Nada Fiorelli Movies

John Ford's last western film, Cheyenne Autumn was allegedly produced to compensate for the hundreds of Native Americans who had bitten the dust in Ford's earlier films (that was the director's story, anyway). Set in 1887, the film recounts the defiant migration of 300 Cheyennes from their reservation in Oklahoma territory to their original home in Wyoming. They have done this at the behest of chiefs Little Wolf (Ricardo Montalban) and Dull Knife (Gilbert Roland), peaceful souls who have been driven to desperate measures because the US government has ignored their pleas for food and shelter. Since the Cheyennes' trek is in defiance of their treaty, Captain Thomas Archer (Richard Widmark), who agrees with the Indians in principle, reluctantly leads his troops in pursuit of the tribe. While there was never any intention to shed blood, the white press finds it politically expedient to distort the Cheyennes' action into a declaration of war. Thanks to the cruelties of such chauvinistic whites as Captain Oscar Wessels (Karl Malden), the Cheyennes are forced to defend themselves--and whenever Indians take arms against whites in the 1880s, it's usually misrepresented as a massacre. Only the intervention of US secretary of the interior Carl Schurz (Edward G. Robinson) prevents the hostilities from erupting into wholesale bloodshed. Based on a novel by Mari Sandoz, Cheyenne Autumn is a cinematic elegy--not only for the beleaguered Cheyennes, but for John Ford's fifty years in pictures. It is weakest when arbitrarily throwing in a wearisome romance between Richard Widmark and pacifistic schoolmarm Carroll Baker, who out of sympathy for the Indians has joined them in their 1500-mile westward journey. When the Warner Bros. people decided that the film ran too long, they chopped out the wholly unnecessary but very funny episode involving a poker-obsessed Wyatt Earp (James Stewart). Contrary to popular belief, this episode was included in the earliest non-roadshow prints of Cheyenne Autumn; the scene was excised only when the film went into its second and third runs in 1966 (it has since been restored). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Yves Allegret's Les Miracle N'Ont Lieu qu Une Fois was briefly released in the U.S. under the literally translated title Miracles Only Happen Once. Critics have not dealt kindly with the film, comparing it unfavorably to Allegret's "classic" trilogy Dedde d'Anvers, Une si Jolie Petite Plage and Maneges (1948-50). Even so, Les Miracle is not to be dismissed lightly. The story concerns the romance between French student Jerome (Jean Marais) and Italian student Claudia (Alida Valli). Intending to marry, the couple is separated when war breaks out. Year later, Jerome and Claudia are reunited. By this time, however, Jerome has sunk to the depths of degradation, and the rapidly maturing Claudia wonders if the spark can ever be rekindled. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tombolo was one of several Italian films dwelling upon postwar Black Market activities. The title refers to a remote wooded area, used as a hideout by several small-time racketeers and sharpsters. Top-billed Aldo Fabrizi plays Andrea, a night watchman whose dereliction of duty has resulted in a robbery. Hoping to redeem himself, Andrea infiltrates the criminals' den. The bloodbath that follows spares practically no one, save for Anna (Adriana Benetti), a good-girl-gone-bad-gone-good, and the relatively spotless Renzo (Luigi Tosi). Featured in the cast of Tombolo is Michigan-born black actor John Kitzmiller, who enjoyed a thriving career in Italy during the 1940s and 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide