Steno Movies

Courtroom tomfoolery provides the basis for this four-episode Italian anthology comedy. In the first segment "Adultery in 16mm," an angry wife attempts to sue her neglectful husband by charging him with abandonment. Meanwhile, he charges her with adultery and claims to have a few reels of home-movie footage to prove it. The films are shown and the courtroom gasps when they learn the identity of the woman's lover. The second "The Priest and the Prostitute," centers on a self-righteous clergyman who pursues the streetwalker who picked his pocket. The hunted and hunter end up in a pool hall. When she attempts to give her ill-gotten loot to her pimp, the priest pounces and a melee erupts. The police end up taking all of them to jail where more fun follows. In the third episode, "Indecent Exposure," an overly health-conscious fellow religiously swims naked in a Roman ditch every day. The trouble begins on the day in which his clothes are stolen. In the final episode, "The Lustful Lieutenant," an old hooker is charged with soliciting. The attending judge is struck by her resemblance to his old wartime love, but he isn't sure whether it is really her or not. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Banana Joe (Bud Spencer) lives in paradisiacal bliss in a tropical village that is untainted by hard-nosed corporate and bureaucratic types, or by corruption, drugs, gangs, and other ills of modern society. When Banana Joe takes his banana boat to the trading post, he is informed he needs a permit in order to operate the boat. Quite willing to comply with this seemingly simple formality, he treks off to the big city to find this important piece of paper. On his way to obtaining the permit, he runs into television for the first time, crooks as well, and a pretty nifty nightclub singer who greatly opens up his limited knowledge of feminine charms. After more than one contretemps, in which he proves his strength and moral fiber, Banana Joe gets the permit and heads back to the village -- only to find that a tacky gambling casino has been set up in his absence. It looks like he has his work cut out for him again, as his shackles rise at this insult to his idyllic home and he gears up for battle. A toe-tapping tropical rhythm lightens the action in the film, aimed for the younger set rather than their parents. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

A stellar international cast compensates somewhat for the rambling plotlessness of The Girl Game. The film takes place during Carnival Time in Rio De Janeiro. As unconfined joy wafts its way through the streets, the lives of several fabulously wealthy visitors and a group of voluptuous stewardesses intersect, sometimes with startling results. Sylvia Koscina and Mylene Demongeot are among the visual delights of this garish romp. Originally released at 125 minutes, The Girl Game (also known as Copacabana Palace and The Saga of the Flying Hostesses) was pared down to 90 minutes for its play-off dates. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Marcello Mastroianni plays the downtrodden Bruno Baldassare, a murder-squad investigator in Rome who gets no respect from his peers, who give him the least interesting cases. His bumbling aide, Cantalamessa, gets even less respect. While a lightning strike could have caused the deaths of two people, the circumstances of their deaths arouse his suspicions. In this satirical detective comedy, among the suspects he must question are the victim's widow, Princess Dell'Orso (Ursula Andress) and a seedy screenwriter named Harry Hellman (Peter Ustinov). ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Sonia (Sylva Koscina) is quite a woman, if not perhaps the "Female Three Times" of the title. The captain of a Soviet female basketball team, Sonia joins her teammates on a goodwill visit to Rome. Here she is captivated by the sights, sounds and sensual pleasures of the Eternal City. When Sonia falls for a handsome Roman, it takes a veritable battalion of Russian commissars to bring her back to the Glorious Motherland. Unfortunaetly for the Soviet cause, the commissars, in true Ninotchka fashion, likewise succumb to the allure of Rome. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Guardie e Ladri (Cops and Robbers) is buoyed by the combined comic talents of Aldo Fabrizi and Toto. Toto plays Ferdinando Esposito, a thief who has successfully eluded the law for many years. Fabrizi plays Bottoni, a detective who has been given three months to bring Esposito to justice. Deciding to bore from within, Bottoni ingratiates himself with Esposito's warm-hearted family. He finally meets his prey at a colorful family get-together. The men discover that they're kindred spirits. But this does not dissuade Bottoni's determination that the law must take its course. Amazingly, Cops and Robbers has yet to be remade as an American film: this would have been an ideal vehicle for the likes of Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Several top Italian stars, including Toto as a shopkeeper and Also Fabrizi as a tax collector, are featured in this entertaining comedy. The shopkeeper like a lot of others, does not want to pay the taxes he is normally assessed. By his reckoning, they are far too high. So when the tax collector comes around to go over his books, he tries whatever might work to get the man to skim them lightly, preferably looking the other way in the process. Whether or not these proddings are going to have any effect remains to be seen, but in the meantime, the taxman's daughter has fallen madly in love with the shopkeeper's son. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

After inheriting a faucet factory, Gianluca (Renato Pozzetto) does not have the skills to manage his workers. He is lucky he has the one-man sex machine Luigi (Teo Tocoli) around to show him how to do things. Indeed, so well does he learn his lessons that he leaves the factory behind in favor of wine, women and song. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This comedy is in the Italian language. In Italy, shoe salesman Rossario runs the risk of being killed by outraged relatives if he has a brief affair with an unmarried woman, or by outraged husbands if he has an affair with a married woman. So when Rossario gets an opportunity to do his job in Copenhagen, where everything is legal (and reasonably non-fatal), he jumps at the chance. On arrival, he is shown gawking at the huge variety of sexual opportunities Danes take for granted. Eventually he falls for a lovely young Danish woman, and they get married. Things get tense for a while when he discovers that she is a famous porn film star, but he gets into the swing of things by the end of the movie. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this Italian crime drama, Bertone (Enrico Maria Salerno) is a moderately honest homicide cop. Unfortunately, the court system is so inept and corrupt that many more-or-less honest policemen have begun taking the law into their own hands. Between his efforts to thwart the growth of crime and to control his vengeful co-workers, homicide-chief Bertone has his hands full. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Gabriele Ferzetti essays the amorous title character in Le Avventure di Giacomo Casanova. While incarcerated in a Spanish jail, the famed 18th-century lover remembers some of his more formidable conquests. Though many women have thrown themselves at Casanova's feet, the true love of his life was a Venetian lovely (Corinne Calvert) who steadfastly resisted his charms. Virtually plotless, the film is essentially an unending parade of feminine pulchritude, attractively garbed in revealing period costumes. ~ 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

This Italian comedy shows the gradual enlightenment of an innocent and unsuspecting priest (Alberto Sordi) as he discovers that his extremely generous brother (Richard Conte) is in fact a major American crime lord. It is based on the novel by the Rev. Salvatore Anastasia, brother of ganglord Alberto Anastasia. In the story, set in New York City in the 1940s, the mobster is not only a gangster, but is a sort of Robin Hood figure, protecting the poor Italian immigrants he has taken under his care. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide