Valentina Cortese Movies
Actress Valentina Cortese began appearing in Italian films at age 15. Attaining stardom in the 1948 Anglo-French production The Glass Mountain (1948), Cortese was brought to the U.S. to co-star opposite Orson Welles in Black Magic (1949). She was then signed to a contract by Darryl F. Zanuck, who emphasized her Mediterranean background by changing the spelling of her name to Cortesa. One of her starring films was 1951's The House on Telegraph Hill, in which she appeared with Richard Basehart, to whom she was married from 1951 to 1970. By 1952, Cortese had struck out in Hollywood, and was back making pictures in Europe and England; ironically, it was during this period that she essayed her best-known role in an American-produced film: Countess Eleanora Torlato-Favrini in The Barefoot Contessa (1954). Surviving long past the "young female lead" stage, Cortese did some of her finest work in her middle years. When Ingrid Bergman, accepting the 1974 "Best Supporting Actress" Academy Award for her minor role in Murder on the Orient Express, announced to the world that she thought the prize should have gone to Valentine Cortese for her bravura performance as a drink-besotted film star in Truffaut's Day for Night (1973), there were quite a few out there in Televisionland who wholeheartedly agreed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1949
- NR
Gregory Ratoff is listed as sole director of the 1949 Orson Welles starrer Black Magic, but it is now common knowledge that Welles directed most of this lavish costumer himself. Told in flashback, the film recounts the life and times of notorious 18th-century hypnotist/magician/scam artist Cagliostro (played, but of course, by Welles). Learning the secrets of hypnosis from Dr. Mesmer (Charles Goldner), Cagliostro exploits this skill to gain wealth, prestige and, on occasion, romance. His downward slide begins when Cagliostro enters into an Anastasia-like scheme to substitute a young lass named Lorenza (Nancy Guild) for French queen Marie Antoinette. The charlatan's partners in crime are gypsies Gilbert (Akim Tamiroff, who manages to out-ham Welles in some scenes) and Zoraida (Valentina Cortese). Longer on style than substance, Black Magic is a wickedly delightful cinematic exercise, with Welles at his overbaked best. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Orson Welles, Nancy Guild, (more)
- 1947
In 1935, American audiences were treated to two simultaneously released versions of Les Miserables, one made in Hollywood, the other in France. Much the same thing happened in 1952. While 20th Century-Fox's Les Miserables, starring Michael Rennie as beleagured ex-convict Jean Valjean, was making the rounds, a second version, lensed in Italy, was also showing up in selected theatres. Running a fast 112 minutes (hardly enough time to do full justice to the novel), U.S. release of the Italian adaptation starred Gino Servi as Valjean, whose "new" life as a man of position and respect is forever threatened by dogged detective Javert. Valentine Cortese costars as Cosette, Valjean's adopted daughter. English-language prints of the the Italian Les Miserables credit the direction to "Robert Hampton"; in fact, direction was handled by prominent European filmmaker Riccardo Freda. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valentina Cortese, Gino Cervi, (more)
- 1947
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
- Starring:
- Vittorio Gassman, Valentina Cortese, (more)
- 1946
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
- Starring:
- Valentina Cortese
A cat burglar, a suicidal veteran, and a starving typist-turned-prostitute are brought together by fate and propelled through the streets of Rome in director Marcello Pagliero's lyrical look at life in Italy following liberation by the Allies. As the rain falls in Rome, a prowling cat burglar (Nando Bruno) prepares for his next job. His mission interrupted by a distraught veteran (Andrea Checchi) whose fiancée had been unfaithful while he was away at war, the sympathetic burglar talks the suicidal man off of his precarious ledge before inviting him out for a night on the town. Later, as police attempt to rescue an impoverished typist who has turned to prostitution as a means of paying rent, the kindly veteran intervenes and the trio share their stories over cognac before coming into the company of an eccentric amnesiac (Vittorio De Sica) with no sense of self. As the unlikely group of new friends make their way to an illegal private casino, their lives each take an unexpected turn as fate stirs up old love, forgotten grudges, and bittersweet memories. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1942
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
