Diego Fabbri Movies
- 1974
In turn-of-the-century Sicily, aristocratic scions Adriana (Sophia Loren) and Cesar (Richard Burton) have loved one another for years, but Adriana accedes to the wishes of Cesar's father and marries his foolish younger brother Antonio (Ian Bannen). When Antonio dies, much to the relief of everyone, it looks as though the coast is now clear for Cesar to marry Adriana after a suitable mourning period. Alas, she has a fatal illness and it is not to be. This romantic melodrama is chiefly distinguished by the fact that it is the last film directed by the legendary Vittorio de Sica, who died shortly afterward. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1966
In this Italian romance, a young woman with a love for loving begins masquerading as her roommate so she can have more affairs. Her roomie is a stewardess and is seldom at home, so her ruse works well. One of her lovers is a high-ranking official at the Vatican and another works as a dentist. To keep from having an embarrassing overlap of lovers, she has created a special schedule in which she allots three days a week for each of the lovers. The final day she reserves for her college sweetheart. Mayhem ensues when the men discover the truth. Fortunately, the charming girl is able to convince each one that she loves him and him alone. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Spaak, Enrico Maria Salerno, (more)
- 1965
This uninhibited Italian comedy was originally titled Il Magnifico Cornuto. Ugo Tognazzi plays a philandering businessman, inordinately proud of his hyperactive libido. Claudia Cardinale is his sexy wife, which makes one wonder why Tognazzi would ever want to stray. Be that as it may, Cardinale decides to take revenge on her roving hubby by launching an affair of her own. The beauty part is that she's almost able to get away with her hanky-panky without her self-absorbed husband ever catching on. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudia Cardinale, Ugo Tognazzi, (more)
- 1963
In this romantic comedy, two long-time lovers finally decide to tie the knot. Unfortunately, they find the mundane realities of marriage oppressive. They miss the thrill of courtship, and suddenly all those cute little quirks of theirs have turned into annoying habits. They get a divorce and go their separate ways. They soon find that they cannot live without each other and therefore, go back to being lovers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emmanuelle Riva, Umberto D'Orsi, (more)
- 1963
This drama is set in Cambodia and centers upon an orphaned French girl who was raised by a native family after they found her wandering alone in the forest. The young woman is preparing to marry her foster brother, but then the government informs her that her real brother has been searching for her for many years. She then learns that she was orphaned in 1943 during a Japanese attack on her family's plantation. At first her brother only wants to have her love him as a brother, but then a darker passion flares and the girl becomes frightened. Fortunately, her fiance comes to her aid. They flee to the woods with the enraged brother driving behind them. He drives too fast and his car skids off the road and explodes in a great fireball. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1963
In this Italian sex comedy, a middle-aged car dealer marries a young girl and gets more than he bargained for. She is obsessed with getting pregnant pronto. To this end, she keeps him in bed all the time. The poor man simply cannot keep up with her demands. He even tries a series of hormone shots. Finally his flagging spirits get the best of him and he goes to the coast to rest. Unfortunately, she shows up. Their love making is so violent that he has a heart attack. While safely recovering in the hospital he finds out that she is at last pregnant. Now that she has what she wanted, she totally ignores him. Nothing could make him happier and he ends up spending his last days in a maid's quarters enjoying the peace and solitude. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marina Vlady, Ugo Tognazzi, (more)
- 1962
One of several versions of a steamy novel by Eugene Sue, Les Mystères de Paris is set at the turn of the 20th century and begins when the carriage of Count Rodolphe (Jean Marais) runs over a man and as he dies, the Count vows to help his poor, orphaned daughter Marie (Jill Haworth). And so the Count penetrates the "thieves' quarter" in Paris looking for Marie, and he is emotionally overcome by the poverty he sees everywhere. After he meets Marie, he is attracted to her -- but then she is kidnapped and eventually, the Count learns the truth about her paternity. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Marais, Jill Haworth, (more)
This 1962 Biblical epic was adapted by Christopher Fry from the novel by Pär Lagerkvist. Anthony Quinn stars as Barabbas, the thief who was pardoned in place of Jesus. For the rest of his life, the guilt-ridden criminal tries to justify his existence and to determine his place in the scheme of things. Along the way he encounters the self-righteous pomposity of Pontius Pilate (Arthur Kennedy), the stoning of Sara (Katy Jurado), the gladiatorial sadism of Torvald (Jack Palance), and the burning of Rome. The film's unbilled Christ is played by Roy Magnano, the brother of Quinn's second-billed costar Silvia Mangano. Watch for the genuine solar eclipse during the Crucifixion sequence, an effect that director Richard Fleischer spent several days preparing for. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Quinn, Silvana Mangano, (more)
One of the many Italian sword-and-sandal adventure stories roughly depicting historical events -- sometimes too graphically -- this drama by director Lionello de Felice has its merits. The action moves along at a good clip, as Constantine's (Cornel Wilde) rise to power is depicted, amidst battling armies and political intrigue. All the well-publicized, old Roman entertainments such as feeding Christians to the lions are shown in more detail than might be necessary, leading to one of the main points of featuring Constantine at all -- he was the emperor who gave Christians the freedom to worship as they pleased. His cronies and his enemies, his loves and his successes all have their moment in the sun. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cornel Wilde, Christine Kaufmann, (more)
- 1961
When French playwright Pierre Corneille wrote El Cid, a fanciful version of the life of 11th-century Spanish hero Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar, aka "El Cid", an attempt was made to honor the "classic unities" and to compress the whole story into a single day! Be assured that the 1961 film version of El Cid is more faithful to the actual chronology. Charlton Heston adds one more character to his gallery of historical portrayals as El Cid, the disgraced Spanish knight who rids his country of its Moorish conquerors. The triumphs of El Cid's military life are not matched by his private affairs; he is betrayed by his bride Chimene (Sophia Loren) and is made a political pawn by the avaricious Spanish landowners. El Cid has a climax unique in the annals of movie epics: the final assault against the landgrabbers is led by a dead hero. El Cid established the short but generally profitable reign of producer Samuel Bronston as the King of the Epics; his imprint on the film is much stronger than that of director Anthony Mann. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlton Heston, Sophia Loren, (more)
- 1960
The 1800s sees the emergence of a hero-statesman Italian who works to unify his country. ~ All Movie Guide
With a deft guiding hand, director Roberto Rossellini brings out the depths in this study of a man's transformation during the German occupation of Milan. Based on a novel by Indro Montanelli, the story is true. Colonel Mueller (Hannes Messemer) and his cohorts have decided to plant a spy in the Milan prison. They choose a petty thief from the streets who earns his living plying the black-market trade and assign him to the task. He is thrown in jail under the false identity of General della Rovere (Vittorio De Sica) in order to bring the Italian resistance fighters among the prisoners, out into the open. As the fake general slowly makes friends with these men, he becomes a leader of sorts, and this transformation gets him thinking in a different way about himself. This well-wrought drama was given the "Best Foreign Film" award in 1960 by the New York Film Critics, and it won the Golden Lion at the 1959 Venice Film Festival. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio De Sica, Hannes Messemer, (more)
- 1953
Gina (Irene Genna), a provincial Italian lass, is whisked away to the Big City upon entering a beauty contest. When she loses, the financially strapped Gina takes a job as a photographer's model. It would seem from the evidence presented in the film that the "modelling agency" is actually a front for a prostitution ring. The heavily American prints of Verginita don't make this clear, but they can't censor the gleam in the agency-owner's Otello Toso eye. At any rate, it turns out that Gina needs rescuing from her new profession, and confectionery salesman Franco (Leonardo Cortese) is just the fellow for this assignment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leonardo Cortese
- 1952
Only a few of the films that grew from the notorious liaison between actress Ingrid Bergman and director Roberto Rossellini were truly worthy of their talents. One such was the Italian-made Europa '51. Playing a character far older than herself, Bergman portrays a society woman whose life is in ruins after her son's suicide. Attempting to give her life some purpose, she takes the advice of a leftist friend, and begins working with the ill and destitute of Rome. Her insensitive husband Alexander Knox finds Bergman's charitable activities distasteful; when the opportunity presents itself, he has her committed to a mental institution. By the time Europa '51 was released in the US in 1954, its title -- and much of its political ideology -- had been outdated. The film was pared from 118 to 110 minutes for US consumption, and retitled The Greatest Love. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ingrid Bergman, Alexander Knox, (more)
- 1952
Director Michelangelo Antonioni's unique triptych film features three murders, one taking place in Paris, another in Rome, and another in London. All of the perpetrators are affluent youths, each killing for his own dubious motive. In the France segment, a group of adolescents kill for money, even though they don't need it; in the London segment, a poet uncovers a woman's body and tries to profit from the discovery; and in the Italian segment, a student becomes caught up in a smuggling ring, with deadly results. Though each crime is investigated, the guilty are rarely singled out for their actions. I Vinti had a protracted production schedule, due in large part to the director's inability to find funding for such ambitious, resolutely downbeat material. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- 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)
