano Pigozzi
While traveling by train and on foot, widow Cisira (Sophia Loren) tries to protect her 12-year-old daughter Rosetta as they make a daring escape from Rome during World War II. But after they are raped in a church by Allied Moroccan soldiers, Rosetta is traumatized, Cisira suffers a breakdown, and their lives are changed forever. Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in this film.
| | |
Woman Times Seven 1967 N/R, 96 min.
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Shirley MacLaine, Peter Sellers, Elspeth March, Rossano Brazzi, Vittorio Gassman, Robert Morley, Elsa Martinelli, Alan Arkin, Michael Caine, Lex Barker, Laurence Badie, Judith Magre, Catherine Samie, Zanie Campan, Robert Duranton
Shirley MacLaine takes on the diverse roles of Paulette, Maria Teresa, Linda, Edith, Eve Minou, Marie, and Jeanne in this series of seven short stories about adultery. In "Funeral Possession," a widow finds a romantic interest (Peter Sellers) at her husband's funeral. "Amateur Night" tells about an unhappy wife turning to streetwalking for revenge against her husband (Rossano Brazzi). "Two Against One" features a prudish wife who turns out to be anything but. In "Super Simone" a wife uses unique methods to get the attention of her husband (Lex Barker). "At the Opera" features a Parisian woman who will stop at nothing to own a particular designer gown. In "Suicide Pacts," a woman and her lover (Alan Arkin) make a suicide pact. Finally, in "Snow," a woman's husband hires a private detective (Michael Caine) to spy on her.
| | |
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow 1964 N/R, 120 min.
Genre: Foreign / Comedy / Drama / Romance
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Aldo Guiffre, Agostino Salvietti, Tina Pica, Gianni Ridolfi, Armando Trovajoli, Lino Mattera, Tecla Scarano, Silvia Monelli, Carlo Croccolo, Pasquale Cennamo, Tonino Cianci, Gennaro Di Gregorio
Sophia Loren plays the lead in three separate stories in this movie that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. In "Adelina," Loren plays a pregnant woman who is caught selling contraband cigarettes. Her husband (Marcello Mastroianni) finds a legal loophole that will spare her until six months after her baby is born–and they plot to produce one baby after another. The story "Anna" involves lonely Anna (Loren) who finds excitement in her extra-marital affair with her lover (Mastroianni)–until he wrecks her car. Finally, in "Mara," Loren plays prostitute Mara who attracts Umberto (Gianni Ridolfi), a young man studying to be a priest. When she tries to get Umberto back on track to study for the priesthood, she takes a vow of chastity that drives her best client (Mastroianni) crazy with desire for her.
| | |
| 1. After the Fox (1966)
2. The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965)
3. Austerlitz (1960)
aka: The Battle of Austerlitz
4. The Bicycle Thief (1948)
aka: Bicycle Thieves
5. Blood for Dracula (1974)
aka: Andy Warhol's Dracula
aka: Young Dracula
6. Boccaccio '70 (1962)
7. A Brief Vacation (1973)
8. The Children Are Watching Us (1944)
aka: The Little Martyr
9. A Farewell to Arms (1957)
10. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1971)
11. It Started in Naples (1960)
12. Madame De... (1953)
aka: The Earrings of Madame De...
13. Marriage Italian Style (1964)
14. The Millionairess (1960)
15. The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968)
16. Shoeshine (1946)
17. Sunflower (1970)
18. Terminal Station (1953)
aka: Indiscretion of an American Wife
19. Two Women (1960)
20. Umberto D. (1952)
21. Woman Times Seven (1967)
22. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1964)
In The News
|
