Isa Danieli Movies

The life and times of Italy's King Ferdinand are played for laughs in this comic historical piece directed by Lina Wertmuller. Set in the 18th century, Ferdinando E Carolina opens with the aging Ferdinand falling ill and being taken to his bed, with his life story told in flashback. A naturally rambunctious and impetuous child, Ferdinand grows to young adulthood and is poised to take over the crown at 16. The powers behind the throne have arranged a marriage with a princess from Austria (despite the fact that Ferdinand has already taken a lover), but she dies of smallpox before the wedding can take place; her sister is next proposed as a fitting mate, but then she dies as well. When a third sister, Maria Carolina, is presented, Ferdinand is decidedly unenthusiastic, given the family's track record on the path to the altar. But when Ferdinand's advisors (and Carolina's mother) start to lean on him, he agrees, and he soon discovers on their honeymoon that he and Carolina get along famously in the bedroom, if nowhere else. While Ferdinand is never quite cured of his roving eye, Carolina soon has the King under her spell, and her political power soon rivals his own. While much of the cast of Ferdinando E Carolina (aka Ferdinand and Carolina) are newcomers, veteran Italian film stars Silvana De Santis and Mario Scaccia appear in supporting roles. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Lina Wertmuller's Ciao Professore was released in Italy as Il Speriamo che me la Cavo. Paolo Villago plays an urbane, supercillious schoolteacher who hopes to be assigned to an upper-crust district. Instead, a bureaucratic snafu ships Villago to the impoverished town of Corzano. Of the fifteen third-graders in his class, only three show up on the first day of school. Fortified with condescention and disgust, Villago personally sets out to collect his deliquent students. He discovers that most of them are absent because they're forced on a daily basis to hustle for their very survival; in some instances, the kids are their familys' sole support. Villago not only develops a stronger understanding and bond with the children, but he also ends up adopting their street smarts in a moment of crisis. Based on Me, Let's Hope I Make It, a collection of essays written by Neapolitan street kids and edited by Marcello D'Orta, the location-filmed Ciao Professore is one of Lina Wertmuller's most benign and life-affirming efforts. Enhancing its appeal is the use of non-professionals for most of the secondary roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cinema Paradiso offers a nostalgic look at films and the effect they have on a young boy who grows up in and around the title village movie theater in this Italian comedy drama that is based on the life and times of screenwriter/director Giuseppe Tornatore. The story begins in the present as a Sicilian mother pines for her estranged son, Salvatore, who left many years ago and has since become a prominent Roman film director who has taken the advice of his mentor too literally. He finally returns to his home village to attend the funeral of the town's former film projectionist, Alfredo, and, in so doing, embarks upon a journey into his boyhood just after WWII when he became the man's official son. In the dark confines of the Cinema Paradiso, the boy and the other townsfolk try to escape from the grim realities of post-war Italy. The town censor is also there to insure nothing untoward appears onscreen, invariably demanding that all kissing scenes be edited out. One day, Salvatore saves Alfredo's life after a fire, and then becomes the new projectionist. A few years later, Salvatore falls in love with a beautiful girl who breaks his heart after he is inducted into the military. Thirty years later, Salvatore has come to say goodbye to his life-long friend, who has left him a little gift in a film can. In 2002, over a decade after the film's original release, Tornatore brought the original 170-minute director's cut to American screens for the first time. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The vicious drug-related killings of young pre-teen boys are the fuel that moves this mystery-actioner into high gear. After Annunziata (Angela Molina) opens up a hostel with her friend Antonio (Daniel Ezralow) she is saved from being raped by a Camorra (organized crime) boss when the gangster is suddenly killed. The killer escapes before Annunziata is able to see who it was. Following this murder are several others and always with the same "signature" -- a needle through one of the testicles of the victims. Everyone suspects a drug war is on because the slain men are cocaine-heroin pushers. In a subplot, Annunziata's young son is forced to run drugs (underage children cannot be prosecuted), making him the next candidate for murder. As the drug dealers continue to be killed off, the identity of the killer -- or killers -- slowly becomes obvious. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This freewheeling look at Naples and its foibles through the tenants who live in an apartment building offers a fictionalized but lively account of what it means to be Neapolitan. Gennaro Bellavista (director and co-scripter Luciano De Crescenzo) holds classroom court every day in the building, where his neighbors and the concierges gather to listen to his instructive and opinionated views of the city. For Bellavista, the northern Italians are inspired by concepts like "freedom," while the more hot-blooded southerners are swayed the most by love. A case in point is the stuffy Milanese businessman Cazzaniga (Renato Scarpa) who starts to rearrange the mailboxes the moment he moves into his apartment -- now it remains to be seen if he will give in to the southern love of fun. Shadows are cast on the insular lives of these tenants as references to the "Camorra" -- a local Neapolitan Mafia -- and the threat of rising unemployment indicate that not everything is fun, even for the southerners. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Gianni (Marzio C. Honorato) and Santa (Consuelo Ferrar) are in love but at odds about what really matters in life. Gianni drives taxis -- illegally -- to make a precarious living, a situation which at one point lands him in jail. As he is cooling his heels, his wife is having an affair, and being a "modern" woman she has no qualms about telling Gianni. When he gets out of prison, being a tradition-bound male yet in love with his wife, he does everything he can to "win" her back from his new rival, the erstwhile lover. While working on this problem, Gianni is developing some others when he steals a company truck in an effort to get out of a scam operation and obtain some more job security -- not the best solution, although it is sure to get his demand for job security some attention. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Lina Wertmuller's flamboyant satire is an acquired taste, and this unpleasant sociopolitical comedy may be the acid test for potential devotees. Luigi Diberti stars in a scathing look at a group of rural youths who share a Milan apartment-commune in order to combat the economic oppression of urban life. Giuseppe Rotunno's evocative camerawork brings a consistency of tone to even Wertmuller's most extreme indulgences, such as a slaughterhouse ballet, but many viewers will be left scratching their heads wondering what it all means. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Teresa the Thief is a true story set during World War II. The eponymous Teresa, played by Monica Vitti, is an Italian woman who is determined to survive by any means. Thievery not only becomes a way of life for Teresa, but her claim to fame as well. Stefano Satto Flores and Isa Danieli costar in this Italian-made drama, originally released as Teresa la Ladra. Barely released theatrically in the US, the film became something of a perennial on cable TV. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide