Eduardo Cianelli Movies
Italian character actor Eduardo Cianelli usually portrayed crime lords and sophisticated villains in Hollywood films. Prior to launching his film career, he sang in the opera and also wrote plays. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1956
Mario Orsatti (Jay Novello), who had been the Ricardos and the Mertzes' gondolier in Venice, arrives in New York to visit his brother Dominic (Peter Brocco). Unable to locate his brother, Mario turns to Lucy (Lucille Ball) for help. She determines that Dominic is actually in San Francisco, and decides to raise the necessary bus fare by securing a job for Mario in a local pizza parlor. But when the immigration officials come calling, Lucy is forced to take Mario's place. You guessed it: Lucy plus pizza equals a dough-splattered disaster! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eduardo Cianelli, Jay Novello, (more)
- 1954
Proibito (Forbidden) is based on Grazia Deledda's Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Mother. Mel Ferrer stars as Don Pablo, a priest who returns to his provincial home in Sardegna. Here he discovers to his dismay that a centuries-old feud between two families is still raging. Don Pablo hopes to bring peace to the community, but his task seems insurmountable. Meanwhile, the priest's childhood friend Agnese (Lea Massari) secretly continues to harbor a stronger affection for Don Pablo than she should. Even those critics who were cool to the stars and plotline of Proibito were bowled over by the Technicolor cinematography of Aldo Tonti. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mel Ferrer, Amedeo Nazzari, (more)
- 1953
La Voca del Silenzio (Voice of Silence) was the only Italian production of fabled German director G. W. Pabst. Based on a concept by neorealism specialist Cesar Zavattini (fleshed out by a team of =12= prominent writers, including Pabst himself and Jean Cocteau), the film follows a small group of very troubled men during a three-day spiritual sojourn. One is a politician, laden with guilt over his comportment during WW II. The second is a war veteran whose wife has "grown away" from him. The third is a writer of detective novels whose works might have inspired a real-life killing. The fourth is a thief who has come to the spiritual retreat to avoid capture. And the fifth is a candle merchant whose livelihood is threatened by modern technology. One of the few concessions to popular taste is a striptease sequence involving Rosanna Podesta. In keeping with the film's title, few words are spoken in La Voca del Silenzio; in this respect, the film is an intriguing throwback to Pabst's classic silent films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1949
The title of this Italian melodrama translates to Pact with the Devil. However, His Satanic Majesty does not appear in the film. Rather, this expensively produced period piece is more along the lines of Romeo and Juliet, with young love threatened by warring families. In his first Italian film, Hollywood veteran Eduardo Cianelli goes through his usual villainous paces as the scheming father of the male lead (Jacques Francois). The most fascinating performance is rendered by Umberto Spadaro, as the village idiot, or is he? Patto col Diavolo makes the most of the visual dynamics of Italy's mountainous Calabrian region.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isa Miranda, Eduardo Cianelli, (more)
- 1931
The Italian-language Cosi E La Vita was lensed in New York and primarily designed for distribution to Italian-American communities. The title translates as Life is Like That, a rather flippant observation for so melancholy a tale. A well-to-do woman gives birth out of wedlock then farms the child out to her housekeeper rather than reveal her shameful secret to her husband. Upon the death of the mother, the housekeeper dutifully raises the child as if it were her own. The kid grows into manhood, then proposes to his childhood sweetheart -- never imagining that the girl is actually his own sister. A tragic turn of events eliminates the boy from the equation, leading to an ending that can only be termed "happy by default." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Augusta Merighi
