Anna Maria Ferrero Movies

The Italians continue their penchant for gang-directed features in this sexploitation comedy. Part one is entitled "Cocaine On Sunday" in which a husband (Nino Manfredi) and wife (Annamaria Ferrero) start snorting the stuff after the friend who owned the bottle is arrested. In part two, Ugo Tognazzi plays a professor who feels he is becoming too much like his elderly maiden aunts. In the final episode, a businesswoman agrees to meet a street musician, but he is frustrated when she is delayed by her vocational priorities. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Set in Rome in 1943, this standard wartime drama has its moments. The German Commandant of the city causes a turmoil in the Jewish community by offering them what seems to be an expensive way out of imprisonment and death. If the Jews can give him 100 hundred pounds in gold, he will spare their lives and not deport them to the death camps. One Jewish shoemaker (Gerard Blain) is definitely against the idea, but his brethren are confused and at odds with what to do. A subplot has a young Jewish woman, Giulia (Anna Maria Ferrero) falling in love with a Catholic and then converting -- though ultimately not deserting her cultural and ethnic roots. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In what must be the longest lapse of time between a film and its sequel, 70-year-old Abel Gance continues his nearly legendary, 1927 historical drama Napoleon with this tale of Napoleon's life after his victories in Italy. The first half of Austerlitz delves into the private life of Napoleon Bonaparte (Pierre Mondy), the prodigal son of Corsica. The supreme commander of the French armed forces goes about his family life and dallies with Josephine (Martine Carol) and mistress Mlle. de Vaudey (Leslie Caron). He occasionally displays bursts of temper that presage some of the macho violence of the battle scenes in the second half of the film, after Napoleon has proclaimed himself Emperor. This sequel shows that Gance has not lost his directorial touch. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This drama, loosely based on the legend of the "Hunchback," is set in Rome, 1944. The story begins as the Hunchback, a leader of the Resistance rapes a Nazi collaborator's daughter. Later he falls in love with her. As he is trying to steal arms from a Nazi arsenal, the Germans shoot the Hunchback. He ends up hiding in her house where he kills her father. He is soon captured and tortured by the Fascists. Meanwhile, the hapless girl miscarries her child and becomes a prostitute. Later the Hunchback and his 150 Resistance fighters take over a Roman suburb and attempt to liberate the town whores from a life of prostitution. His attempts fail. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

American film actor Lex Barker spent the bulk of his professional career hunting up jobs in Europe. In Captain Falcon, Barker plays the title character, a do-gooding high seas swashbuckler. Rossana Rory is the heroine, whose tiny country is threatened by a gang of marauders headed by Massimo Serato. Captain Falcon saves the day, and a few nights as well. Captain Falcon was directed by Italian sword 'n' sandal director Carlo Campogalliani, who several decades earlier had helped put the Argentine film industry on its feet (though not with films like this one). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

War and Peace is a commendable attempt to boil down Tolstoy's long, difficult novel into 208 minutes' screen time. In recreating the the social and personal upheavals attending Napoleon's 1812 invasion of Russia, $6 million was shelled out by coproducers Carlo Ponti, Dino de Laurentiis and Paramount Pictures. Some of the panoramic battle sequences are so expertly handled by second-unit director Mario Soldati that they appear to be Technicolor-and-Vistavision newsreel footage of the actual events. Still, the film falters dramatically, principally because of a lumpy script and King Vidor's surprisingly lustreless direction. In addition, the casting is wildly consistent: for example, while Audrey Hepburn is flawless as Natasha, Henry Fonda is far too "Yankeefied" as the introspective Pierre. Proving too long and unwieldy for most audiences, War and Peace died at the box office; far more successful was the epic, scrupulously faithful 1968 version, filmed in the Soviet Union. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cronaca di Poveri Amani (Chronicle of Poor Lovers) was based on the novel of the same name by Vasco Pratolini. The scene is the Vico de Corno, a well-populated alleyway in the low-rent district of Florence. Set in the 1920s, the film recalls the tinderbox political climate of the era. The eponymous "poor lovers" include Milena (Antonella Lualdi), whose husband dies at the hands of the fascists; cynical prostitute Elisa (Cosetta Greco); and lonely but comparatively well-off invalid Gesuina (Anna Maria Ferrero). Marcello Mastrioanni also appears, though the emphasis is clearly on the women of the piece. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Leopoldo Trieste's stage play Cronaca was the basis for the Italian drama Febbre di Vivere (Eager to Live). Though virtually every character in the film is tenuously connected with Italian high society, many of them can be classified as "low lifes." And none is lower than two-bit bookie Massico (Massimo Serato) who breaks at least three female hearts in the course of events. Coasting by on his charm, Massico manages to secure undying loyalty from all his women, even after casting them aside. But when he adds murder to his repertoire, his luck runs out. Marcello Mastrioanni is seen in a surprisingly passive role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Le Infedeli is graced by two internationally popular leading ladies: Italy's Gina Lollobrigida and Sweden's Mai Britt. The two actresses are but small portions of a larger plot mosaic, all about keeping up appearances no matter what the provocation. A group of "respectable" people are all partly responsible for the suicide of a servant girl. They are pounced upon by a wily blackmailer (Pierre Cressoy), who knows that these people will pay dearly rather than inform on themselves or others. The villain's comeuppance may seem a bit extreme, but it's undeniably satisfying. This Carlo Ponti-Dino DeLaurentiis production also features Irene Papas and Marina Vlady. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The misleadingly titled Italian comedy Luxury Girls is set in an exclusive Swiss finishing school. Rambunctious American lass Lorna Whitmore Susan Stephan is enrolled in the school by her wealthy parents. Before long, Laura has set the institution on its ear with her precocious behavior. Her female partners-in-"crime" spend their waking hours thinking of men and how to trap them, rather than concentrating on their schoolwork. There are a few attempts along the way to inject a note of seriousness now and then, but for the most part Luxury Girls is a chucklesome romp. While the cast is largely comprised of unknowns, Jacques Sernas does box-office duty as a commoner passing himself off as an aristocrat. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As the title of this French crime melodrama indicates, there's always two sides to the story when murder is involved. The scene is a courtroom, where Louis (Michel Auclair) is on trial for murder. The prosecution claims that Louis deflowered the female victim, forced her into a sordid lifestyle, then murdered her when she was no longer useful to him. As the trial rolls on, a series of wildly contradictory flashbacks reconstruct the events leading to the crime. In short, this is Rashomon, French-style. Michel Simon steals the show as a dishevelled ex-lawyer who hopes to redeem himself by taking on Louis' case. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Leonid Moguy's Domani e un Altro Giorno (Tomorrow is Another Day) was an unofficial follow-up to his 1950 effort Domani e Troppo Tardi (Tomorrow is Too Late). Both films were "thesis" pictures, but whereas the first film dealt with sex education, the second tackles the even more delicate subject of suicide. Three different stories are offered with the film's framework, each probing into the reasons that a person would take his or her own life. In the first, a young girl is seduced and then tormented by an older man. In the second, an old woman's dog is poisoned by nasty neighbors. And in the third, a young socialite, denied genuine affection by parents, begins looking for love in all the wrong places. Only one of the three episodes ends happily, but it wouldn't be fair to reveal which one. At the bottom of the cast list is Rosanna Podesta, who'd achieve international fame in the mid-1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide