Eleonora Rossi-Drago Movies

Set in Kentucky during the slavery days of the Old South, this adaptation of the novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe tells of the workings of the underground railroad, a secretive system formed by whites and blacks which allowed slaves to escape into the northern states. This drama, directed in Yugoslavia by Hungarian Geza Radvanyi, tends to stray from the original story and contains many contradictions to historical fact. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

A knock-off of the popular Edgar Wallace crime melodramas, this horror outing has a villainous master spy threatening London with a poison-gas spewing ball. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Vittorio Gassman stars as different characters in each of the nine episodes of this unusual Italian comedy. Playing everything from a practical joker to a prisoner, he comments upon romance, love and women in general, as referred to by the title. Prior to this feature, Gassman had worked with both screenwriter Ruggero Maccari and Ettore Scola (who also co-wrote rather than directed) in the 1962 feature Il Sorpasso from director Dino Risi. It was Risi and Maccari's teamwork which helped Gassman win a "Best Actor" award at Cannes Film Festival in 1974 for Profumo di Donna/Scent of a Woman. Gassman would later work with Maccari and Ettore again in episodic fashion with Signore e Signori Buonanotte/Goodnight, Ladies and Gentlemen (1976) and yet again in the drama Famiglia (1987). ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Several internationally known directors contributed to this generally adept and compelling series of five brief vignettes on love and its many ramifications. François Truffaut starts things off with a story of innocent love between a young man in his mid-teens and a slightly older woman. Renzo Rossellini continues in sketch two about a tough mistress who keeps her lover on a short tether. Shintaro Ishihara renders the only violent episode -- that of a disturbed young worker who becomes a real lady-killer. Marcel Ophüls (son of the late and great Max Ophüls) directs an upbeat tale about a journalist who accepts the responsibilities of marriage and fatherhood when a brief fling with a woman ends in a pregnancy. The last vignette, directed by the well-known Polish helmer Andrzej Wajda, is about a brave act by a young soldier whose deed gains him the admiration of a woman, but the response from other men his age is something different. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Very loosely based on its Biblical source, this standard Italian sword-and-sandal action film stars Orson Welles as an intense, inward-turning King Saul, deteriorating at the same time that David is rising in renown. The shepherd David (Ivo Payer) is sent to the Israelite forces with supplies for his older brothers when he first discovers who Goliath is -- the giant over nine feet tall that challenges any single warrior to meet him one-on-one in battle. If someone takes up his challenge, it would decide whether the Israelites or Philistines are victorious in their current stand-off. David's one-shot victory turns the tide and hastens Saul's decline. The monarch's lithesome daughters Merab and Michal are played by Eleonora Rossi-Drago and Giulia Rubini, his son Jonathan is portrayed by Pierre Cressoy, and Goliath by Kronos, a muscular "giant" of European circus and music hall circuits. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Under Ten Flags is a fact-based British maritime epic set during World War II. Allied ships are being victimized by a German surface raider, which sails under friendly flags until moving in for the kill. Since so many nationalities were involved in making this film (both before and behind the cameras), it is difficult at times to determine whose side one is supposed to be on. On screen, the Germans seem the cleverest and most resourceful of all the combatants; at times, one hopes that they'll get away with their high-seas perfidy--especially since the captain is played by charismatic American actor Van Heflin. Under Ten Flags has a minimum of war action, but this didn't prevent an enterprising home-movie firm from excerpting nine minutes' worth of highlights for an 8-millimeter version--which did better business than the original 92 minute feature! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jean-Louis Trintignant's star was just rising when he took on the role of Carlo in this engrossing wartime coming-of-age story. Carlo is a young man living in his own world and blithely inattentive to the real war that is happening not very far away. This is particularly striking because he is the son of a high-level fascist. The year is 1943 and he has gone to a seaside resort on vacation where he meets the beautiful, older widow Roberta (Eleonora Rossi Drago). Carlo is smitten and in spite of various obstacles, he and Roberta enter into a romantic liaison. Then one day Allied forces land on the coast and Carlo is faced with the realities of war and a reassessment of his life. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This routine story by director Maurice Cloche is about two gangs at war over the possession of a valuable cache of crude diamonds. As the gangs battle it out with each other, a young man is drawn into the conflict by his girlfriend, an aggressive sort of woman in her own way. Before the basically innocent bystander becomes a casualty of the dispute, he falls in love with another woman who manages to lead him away from the conflict. At the same time, the gangs are well on the way to destroying each other. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Anna Magnani is a powerful actress who can rise above the sentimentality of this film and still give a heartwarming performance. When a child has been abandoned by his mother and her boyfriend and is placed in her care, a kindly nun finds that her love for the boy may be more powerful than her vows for the church, as she contemplates leaving the sisterhood to become his full-time Mother. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

Tous Peuvent Me Tuer (Anyone Can Kill Me) is one of the many "perfect crime" melodramas which glutted the French film industry in the late '50s. Five crooks participate in a holdup, hide the money, then confess to a lesser crime so that they will receive a bare-minimum prison sentence. Once behind bars, however, the conspirators are killed off one by one. As the suspect list narrows, it appears that one of the bad guys has decimated the others in order to claim all the loot for himself. Can things be this cut-and-dried? Not likely. The salability of Tous Peuvent Me Tuer in the U.S. was improved by the star power of third-billed Anouk Aimée. ~ 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