Luigi Zampa Movies
Italian screenwriter/director Luigi Zampa began as a student of architecture and engineering, but opted instead for a theatrical career as a playwright. At 31, Zampa became one of the first students to enroll at the pioneering Italian film school Centro Sperimante di Cinematografia. From 1938 to 1941, he served his apprenticeship as an assistant director and script collaborator. He directed his first feature in 1941, then spent the next few years specializing in the frivolous "white telephone" romantic comedies so beloved of filmgoers of the period. From 1944 to 1945, he was assigned to the film unit of the Italian army. Apparently profoundly affected by this experience, he forsook escapism after the war and became one of the vanguards of the neorealist movement. Zampa was instrumental in building Anna Magnani into stardom, and later performed the same magic for Gina Lollobrigida. A trenchant satirist, Zampa thrived on sticking it to government bureaucracy and bourgeois pretentiousness: Many of his most successful films featured Alberto Sordi as a mildly corrupt government official or blue-collar laborer. For reasons unknown, Luigi Zampa seemed to lose his touch in the late '50s; his final film efforts were still entertaining, but far more conformist and conventional than such vintage Zampa efforts as To Live in Peace (1946) and City on Trial (1952). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1979
- R
In this standard but toned-down sex comedy, seven different vignettes starring female leads like Monica Vitti, Ursula Andress, Laura Antonelli, and Sylvia Kristel portray various questionable exploits headed by women with minds of their own. Antonelli, for example, plays a dynamic businesswoman who picks up a young orchestra conductor and both yearn to spend some quality time together -- but to no avail. As the patient conductor follows her around like a footnote on a text, she continues to finish up dealings with other businessmen, lawyers, and various agents while her romantic interlude seems to be left cooling on the back burner somewhere. In another vignette, Monica Vitti and Michele Placido are in competition (and disguises), trying to con the pricey necklace off an unsuspecting woman at a casino. Other vignettes involve some nudity, but viewers looking for X-rated material will have to look elsewhere -- this sex comedy has more emphasis on the comedic than the lustful side of life. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ursula Andress, Laura Antonelli, (more)
- 1975
The Italian Man with a Flower in His Mouth bears no relation to the Luigi Pirandello one-act play of the same title. Also known as Flower in His Mouth, and The Masters this thriller stars Jennifer O'Neill as an American schoolteacher, newly arrived in Sicily. No sooner has she assumed her duties in a remote rural town than a series of ritual murders begins. Is Jennifer the catalyst, the cause...or merely the excuse? The film's original Italian title was Gente di Rispetto. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
This Italian film is a searing indictment of the greed and ambition which warp the medical profession. It focuses especially on surgeons in the persons of Professor Valiotti (Gabriele Ferzetti) and Dr. Giordani (Enrico Maria Salerno). Many of the scenes are based on Italian news stories of the period ('70s) which recount the suffering and high costs of unnecessary or overly aggressive treatment motivated by academic ambitions or simple greed. Director Luigi Zampa's previous film about the medical system was a satire/comedy: Be Sick, It's Free. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1971
In this Italian comedy, Amedio (Alberto Sordi) is a telephone lineman who works in remote parts of Australia. Unfortunately, for this shy, homely Italian man, all of Australia is remote. He wants a wife, and arranges for one by mail. The woman he has chosen is Carmela (Claudia Cardinale), a very beautiful mature prostitute who seeks to retire from her profession. The picture he sent her to induce her to come to Australia wasn't of himself, but of his handsome buddy Giuseppe (Riccardo Garrone). The picture convinces her to come out, but when she arrives and meets Amedio, she says she won't go through with the marriage because she wants Giuseppe. How will he be able to satisfy Carmela and still marry her? ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1970
This three-part social satire lampoons the church, television, big business and universities plagued by campus unrest. Riccardo (Vittorio Gassman) is a rebel who causes confusion on campus and at a television station. Part two finds industrial magnate Cavazza (Michel Simon) hounding his subordinate Franco (Nino Manfredi) when the two travel to New York. Franco abandons his boss on Fifth Avenue, where he is arrested for using a phone booth as a toilet. Cavazza gets revenge when both are back in Italy. In part three, Don Giuseppe (Alberto Sordi) is a priest who defends himself against allegations of an illicit affair with a local cashier. After an audience with the bishop, the once-quiet priest demands a car, a wife, and another flock to lead. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio Gassman, Nino Manfredi, (more)
- 1968
This comedic social satire mercilessly lampoons Italy's ineffectual health-care system that allows for corruption and mass hypochondria. An ambitious Dr. Tersilli (Alberto Sordi) bets his fellow doctors that he can amass more patients and benefits than they can. Learning the ins-and-outs of the system, his office is soon jammed with patients seeking treatment for a variety of real or imagined maladies. The beginning of the film opens with the doctor's collapse due to exhaustion in his fervent goal to see over 2,000 patients. The remainder of the film flashes back to how the vibrant young physician is turned into a frail patient who must stay at home and dispense advise over the telephone. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alberto Sordi, Bice Valori, (more)
- 1967
Yet another entry in a long series of 1960s Italian sex comedies, this one has some clever moments in its study of four beautiful women (Ursula Andress, Marisa Mell, Virna Lisi, and Claudine Auger) who cheat on their husbands to relieve their marital discontent. Jean-Pierre Cassel also stars in this typical anthology written by Ruggero Maccari and Ettore Scola. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ursula Andress, Virna Lisi, (more)
- 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)
- 1964
Composed by five different screenwriters, this Italian/French comedy stars the talented and ubiquitous Vittorio Gassman as an army officer who has a difficult time believing an attractive woman is in fact a woman. Michele Mercier plays a performer who is taking the place of a female impersonator so that he may defect. When Gassman visits the show on a weekend furlough, he sees her performance and, even though there seems plenty of proof, he refuses to buy her explanation. Also woven into the plot are several loosely relevant stories about others staying at the same resort on the Riviera. Sandra Milo, Umberto D'Orsi, Graziella Granata and Philipe Leroy are among the actors also appearing in this feature. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio Gassman, Philippe Leroy, (more)
- 1962
When an insurance salesman comes to a small Italian town, he is mistaken for a Fascist official sent from Rome. He is greeted by town officials and has an audience with a man plotting a resistance movement. The innocent salesman is caught up in the political upheaval that swept Italy in the days leading up to World War II. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nino Manfredi, Gino Cervi, (more)
- 1959
Director and co-writer Luigi Zampa, best known for his earlier works as a satirist of favorite targets like bureaucratic labyrinths, takes a stab at the complicity of society and family in the criminal acts of a few individuals. The stage is set by a somewhat dysfunctional family with its sad history told in a series of flashbacks. Emilia Bonelli (Ana Mariscal) is an overly ambitious and driven woman. This dominant personality trait has its effects on her henpecked husband Luigi (Francois Perier), and her daughter Carla (Jacqueline Sassard). Circumstances ultimately lead to the courtroom and an aloof judge in the persona of Andrea Morandi (Jose Suarez). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- José Suárez, François Perier, (more)
- 1959
In this frothy romantic outing, a brainy gal from Texas heads for Italy after winning a television quiz show. There she encounters a down-on-his-luck Italian prince who pursues her because she looks wealthy (she isn't). Of course, she doesn't realize that he his also broke and merry mix-ups ensue. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
This Italian drama is a four episode anthology based on the stories of Pirandello. The episodes were compiled from two Italian episodic films from the mid 1950s. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Diana Dors, Britain's equivalent to Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, is virtually the whole show in La Ragazza del Palio (The Girl and the Palio). Diana plays Diana Wilson, a Texas gal who wins a trip to Italy from a radio quiz program. The minute she alights from the plane, our heroine is besieged by predatory males, most of them fortune-hunters. When True Love arrives in the form of impoverished Italian prince Vittorio Gassman, Diana nearly loses her man by coming on too strong. Somehow the plot is resolved happily when Diana's horse beats the Prince's at the annual Palio Race (it makes more sense on screen). La Ragazza del Palio was lavishly filmed on location at Siena, San Gimignano and Tuscany. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diana Dors, Vittorio Gassman, (more)
- 1955
Sicilian Sasa Scimoni (Alberto Sordi) learns L'Arte di Arranglarsi, or "The Art of Getting Along", in this perceptive Italian comedy. Over a period of several decades, Scimoni must adapt to the various power structures in Italy. Whether it be the monarchy, the socialists, the fascists or the Church, Scimoni manages not only to acclimate himself to the prevailing winds, but also turn a neat financial profit in the bargain. Only by trying to second-guess himself does Our Hero come acropper. L'Arte di Arranglarsi was the last of three collaborations between director Luigi Zampa and screenwriter Vitaliano Brancati, each one casting a satiric eye on middle-class Italian life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alberto Sordi, Armenia Balducci, (more)
- 1954
La Romana (Women of Rome) is a worthwhile early starring vehicle for Gina Lollobrigida. "La Lollo" plays a young woman who is strong-armed into a modelling career by her ambitious mother. Before long, she discovers that there's a lot more money to be had if she sells her body rather than merely putting it on display. Of the many men in her life, Lollobrigida truly loves only one, but doesn't realize this until it's too late. American prints of La Romana were heavily trimmed to avoid the steamier passages, but Lollobrigida's star quality comes through loud and clear. The film was adapted by director Luigi Zampa from a novel by Alberto Moravia. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gina Lollobrigida, Daniel Gélin, (more)
- 1953
Anni Facili (The Early Years) stars Nino Taranto as Sicilian professor De Francesco. On behalf of a friend who has developed a revolutionary new medicine, the professor seeks out government approval for the formula in Rome. Miles and miles of red tape later, De Francesco is virtually back where he started. The film not only pokes fun at postwar Italian bureaucracy, but also takes a few swipes at the neofascist movement (hardly a laughing matter in real life). Produced by Carlo Ponti and Dino de Laurentiis, Anni Facili was released outside Europe by Paramount Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nino Taranto, Clelia Matania, (more)
- 1951
The seemingly effortless direction of Luigi Zampa helps smooth over the rough spots of Signori in Carroza. Aldo Fabrizi stars as a Pullman porter working the Rome-Paris-Rome route. Anticipating The Captain's Paradise by a full year, Vincenzo Nardi (Fabrizi) has a wife and family in Rome and a mistress in Paris, and is able to devote ample attention to both. His "perfect" set-up is spoiled when his snoopy brother-in-law decides to follow Nardi to Paris. Things look bleak for Our Hero until his understanding wife untangles the mess. A few scattered moments of pathos never lessen the overall comic impact of Signori in Carroza. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aldo Fabrizi, Peppino De Filippo, (more)
- 1950
Gina Lollobridgida was a virtual unknown in the U.S. when Campagne a Martello was released to English-speaking countries in 1950. Critics said then what they'd say later: as an actress, Gina was very pretty. The story concerns an Italian prostitute named Agostina (Lollobridgida) who is left without a steady source of income when the American GIs go home. Returning to her own island village, Agostina is secure in the knowledge that she has a sizeable financial nest egg waiting for her. Alas, the money has been rerouted to a home for orphaned and illegitimate children. Incurring the wrath of the locals by demanding that her money be returned, Agostina eventually sees the error of her ways. Director Luigi Zampa shot this film at the same time as an English version with different actors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gina Lollobrigida, Eduardo de Filippo, (more)
- 1950
Two masters of Italian neorealism--screenwriter Cesare Zavattini and director Luigi Zampa--collaborated on It is Easier for a Camel. As indicated by the film's title, a measure of religiosity figures into the proceedings. Recently deceased Carlo Bacchi (Jean Gabin), on the verge of being sent to Hell, is given 12 extra hours' life to redeem himself. Returning to earth, Bacchi tries to buy his way into the good graces of God. This, of course, has no effect on his ultimate fate--but an extreme act of self-sacrifice does. The film works best when it sticks to the story at hand, instead of going off on satirical tangents aimed at hypocrisy and conspicuous consumption. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin, Elena Altieri, (more)
- 1950
The Difficult Years is another uncompromising neorealist exercise by Italian filmmaker Luigi Zampa. The title refers to the years that Italy spent under the thumb of fascism. It is Zampa's thesis that the majority of Italian citizens preferred to ignore Mussolini's trampling of human rights and his ever-increasing megalomania, so long as they were left in peace. Umberto Spadaro stars as Aldo Piscitello, an utterly apolitical government clerk who joins the Fascist Party to maintain his job security and keep his wife happy. After the war, the hapless Aldo is accused of being a fanatical follower of fascism. Though innocent of this charge, he is certainly guilty of not speaking up when it would have done the most good. The English-language version of Difficult Years includes a narration written by Arthur Miller and spoken by John Garfield. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Umberto Spadaro, Massimo Girotti, (more)
- 1949
In this drama, set at the end of WW II, two Italian prostitutes ply their trade with American soldiers. When the war ends, they go back home to spend their money which is used by a local priest to create a home for illegitimate war children. Director Luigi Zampa shot this film at the same time as an Italian version with different actors, including Gina Lollobridgida in the lead role. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patricia Medina
- 1949
The White Line is a modest anti-war statement set in a tiny Italian village near Trieste. As the result of an International Peace Conference, the nearby borders are changed, with a white line drawn in the middle of the town. One half of the community belongs to the Italians, while the other half is controlled by Yugoslavia. The ramifications of this decision range from humorous to disastrous, with some consequences wandering to the realm of the surreal. In keeping with the Biblical phrase "And a child shall lead them," it is up to the kids in town to point up the absurdities of the new border. Alas, tragedy ensues, but out of hopelessness arises a new form of hope. Filmed in 1950 as Cuori senza Frontiere, The White Line attained bookings in the U.S. thanks to the presence of Gina Lollobrigida in a secondary role (Lollobrigida was afforded top billing in the American prints). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gina Lollobrigida, Raf Vallone, (more)
