Fabio Pittoru Movies
- 1975
Prolific screenwriter Fabio Pittoru (La Notte Che Evelyn Usco Dalla Tomba) turned his hand to direction with this uninspired sex farce. Enzo Cerusico stars as Alberto, a workaholic who has managed to irritate everyone from his sexually frustrated girlfriend Christina (Silvia Dionisio) to his philandering boss (Nino Castelnuovo, who also sings the theme song). There is frequent nudity and the plot twists are suitably labyrinthine, involving the usual mistaken identities, secret trysts, humiliating revelations, and musical beds, but the ultimate effect is wearying rather than humorous. Lia Tanzi co-stars with Valeria Fabrizi, Manuela Wondratscheck, and Umberto D'Orsi. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Rod Steiger portrays Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in this internationally produced "how the mighty have fallen" biopic. In the waning days of the war, the once-strutting Il Duce hides from his pursuers like a common thief. He's hoping to fall into the hands of his former Axis comrades or the benign Allied troops, rather than suffer the vengeance of the out-for-blood Italian freedom fighters. But it is the latter group who reaches Mussolini first, ignominiously executing both the dictator and his mistress Clara Petracchi (Lisa Gastoni). This strangely cast period piece features Henry Fonda as a German cardinal and Franco Nero as an Italian officer. Originally titled Mussolini: Ultimo Atto, The Last Days of Mussolini was also issued as The Last Four Days. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
- R
In this comical Italian murder mystery, family members congregate at a British estate for the reading of a will. As in many mysteries before it, the attendees are murdered off one by one until only a soprano for the Metropolitan opera remains. In the end, Scotland Yard convinces her to confess because they know that she hid the second will she discovered. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1971
- R
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Spaghetti Western veteran Antonio De Teffe (aka Anthony Steffen) stars in this delightfully tacky supernatural giallo from Italian filmmaker Emilio P. Miraglia. De Teffe plays Alan Cunningham, a titled nobleman who has just been released from a mental institution after a breakdown brought about by the death of his beautiful red-haired wife, Evelyn. Alan isn't quite right, and despite loads of helpful advice from his doctor and money-hungry cousin, can't stop picking up red-haired women and dragging them back to his castle dungeon, where his desire to punish his late wife's infidelity leads to some hallucinatory S & M murders. Eventually he meets the beautiful Gladys (Marina Malfatti) and quickly marries her, generating a good deal of anger among his greedy relatives. That's when members of his family start disappearing and the obligatory inheritance plot tightens around the deranged lord, raising the question of whether Evelyn is really dead after all. Miraglia directs with a somewhat plodding style atypical for the normally lively genre, but the film's cheese value is enhanced by a wonderfully schizophrenic score by Bruno Nicolai; an amusingly dotty production design; and enough sex, kinkiness, and violence to satisfy any giallo fan. Erika Blanc (aka Enrica Bianchi Colombatto) makes an impression as one of the strippers Alan brings to his dungeon, Alan's dead aunt (Joan C. Davies) is devoured by a cageful of hungry foxes, and the cast also includes familiar genre faces Umberto Raho and Giacomo Rossi-Stuart. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1970
While Michele Lupo's skillful thriller is certainly Italian, it is more of a traditional mystery than most of its contemporaries. The plot is the standard one involving greedy heirs being killed off in a country house following the reading of a will. Daughter Anna Moffo gets everything, and before too long, the cast starts dropping like flies. Ida Galli, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, and sexy maid Orchidea DeSantis are among the suspects and victims, while Lance Percival and Gastone Moschin appear as comic-relief cops from Scotland Yard. The ending is fairly clever, although regular followers of the form may find it a bit obvious. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
