Stelvio Rosi Movies
- 1966
This melodramatic Italian and French anthology is comprised of four unrelated short films directed by four different directors. The first vignette, "Queen Sabina" (or "The Hitchhiker") chronicles the sexual misadventures of a teenage girl on the road home. "Queen Armenia" (aka "The Room with a Juke Box") centers on a self-serving opportunistic gypsy babysitter who uses her employer's kids for her own gain. The third episode, "Queen Elena" (aka "The Digestive Tablet") centers on a husband who learns a lesson about the perils of infidelity after he succumbs to the wiles of the seductive wife next door. The last vignette, "Queen Marta" (aka "Giovanni") centers on a wealthy woman who, when drunk, uses her butler as an outlet for her lust. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Monica Vitti, Enrico Maria Salerno, (more)
- 1965
This film has two segments exploring relationships subjected to sudden trauma. In the first, "Violence," a young wife is gang-raped while her husband is forced to watch. Afterwards, neither one even acknowledges what happened. In "Love," a wife is hospitalized after attempting suicide, and her husband flirts innocently with a pretty young nurse. When the wife dies, the husband is consumed with guilt over his perceived unfaithfulness. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi
- 1962
Crazy Desire (La Voglia Matta) stars Ugo Tognazzi as a middle-aged Italian businessman on a cross country motor trip. He comes across a group of rambunctious teenagers, including sexy Catherine Spaak. Infatuated by the girl, Tognazzi allows Spaak to deplete his pocketbook to pay for a wild seaside spree for herself and her friends. When challenged to a fight by the leader of the kids, Tognazzi, much to his own surprise, wins, and is hailed as "one of the gang." But when he wakes up on the beach the next morning, he's all alone. Alternately wacky and wistful, Crazy Desire was the film that secured the international reputation of Italian director Luciano Salce. From the opening sequence during a amateurish outdoor production of Julius Caesar to the closing seascape shot of the solitary and bemused Ugo Tognazzi, there's hardly a false move in the picture. Crazy Desire was based on Enrico Siella's short story A Girl Named Francesca. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ugo Tognazzi, Catherine Spaak, (more)
- 1962
Nicole Molino (Catherine Spaak) and Nicola Molino (Gianni Garko) are not related to one another. In fact, they don't even know each other until both are inadvertently assigned the same hotel room on the island of Ischia. Nicole isn't interested in any hanky-panky, so Nicola promises to keep his hands to himself. Though this is an Italian picture, the storyline adheres strictly to tried-and-true Hollywood formula, and Nicole and Nicola fall in love. 18 in the Sun was released in the US under the infantile title Beach Party Italian Style; its original Italian title was Diciottenni al Sole. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
