Valentina Cortese Movies

This film is the first western ever made in Italy. It tells the tale of a young saloon dancer who inadvertently gets romantically involved with the man who killed her husband and framed her recent lover. She accepts his advances until she learns the truth. She then returns to her lover and discovers that he has been married all along. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Luigi Zampa's A Week's Leave (Un American in Vacanza) stars Italy's Valentina Cortese and America's Leo Dale. Cortese plays Maria, a provincial schoolteacher who comes to Rome on an errand of mercy for her deprived countrymen. Dale is cast as Dick, a GI who offers Maria a ride when her ancient car breaks down. While absorbing the sights and sounds of Rome, Maria and Dick fall in love -- though their romance remains pure and chaste. The ending is neither happy nor unhappy, reflecting the uncertainty of the postwar era in which A Week's Leave takes place. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Italian drama is a wartime version of the old story. Set during WW II, it follows the journeys of a cursed French Jew who turns against his people and helps the Nazis. Later his guilt overcomes him and he allows himself to be sent to a concentration camp. There he falls in love. The two escape, but when they learn that the Nazis will massacre the other prisoners if he doesn't return, he is forced to turn himself in. At the story's end, the fellow is finally granted eternal rest and ends up gunned down by the German soldiers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Femmes sans Nom is the second film in a proposed trilogy conceived by Hungarian director Geza Radvanyi (the first was Somewhere in Europe). In each of these three films, Radvanyi hoped to dramatically convey the plight of those left homeless and destitute by WW II. Femmes sans Nom is set in a relocation camp in Trieste, where hundreds of disenfranchised European women are huddled together. Prominent among these unfortunate souls is a former aristocrat, played by Francoise Rosay; a woman of loose morals, portrayed by Simone Simon; and an expectant mother, essayed by Valentine Cortese. After the lukewarm response to Femmes sans Nom, Geza Radvanyi dropped his plans for the third film in his "displaced persons" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Spencer Tracy and James Stewart team up for this World War II adventure, based on an supposedly true incident from World War II. Stewart plays John Royer, an ex-newspaper reporter with a backhand knowledge of Malaya, and Tracy plays a criminal named Carnaghan, doing time in Alcatraz for smuggling. They are brought together for an undercover assignment -- to smuggle a large shipment of rubber out of Japanese-held territory in Malaya and deliver the tonnage to awaiting U.S. ships. Carnaghan and Royer plod through the jungles and have to deal with several unscrupulous contacts including a man calling himself The Dutchman (Sydney Greenstreet), a helpful FBI agent named Kellar (John Hodiak), and a sneaky Japanese officer by the name of Colonel Tomura (Richard Loo). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Valentina Cortese's star continued to rise with the period melodrama Bullet for Stefano (Il Passatore). Cortese plays Barbara, whose wedding is interrupted when dashing brigand Stefano (Rossano Brazzi) kills the groom and abducts the bride. Eventually, Stefano tires of Barbara, and casts her aside. But she is not to be dispensed with so easily. Rallying the peasantry, Barbara sets the wheels in motion for Stefano's destruction. Curiously, despite his wretched behavior, there is a certain amount of sympathy for Stefano, who is a thief only because he wishes to help the poor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After surviving the hell of a Nazi death camp, a refugee faces even greater dangers in America in this tale of murder, deceit, and assumed identities. Victoria Kopwelska (Valentina Cortese) is a Polish woman imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp near the end of World War II. Desperate to survive, Victoria learns that her best friend has family in the United States, and if they are ever freed, she pledges to take Victoria to America with her. Victoria's friend, however, is killed shortly before American troops can liberate the camp. With nowhere to go, Victoria steals her friend's papers and sails to America, where she is accepted as her friend by her family. Victoria learns that she is now the godmother to a young boy, as well as the heir to a sizable fortune, following the death of her "aunt." Alan Spender (Richard Basehart), the boy's guardian, has been making secret plans to get his hands on the money, and Victoria's arrival causes him to draft a new scheme. Alan begins wooing Victoria, hoping to take her hand in marriage and then murder her, gaining her estate in the process. However, after several accidents befall the youngster, Victoria begins to believe that her new sweetheart is up to no good. The House on Telegraph Hill was directed by Robert Wise, who went on to helm such blockbusters as West Side Story and The Sound of Music. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Set in 1930s London, Secret People stars Valentina Cortesa and Audrey Hepburn as Maria and Nora, two sisters whose father has been murdered for political reasons. Adopted by a kindly Italian restaurateur (Charles Goldner), Maria and Nora gradually overcome the loss of their father and get on with their lives. But when an old family friend enters the picture, the girls are plunged into a maelstrom of international intrigue. The upshot of this is a misguided murder charge and an eleventh-hour act of selfless sacrifice. When Audrey Hepburn ascended into stardom in the mid-1950s, Secret People was re-issued, with the originally fourth-billed Hepburn promoted to above-the-title billing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Barefoot Contessa begins at the funeral of Ava Gardner, a former Spanish peasant, cabaret dancer and movie star, who at the time of her death was a full-fledged contessa. Her life story unfolds in flashback recollections from her mourners. Film director Humphrey Bogart recalls how his career was saved when he discovered Gardner on behalf of Howard R. Hughes-like mogul Warren Stevens. Press agent Edmond O'Brien remembers how Ava was wooed and then abandoned by mercurial millionaire Marius Goring, and Italian count Rosanno Brazzi reflects on how he was able to wed the tempestuous Gardner, only to watch his world crumble after revealing on their wedding night that he was "only half a man." O'Brien received Best Supporting Actor awards at both the Academy Awards and Golden Globes in 1954. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Roman couturier Clelia (Eleonora Rossi-Drago) leaves the big city to work at a boutique in Turin. She moves into a hotel and makes several new friends, but is soon drawn into their extremely unpleasant lives. Clelia enters a doomed relationship with a poor architect's assistant (Ettore Manni), sees her new best friend Rosetta (Madeleine Fischer) commit suicide after being jilted by her married lover (Gabriele Ferzetti), and is eventually fired from her new job when her hysteria over Rosetta's death interferes with her work. Clelia finally goes back to Rome, and viewers will not blame her a bit. Le Amiche, based on a 1949 article published in La Bella Estate ("Tre Donne Sole" by Cesare Pavese), is perhaps Michelangelo Antonioni's first great film. Juggling 10 characters with great aplomb, Antonioni and co-screenwriters Suso Cecchi D'Amico and Alba De Cespedes have created a rich, interlocking narrative which manages to rise above mere melodrama through careful attention to the ebb and flow of interpersonal relationships and a keen sense of balance. The fine supporting cast includes Valentina Cortese, Yvonne Furneaux, and Franco Fabrizi. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

The Spanish/Italian Rocket From Calabuch is significant only as the last film of beloved character actor Edmund Gwenn. The 78-year-old star plays a retired atomic scientist who settles in a peaceful Spanish village. But he can't remain sedentary for long, and soon he's off and about developing a new kind of rocket. So much for his retirement, and so much for the peace and quiet in his village, which is soon overrun with reporters and spies. Rocket From Calabuch was originally released in Spain as simply Calabuch; the film didn't make it to the states until after Edmund Gwenn's death in 1959. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide