Gina Lollobrigida Movies
Known as "La Lollo," Gina Lollobrigida was the first sex symbol to emerge from post-WWII Europe at a time when Italians were giving up on neorealism in favor of Hollywood glamour. Coming in third place at the 1947 Miss Italia contest made her the ideal star for escapist cinema. Arriving perfectly on time, the actress moved to Rome after the war to study sculpture while working as a singer and an artist's model. She made her film debut with Aquila Nera and went on to star in several more Italian films, usually playing a seductress. After Fanfan la Tulipe and Beauties of the Night, she was well known throughout Western Europe. By that time, she had married Dr. Drago Milko Skofic. They were together for 20 years and had one child. In 1954, she made her first U.S. film, Beat the Devil, directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart. The next year she returned to Italy to appear in the movie that earned her the nickname, The World's Most Beautiful Woman. Howard Hughes wanted her to sign a long-term contract, but she didn't want to stay too far away from home. However, she did make several Hollywood films, including Carol Reed's Trapeze, King Vidor's Solomon and Sheba, and Robert Mulligan's Come September. By 1961, she won a Golden Globe award as World Film Favorite, but her Italian beauty queen status was quickly being usurped by rising star Sophia Loren. During the '70s, she retired from films and focused on her photography career and cosmetics company. As a photojournalist, she wrote, directed, and produced Ritratto di Fidel, a documentary about Fidel Castro distributed by RAI-TV Channel 1. In the '80s, she briefly returned to acting for the NBC miniseries Deceptions and the soap opera Falcon Crest. In 1999, she turned to politics and ran for a seat in the European Union Parliament, representing her home town of Subiaco. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie GuideAriel Zeitoun directed this French comedy depicting Ashkenazic-Sephardic rivalries in the Jewish garment district of Paris. Tunisian-Jewish businessman Alain Berrebi (Michel Boujenah) courts Ashkenazi princess Arlette Stern (Elsa Zylberstein). Her father David (Maurice Chevit) learns of the death of a rural Auvergne peasant who once hid David and his cousin Nathan (Felix Fibich) from the Nazis. Nathan is now a NYC diamond dealer on West 47th Street. David, Nathan, Arlette, and Berrebi head for the funeral in Auvergne. There they encounter the deceased peasant's son, Jean Bourdalou (Gerard Depardieu), who operates the family's restaurants in Paris. Arlette does a romantic take on Bourdalou, which sends the distraught Berrebi off to cry on the shoulder of his mother Gaby (Gina Lollobrigida). Back in Paris, Bourdalou and Berrebi make plans to open a trendy fashion restaurant in Manhattan. The title of this movie is a pun reference not only to shirt size and the central characters' wide scope of ambitions, but also to XXL, a Paris porn channel. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Boujenah, Gérard Depardieu, (more)
This homage to the cinema by venerated movie-maker Agnes Varda, often dubbed the "grandmother" of the French New Wave, features an all-star international cast. The story is based upon the memories and insights of the 100-year old Mr. Simon Cinema. He lives in a magnificent house filled with movie memorabilia. To help him remember the important details of his career he hires Camille, a film student to write down his remembrances and experiences which have involved all areas of movie-making. Camille comes once a day for 101 days. Film clips, photographs and actual visitors highlight his stories. As he continues to spin his yarns, the imagery in the film smoothly morph into other images. Camille, when not recording, is involved in other exploits including a romance with a production assistant, Mica who aspires to becoming a director. She also begins plotting a way to get to Mr. Cinema's fortune by having a friend pose as his long lost heir. Many other characters are peripherally involved including Death, an Italian seeking the rights to his film catalogue, and a memory specialist. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Piccoli, Marcello Mastroianni, (more)
Stefanie Powers does double duty as twin sisters in the two-part TV movie Deceptions. Stefanie #1 is a glamorous globetrotter; Stefanie #2 is a drab New Jersey housewife. On a whim, the two siblings exchange identities, leading to a dizzying series of unexpected complications. Filmed on location in England and Italy, Deceptions is too thin to be stretched over two days (it was originally telecast May 27 and 28, 1985), but Stefanie Powers can make anything work. The film is based on a novel by Judith Michaels (the joint pen name for Judith Barnard and Michael Fain); it was adapted for television by Oscar-winning writer/director Melville Shavelson, who also shared directorial responsibilities with Robert Chenault. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Season Four of Falcon Crest is dominated by a storyline involving "The Cartel", a widespread criminal organization headed by war criminal Gustav Riebmann (J. Paul Freeman)--who turns out to have been the former lover of Jacqueline Perrault, the late mother of Tuscany Valley winery owner Chase Roberti (Robert Foxworth) and Chase's half-brother, ruthless newspaper owner Richard Channing (Doug Selby). While the upright Chase has no connection with The Cartel, Richard had spent the previous season conspiring with Riebmann to construct a race track on land owned by Chase's business partner, aunt, and principal antagonist Angela Channing (Jane Wyman). Angela holds Chase responsible for the death of her lawyer and fiancé Phillip Erikson, but Richard knows that the Cartel did the dirty work, and his knowledge may very well lead to his own demise. In other developments this season, Angela manages to take control of Richard's newspaper, the "San Francisco Globe", appointing her playboy grandson Lance (Lorenzo Lamas) as editor. When someone tries to murder Angela, Richard attempts to frame Lance for the crime. And later on, Richard assumes one-third control of Angela's Falcon Crest winery with the help of Angela's vengeful Italian half-sister, Francesca Gioberti (Gina Lollobrigida). This being Falcon Crest, Francesca is not content with merely grabbing up a portion of Falcon Crest; she has a long-standing grudge against the Channing family, and won't be satisfied until everyone in the clan is left twisting slowly in the wind! With all this going on, it is amazing that any time is left over for another of the season's principal plot strands, this one involving the breakup of Lance's marriage to Melissa Agretti (Ana Alicia) and the dissolution of the union between Cole Gioberti (William R. Moses) and Linda Caproni (Mary Kate McGheehan)--leading inexorably to the wedding of Cole and Melissa (who, after all, ARE the parents of Angela's great-grandson Joseph). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Wyman, Gina Lollobrigida, (more)
In a revealing documentary about one slice of film history, directors Francesco Bortolini and Claudio Masenza interview eight Italian actresses who attained fame in the U.S. through films they made in Hollywood. Most of the eight agree that performers are treated better in Hollywood than in Italy, and that U.S. efficiency and organization impressed them -- but that in Italy, they had more challenging roles than was allowed in the U.S. Virna Lisi was made over to look like another Marilyn Monroe, Gina Lollobrigida was employed like the others for her sex appeal -- and left after a few films --, and Claudia Cardinale, for inscrutable reasons, was meant to be another Doris Day. Unfortunately, even though great stars are included among the eight, the most obvious and inexplicable omission is Sophia Loren, well-known to American audiences. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gina Lollobrigida, Sylva Koscina, (more)
Actress Gina Lollabrigida produced, wrote and directed this very personal 50-minute documentary on Fidel Castro. Supplementing the in-depth central interview of the film with her own photos depicting life in Cuba, Lollabrigida also manages to candidly capture the supreme leader of Cuba as a thoroughly engaging and charming man. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danielle Darrieux, Gina Lollobrigida, (more)
Based on a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, this English-language satirical drama details the experiences of Frank (John Moulder Brown), a young orphan who finds himself deep in the romantic clutches of his uncle's sensual wife. After Frank's parents die, he goes to live with his aunt Martha (Gina Lollabrigida) and uncle Charles (David Niven). Sexy Martha entices Frank into her embrace then wants him to kill her husband so that they can live off of his money. Frank wouldn't mind so much, but he really likes his uncle. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Niven, Gina Lollobrigida, (more)
A Mexican revolutionary offers four marauding outlaws a million bucks to destroy an arsenal owned by the Mexican army. The arsenal gets blasted, but the million bucks doesn't get delivered in this "outsmart the outsmarters" and "double-cross the double-crossers" western saga. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Van Cleef, Gina Lollobrigida, (more)
Writer/director Luigi Comencini originally created Le Avventure di Pinocchio as a five-and-a-half-hour miniseries for Italian television. This 134-minute version, featuring various guest stars, was released theatrically. Pinocchio (Andrea Balestri) is a wooden puppet carved by Geppetto (Nino Manfredi), who is turned into a little boy by a magical fairy (Gina Lollobrigida). She insists that he be obedient and loving to his father Geppetto, but the rebellious Pinocchio tries to live independently -- and encounters many ordeals, from being turned into a donkey to getting swallowed by a whale. After he and Geppetto escape from the whale, Pinocchio is able to be the good son his father deserves. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
This epic Spanish biopic chronicles the life of Cervantes, Spain's great novelist, playwright and poet, during the 16th-century, when as a young man he goes to Italy to become a soldier for the Pope. Later he helps the Pope's emissary wage war against the Spanish Moors. His exploits win him great favor. He falls in love with a famous Italian courtesan and she with him. Unfortunately, the Pope splits them apart with his newest decree which demands that all prostitutes leave the city. Upset, Cervantes goes to fight in the famed sea battle of Lepanto and comes back a hero. Later he is captured by Barbary pirates and ransomed by Trinitarian friars. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
The Italian title for That Splendid November is Un Belissima Novembre, but it might as well have been "Belissima Gina". That's because the film's main attraction is Gina Lollobrigida, whose well-proportioned chassis diverts the audience's attention from the turgid plot. The story concerns a large Sicilian family whose patriarch is an advocate of self control. The hypocrisy of this stance is illustrated in a number of scenes involving sex, gluttony and greed. Adapted from a novel by Ercole Patti, That Splendid November was released in the US in 1971, three years after it made the European theatrical rounds. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Gina Lollobrigida delivers a bright comic turn in Melvin Frank's farce concerning Carla, an Italian woman who, during World War II, had affairs with three American soldiers who served in the U.S. Army Air Force -- Phil Newman (Phil Silvers), Justin Young (Peter Lawford), and Walter Braddock (Telly Savalas). Finding that she is pregnant after the squadron is transferred, she convinces each of the three soldiers that he is the father of her child. Phil, Justin, and Walter react to Carla's pregnancy by sending her child-support checks -- checks that Carla has been receiving every month from each of them for the past 20 years. Meanwhile, in order to save face in her village, Carla concocted the story that the father was the fictitious Captain Eddie Campbell, who was killed in action. But Carla's deceptions are about to be exposed when she finds out that all three soldiers are returning to her village with their wives and children for a reunion of the squadron. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gina Lollobrigida, Shelley Winters, (more)

- 1968
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O'Farrell (Bob Hope) is a navy sergeant who tries to boost the moral of the men by bringing in a shipment of beer. When the beer turns up missing, he calls an all-out search for the suds. In the process, O'Farrell captures a Japanese submarine single-handedly and tries to pilot the boat to safety. Phyllis Diller stars as the nurse who does absolutely nothing for troop moral in this uneven and poorly conceived comedy. Gina Lollobrigida and Jeffrey Hunter also star in the feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller, (more)
This is a deliriously strange thriller about a scientist (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who is breeding headless, boneless chickens at a high-tech farm. He's having an affair with Ewa Aulin, who is plotting with him to kill his wife (Gina Lollobrigida)...and she's plotting with Aulin to kill him...and he and Lollobrigida are plotting...oh, it's too confusing, but extremely memorable. The bizarre, only semi-linear editing and trippy cinematographic techniques are artifacts of the psychedelic era and combine with the twisted story to make any Euro-cultist's dreams come true. A film that defies easy categorization, it veers uneasily between giallo, drug film, and science-fiction, with heavy doses of romance and Antonioni-like weirdness. Some parts are even reminiscent of David Lynch's Eraserhead. Aulin was in the even stranger Microscopic Liquid Subway to Oblivion a few years later. A must-see for genre fans. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Gina Lollobrigida plays a woman who attempts suicide when her affair with the successful businessman Laurent Louis Jourdan fails to satisfy. He has rushed to save his daughter from a philandering lothario much like himself, but Gina is heartbroken when Laurent does not call and give her the attention she feels she deserves. She is helped by her talkative neighbor who is the paramour to the dull doctor who lives next door. Gina soon decides that these so-called "ladies men" she usually falls for are not right for her. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gina Lollobrigida, Louis Jourdan, (more)
While his icy wife is away tending to a sick friend, Benedict Boniface (Alec Guinness) has an affair with Marcelle Cot (Gina Lollobrigida), the pretty but neglected wife of the pompous architect Henri (Robert Morley). When Henri unexpectedly returns, Marcelle and Benedict don disguises and hide out to avoid being caught by her husband. The comedy of errors allows for several sight gags and farcical bedroom situations. Peggy Mount is particularly effective as the dominating wife who makes her husband tremble with fear by her very presence. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alec Guinness, Gina Lollobrigida, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Gina Lollobrigida, Silvana Mangano, (more)
This romantic comedy stars Rock Hudson as Carter Harrison, an executive rising through the ranks of a major oil company. When he meets Toni Vincente (Gina Lollobrigida), a beautiful but hot-tempered artist, it's love at first sight and they quickly marry. The bloom is soon off the rose, however, and, five years later, Carter and Toni are about to finalize their divorce. However, just as the final paperwork is about to go through, Carter learns that he's up for a major promotion which would hinge on his being married. Carter is able to engineer a reconciliation with Toni with the help of his friend Richard Bramwell (Gig Young), a PR agent with the firm who hopes that a happy marriage will improve Carter's reputation. Since his separation from Toni, Carter has become known as something of a lothario, a reputation that the family-oriented company would like to avoid. But even though the couple patches things up, Richard has his work cut out for him when Toni announces that she'll be reenacting Lady Godiva's naked ride as part of a protest organized by an artists' group. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, (more)
Four different facets of love Italian-style provide the basis of this episodic film. The vignettes are "The Phone," about a woman so busy talking on the phone that she fails to notice that her husband is having sex with a neighbor; "Treatise on Eugenics," the chronicle of a Swedish girl's search for the perfect sire; "The Soup," about a wife's attempts to get rid of her husband's corpse; and "Monsignor Cupid," which follows the attempts of a concierge to seduce a handsome young man. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virna Lisi, Nino Manfredi, (more)
In this British melodrama based on a French novel by Catherine Arley, Sean Connery plays Anthony Richmond, a money-hungry young man enraged that his rich, dying uncle doesn't plan to include him in his will. Instead, Charles Richmond (Ralph Richardson) plans to give his fortune to charity. Anthony recruits a young nurse, Maria (Gina Lollobrigida), for a nefarious scheme. Her job is to care for the old man and get him to marry her and change the will so she gets his fortune. Then she will give Anthony a three-million-dollar share. Maria does her job well, but she comes to actually love Charles. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gina Lollobrigida, Sean Connery, (more)
This French/Italian comedy was originally released as La Bellezza di Ippolita, and was also distributed as Beautiful Ippolita and She Got What She Asked For. Gina Lollobrigida plays an ex-chorus girl who weds wealthy Enrico Maria Salerno. Though he must be insane to do so, Salerno begins cheating on her. She plans a tit-for-tat revenge, with predictable but amusing results. Regrettably, La Lollo is seen only in black and white. The American print of Curves in the Road, released two years after its completion, was slightly trimmed to appease the censors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This French/Italian historical spectacle was released in the US as Imperial Venus. Gina Lollobridgida, in her considerable prime, stars as Paolina Bonaparte, Napoleon's wanton, sensuous sister. We see Paolina through many affairs and her unhappy marriage of state. Her hot Corsican dalliance with Jules De Canouville (Stephen Boyd) ruins Paolina's status in court. Freudian scholars may be interested in the subliminal "jealousy" angle involving brother Napoleon (Raymond Pellegrin). Micheline Presle plays Josephine, who in this film is relegated to the background. The English dialogue for Venere Imperiale was written by John Michael Hayes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gina Lollobrigida, Stephen Boyd, (more)
One of Italy's most beautiful sex symbols, Gina Lollobrigida, stars as the flirtatious Ippolita in this routine comedy about sex and the jealous husband. Ippolita leaves her life as a vaudeville actress to marry Luca (Enrico Mario Salerno), who runs a gas station. She helps him out but has a weakness for flirting with his customers, the male customers at least. Although she remains faithful to her husband she still takes great liberties. For example, she has no qualms about going off to visit Venice with a man who comes to take her away for a brief sojourn in the city of canals. And her clothes tend to reveal more than they hide. So after Ippolita comes back from enjoying a night out dancing, trouble brews when she discovers her husband in bed with her best friend. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gina Lollobrigida, Enrico Maria Salerno, (more)



















