Leopoldo Trieste Movies
Garnering an impressive 160 film credits over the course of his enduring career, actor/writer Leopoldo Trieste worked with such noted directors as Federico Fellini (The White Sheik [1952]) and Roberto Rossellini (The Young and the Passionate [1952]) before coming to the attention of the international film community with such efforts as Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part II (1974) and Jean-Jacques Annaud's The Name of the Rose (1986). Born in Reggio Calabria, Italy, in 1917, Trieste began his career as a stage performer. Co-writing (as well as acting in) his first film following World War II, Love Prelude, proved a moderate success, though it wasn't until Fellini cast him in The White Sheik that his career truly took off. Subsequently scripting films and gaining a reputation as a respected playwright, Trieste continued to alternate between stage and screen in the following years, even attempting a stint at directing 1950's Città di Notte (City at Night) and 1960's Il Peccato Degli Anni Verdi. Though both films proved disappointing failures, Trieste pushed on and continued to find success in front of the camera. The veteran actor was the recipient of a Nastro d'Argento award for his role in The Star Maker (1995). In January of 2003, Leopoldo Trieste died of cardiac arrest in Rome, Italy. He was 85. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide- 1997
Based on an acclaimed, popular historical novel by Dacia Maraini, this 18th-century set costumer follows the adventures of a deaf-mute noblewoman who strives to escape her dark past and the social conventions that force her to remain married to a man she detests. The story begins when the already speechless title duchess is 12 years old. In hopes of shocking her back into speaking, her grandfather takes her to a hanging. The causes of Marianna's affliction are revealed slowly as the story progresses, but the whole truth is not revealed until the end. Though she is much loved by her family, they still force her to marry her ancient uncle when she is only 13. Her wedding night is horrific as is the birth of her first daughter. Her husband is desperate for an heir so she is forced to endure his unwanted attentions until she is finally able to bear him a son. Despite her oppressive life, Marianna is able to find freedom in subtle ways. She also has time to save a peasant girl from a terrible situation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emmanuelle Laborit, Roberto Herlitzka, (more)
- 1994
This Italian thriller is based on the true story of a young Sicilian public prosecutor murdered in 1990. The young magistrate Rosario is considered a revolutionary in his hometown of Canicatti, which is largely run by the Mafia. He is a serious young man, deeply religious and devoted to his parents with whom he still lives. He firmly believes that justice must prevail no matter what the cost. He does not hesitate to defy public opinion in his quest for justice. His parents fear for him. His boss is irritated by him. Fearing an early death, he dumps his fiance, Angela. So rigid a straight arrow is he, that even the other young prosecutors avoid him. Rosario is eventually gunned down by Mafioso Renato Carpentieri's henchmen. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giulio Scarpati, Leopoldo Trieste, (more)
- 1986
In an intriguing drama with no winners at the end, Andreev (Filip Trifonov) is a young and aspiring lawyer who takes on the job of local magistrate in a small town. His curiosity is piqued when he finds out the man who preceded him as magistrate is now in prison. After he starts to innocently investigate the reason why, he comes up against evasion and double-talk from anyone he approaches. Now really onto the case, he unearths evidence that the mayor of the town is more guilty than innocent. Yet when everyone, even the imprisoned man, asks him to drop his inquiries he stubbornly continues on. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Boris Loukanov, Lyubomir Kabakchiev, (more)
- 1986
Momo (Radost Bokel) is a ten-year-old orphan girl who tries to save her village from the evil clutches of the Grey Men in this uneven children's story. Led by Chief Grey Man (Armin Muller-Stahl), the Grey Men have managed to make the villagers give up all their leisure time. Momo must get to the rococo palace where the time guardian Hora (John Huston) stands in her way. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Radost Bokel, John Huston, (more)
- 1985
This umpteenth film version of Henryk Sienkewicz's warhorse novel Quo Vadis? was produced for Italian Television. Francesco Quinn (son of Anthony) stars as the arrogant Roman legionnaire whose brutish, libertine outlook on life is softened by the love of early Christian girl Cristina Raines. Even allowing for the overproduced 1951 MGM version, this Quo Vadis? is a 200-minute wallow in excess. Accordingly, Klaus Maria Brandauer overplays Nero in an unbridled manner that hasn't been seen since the heyday of Bela Lugosi; at times, we shudder in fear that Brandauer's histrionics may level the papier-mache sets. Quo Vadis? debuted in the US on cable TV in 1986, where it was telecast in two parts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This Italian version of Henry IV is based on the Luigi Pirandello play rather than Shakespeare's historical work. Moreover, the Henry depicted herein is not the English king, but the 11th-century Holy Roman emperor. In addition, central character Marcello Mastroianni doesn't play emperor Henry, but instead a contemporary man of wealth who thinks he's Henry. Also, Mastroianni's delusion is not a delusion, but a subterfuge. Well, we told you it was based on a Pirandello play, so enter ye and leave all sanity behind. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
- 1981
In this drama, a 12-year-old boy impregnates a young girl and then decides to raise the child all alone. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Luca Porro, Fabio Peraboni, (more)
- 1975
Banned in Italy, this movie tells the story of a teenage virgin who has somehow become pregnant. Mary is an epileptic and the town's witch (many rural Italian regions have women who practice folk-magic and medicine and whom they call witches or stregoni). When she appears to die after a seizure, she is given funeral rites but then recovers and walks home. Three months later, she is discovered to be pregnant. A furor gathers as the local people believe they are witnessing a virgin birth. The village priest is encouraged by his Cardinal to find the father of the baby...or else. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Turi Ferro, Andréa Ferréol, (more)
A year after Get Carter (1971), director Mike Hodges and star Michael Caine reunited for this comic crime thriller. Caine stars as Mickey King, a writer of cheap paperback detective novels, living in Rome and cranking one noir book after another. King is approached by Ben Dinuccio (Lionel Stander) and offered an abnormally large sum to ghost write the autobiography of a mystery celebrity. The intrigued King agrees and is transported to a remote island where he meets his subject, Preston Gilbert (Mickey Rooney), a one-time movie star known for playing gangsters and notorious for hanging out with real-life mobsters off the set (a sly jab at Frank Sinatra and George Raft). Now dying of cancer, Gilbert wants King to jot down his life story before he dies. Although he's an abusive jerk, Gilbert's had an interesting life and King sets about getting it all down on paper, but then the star is murdered at a party, leaving King with no conclusion to his tale. Playing detective like the heroes of his stories, King pieces together a mystery involving Gilbert's past, his ex-wife, a transvestite who's supposed to be dead, and an Italian prince running for office. Though largely dismissed at the time of its release by fans and critics disappointed at its dissimilarity to Get Carter, Pulp (1972) was championed by a few and became something of a cult favorite over subsequent decades. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, Mickey Rooney, (more)
- 1971
A family's murderous battle over some bayfront property is the subject of director Mario Bava's bloody horror-thriller, which many have cited as the grandfather of the modern slasher film. Claudine Auger is the scheming daughter of a murdered Countess; her staged suicide forms the basis of the film's plot. In a seemingly unrelated subplot, four hippies arrive in a dune buggy led by Brigitte Skay, who dances the Shake and swims naked before having her throat hacked open with a machete. Skay's boyfriend has his face chopped with the same machete and the other couple has a spear thrust through their bodies as they make love. All of these murder scenes were imitated in Steve Miner's Friday the 13th, Part 2, and the film's style influenced countless American slasher films of the 1970s and '80s. Bava also includes a strangulation by telephone cord, a gory axe decapitation, a man speared to a wall, and five other murders. Antefatto was a trendsetting film, and paved the way for literally hundreds of graphically violent imitations. The film exists in several versions, differing mainly in the extent of the bloodshed. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1971
Before the Allied invasion of North Africa in World War II, there was still plenty of confusion, and wartime national alliances often conflicted with personal friendships. Valentin (Michel Piccoli), a French black marketer, rescues Basil (Michael York), an English fighter pilot, off the coast of Italian-occupied Libya. The pilot is discovered by the police when Valentin leaves him with friends in order to visit with his Italian girlfriend. As a result, both Valentin and Basil are held in custody. They escape together and flee to the (neutral) Swiss Embassy, where they get help in the form of a car driven by the ambassador's wife. This French-language wartime comedy recounts their adventures on the journey out of Libya. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marlène Jobert, Michel Piccoli, (more)
- 1970
Sotiris (George Linjeris) is the grandson of Orsetta (Katina Paxinou), the wealthy matriarch of a Greek family. As she lingers near death, Sotiris is repulsed by the ghoulish death watch prompted by greed for the old woman's fortune. He takes off for an unknown country in the Middle East where he joins a bunch of hash smoking hippies. Although no one is actually seen smoking anything, the hippies spend their days in burned out splendor. This is the directorial debut for John Crowther, son of former critic turned studio executive Bosley Crowther. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katina Paxinou, Takis Emmanuel, (more)
- 1970
Peter McEnery stars as Col. Etienne Girard, Hussar officer of the Napoleonic era. The story takes place during the Little Corporal's 1808 campaign in the Spanish peninsula. Col. Gerard's adventures include an ongoing war of nerves against Napoleon's forces, not to mention a steamy affair with one Countess Teresa Claudia Cardinale. "Nappy" himself is played by Eli Wallach, who certainly has the right temperament for the role, even though he's much too tall to be thoroughly convincing. Filmed in Spain, The Adventures of Gerard is based on characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
After returning from a spiritual quest in India, a photographer (Giancarlo Giannini) is haunted by thoughts of death. He goes off the deep end when his younger sister kills herself in this tragic story of obsession and mortality. Valeria Morriconi is the moody sibling who eventually finds she cannot cope with life. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giancarlo Giannini
- 1969
Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero headline this off-beat medieval drama in which Redgrave plays an allegedly insane woman who is allowed to finally leave the madhouse to see if she is capable of functioning normally. Her parents pay no attention to her and eventually sell her to a creditor. En route she escapes and runs into a poacher. She explains her terrible situation via flashback. He feels sympathetic and so the two head off for many free-flowing adventures. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
A Pope contends with the prospects of nuclear world destruction in this Cold-War saga of religious faith and international politics. (Anthony Quinn) plays a Russian priest who has spent 20 years in a Siberian labor camp. When Russian and Chinese relations deteriorate, Russian Premier Kamenev (Laurence Olivier) releases him and he is made a cardinal. Kamenev wishes to have a representative at the Vatican in Rome for future political situations. When the Pope (John Gielgud) dies, a series of events makes the Russian priest the first Pope from a communist country. Taking the name of the saint who spread the gospel to Russia, he becomes Pope Kiril Lakota. He often leaves the Vatican in disguise to mingle with the people to remain in touch with the poor and the needy. When millions of Chinese face starvation, the Pope offers to sell the riches of the church on order to feed the hungry, and he asks that all wealthy countries do the same. David Janssen is the television reporter stationed in Rome whose wife (Barbara Jefford) receives counseling from Kiril, unaware he is the Pope. In a symbolic gesture, Kiril offers his crown as a down payment in an attempt to bring world peace and end the starving of millions. Although a fine drama with a competent international cast, the movie failed at the box office to recoup the 9-million-dollar production costs. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Quinn, Laurence Olivier, (more)
- 1968
This romantic and sometimes ribald historical farce finds nobleman Guerrando (Tony Curtis) knighted in the days before the Crusades. He inherits a castle, tax-collecting rights, first choice of all the fair young maidens of the region, and a draft notice from the King. Boccadoro (Monica Vitti) is the liberal-minded forest woman who catches the eye of the young nobleman. Courtship, love and marriage follows, but the wedding night is interrupted by a call to arms. Guerrando and Boccadoro are unable to consummate the marriage, and a chastity belt is used to insure her virginal status. The young bride follows her husband's troop at a distance hoping to get her hand on the coveted key to the lock. Comedy ensues as the key changes hands several times before Guerrando ultimately regains possession and is able to unlock the passions of his love-starved wife. This overlong film can best described as a punchline in search of a joke. One gets the feeling that the producers had wanted to title the film A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Crusades. As it stood, On My Way to the Crusades, I Met a Girl Who... was too unwieldy for most theater marquees, necessitating the film's title-change to The Chastity Belt. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, Monica Vitti, (more)
- 1967
Paolo Giana Maria Volonte is a lonely teacher who learns that two of his friends have been murdered in this twisting crime drama. He discovers that the victims were the recipients of threatening, anonymous letters. Paolo falls for Louisa Irene Papas, the widow of one of the dead men. He finds out too late that she may have been an accomplice to the murder when he learns she may be having an affair with a local man of importance. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gian Maria Volontè, Irene Papas, (more)
- 1967
In this Italian comedy set in the 16th-century, a prince and a princess marry. Trouble ensues when a rumor that they have not consummated their marriage is circulated. The prince's father is most concerned, as a virgin marriage means he will have no heirs. He insists that the marriage be annulled. He then requires his son to marry another, but his current wife's family will not agree to the annulment until the prince proves he is a capable lover. The prince refuses to cooperate until his father threatens to cut him off financially. The prince then is paired with a virgin, and eventually passes his test. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1966
In this offbeat black comedy, Efisio Ugo Tognazzi is smuggled into Sardinia to kill a man for his insulting remarks about another family. While he is with his wife in Milan, the intended victim is killed by another man and Efisio gets credit for the hit. When his wife becomes pregnant, rumors in town circulate that Efisio is not the father because he was supposedly in Sardinia at the time. Efisio becomes the target of a disapproving mob and must shoot his own wife to defend the honor of his family. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ugo Tognazzi, Nicoletta Machiavelli, (more)
- 1966
The funny side of sex provides the basis for this comical Italian anthology that is comrpised of four vignettes. In "The Unkindest Cut" a veterinarian falls in love with a professional pig castrator and asks to marry her. The wedding day arrives and vet's nerve fails him. Now he must watch more than his back for the jilted bride is out for revenge. The second story "Veni, Vidi, Vici" is set before the fall of Rome and postulates that the only reason Nero went mad and burned the city was because he was jealous of his philandering wife who frequently entertained lovers during her luxurious milk baths. The third tale, "Suicides Anonymous" adds a tragic note that begins when the teenage mistress of a prominent Milanese businessman leaves him. The fourth story "The First" tells the weird tale of a young womanizer who finds himself pregnant after a one night stand with a Japanese stripper who refuses to acknowledge that she is the mother of his child. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandro Dori
- 1966
The Franco-Italian L'Ombrellone stars Enrico Maria Salerno as a vacationing Roman engineer. He'd prefer a little peace and quiet, but his frisky wife (Sandra Milo) insists upon dragging him to party after party. At one of these Felliniesque get-togethers, Salerno notices that his wife is enjoying the attentions of a charming playboy (Jean Sorel). It's all quite innocent, but the usual complications and misunderstandings ensue. Also known as El Parasol, L'Ombrellone was released in the U.S. as Weekend Wives and Weekend Italian Style. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Enrico Maria Salerno, Sandra Milo, (more)
- 1966
Stuck in a dream world of his own, Italian sculptor Albert Saporito (Marcello Mastroianni) sometimes has difficulty separating truth from fiction. When he dreams that his gangster neighbor has been murdered, he reports the crime to the police, only to involve himself in a complicated situation. This film is in Italian with English subtitles. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Raquel Welch, (more)
