Graziella Granata Movies

Unlike Clint Eastwood, who in the 1960s was cast as the Man With No Name, Beyond the Law star Lee Van Cleef has a name, and a very functional one. Van Cleef is known to one and all as Bandit Turned Sheriff. Actually, a more appropriate cognomen would be Bandit Turned Sheriff But Still a Bandit, since Van Cleef only pretends to reform so that he can steal a cavalry payroll. Since it's hard to watch Beyond the Law with a straight face to begin with, the producers wisely decided to turn this spaghetti western into a semi-comedy. Released in Italy in 1967 as Al Di La Della Legge, Beyond the Law was distributed in the US in 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Award-winning Italian writer/director Mario Camerini, who successfully bucked the "neorealist" movement of the 1940s, continued operating in a strictly commercial vein with 1966's Delitto Quasi Perfetto. The plot is sheer gossamer, handled with artistry: a journalist, stumbling upon a plot to swindle an heiress, decides to turn the tables on the crooks. The leading lady is the delightful Graziella Granata, while the male contingent is well represented by Massimo Serato and Phillipe LeRoy. If you're not expecting The Bicycle Thief of La Dolce Vita, you're in for a good time. Evidently, Delitto Quasi Perfetto was never released to US theatres, though video versions are available. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this Italian bedroom farce, a humble village peasant has managed to remain a bachelor despite the fact that he has fathered numerous illegitimate children. The trouble begins when he finds himself entangled in a fight over water rights. Though others attempt to blame him, the clever fellow manages to come out clean and solve the conflict by fathering two more children. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

"White Voices" is a vernacular term referring to Italian Castrati of the 18th century Vatican Choir. The Castrati were male children who were castrated so that they could retain their beautiful soprano singing voices into maturity. Paolo Ferrari plays a Roman youth who isn't keen on being gelded and bribes his way out of it. Even so, he trains with the choir and becomes an habitue of the houses of the rich and famous, using his supposed lack of male essentials to his advantage--especially in bed. Ferrari comes a-cropper when he impregnates a girl and is forced to go under the knife to establish an alibi! It is very, very hard to write about White Voices without making a wisecrack, so we'll cut this short (oops!). The film, a French/Italian coproduction, was originally released in France as Le Sex Des Anges and in Italy as I Castrati. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Alessandro Blasetti used an all-star Italian cast for this satirical comedy that pokes fun at the selfishness of humans and uses one character to link a series of comic vignettes. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

While visiting a vegetarian restaurant, a young writer finds a corpse in the restroom. When he returns with the police, the body is gone. The writer is left with the unlucky fellow's hat -- which leads a certain beautiful woman to believe that his identity is the same as the dead man's. Not only is his life now at risk, but things get increasingly bizarre as he meets up with a mysterious sect of cannibals and with a group of opium-smuggling gangsters. What's more, the woman herself seems to have a diabolical doppleganger. Aimez-Vous Les Femmes? was adapted by Roman Polanski and Gerard Brach from a book by Georges Bardawil. The distinguished Sacha Vierny contributed his cinematographic talent to this black comedy shortly after his successful collaboration (among many) with director Alain Resnais on Muriel, ou le Temps d'un Retour/Muriel, or the Time of Return (1963). ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

In this high-seas adventure set in the 15th century, a dashing hero is released from prison and assigned to save the governor of Rhodes' kidnapped daughter from a wicked pirate. Instead, the parolee joins the pirates, but when they catch him staring at the girl, they beat him senseless and leave him to die. They then leave to sell the girl to a white slaver. Fortunately, the hero remembers right from wrong, enlists the aid of local fishermen, and saves the girl. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide