Ivo Garrani Movies

In the 1950s, a big stir was made by a book (and its corresponding movie) called The Ugly American. Its subject was the grievous damage done to local cultures by well-meaning but essentially clueless (and frequently arrogant) representatives of the U.S. Since then, the phenomenon of cultural damage cause by arrogant tourists and visitors has been demonstrated to be something everyone is capable of. In this thoughtful, comic drama, the subject is Italians overseas. In this film, Malindi Kenya is the playground of rich Italians. In this story, Alessandro Benini (Corso Salani) has come to this resort in the African nation to claim an inheritance from his father, a man he barely knew. When he arrives on the scene, he is shocked to be put immediately under arrest; rather than leaving him property as he had supposed, his father left him a mountain of local debts. He is taken under the wing of Fulvio Colombo (Diego Abatantuono), a man with shady local connections and an even shadier past. Along the way, Alessandro learns a thing or two about violence, colonialism, and nature, before he safely returns home to Italy. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

When tough-minded slum dweller Claudio Scanna Claudio Amendola is drafted into the Italian Army for his obligatory one-year tour of service, he hardly expects to have to serve the entire year on latrine duty. However, that's just what happens in this exposé of injustices of the draft system. Claudio has inadvertently humiliated his lieutenant, a petty and small-minded man who cannot abide the knowledge that Claudio is definitely a better man than he is. Before the year is out, though, they will have a definitive confrontation. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Two mobsters are given a dangerous assignment in this crime drama. The two must learn which new gang smuggled a large stash of pure heroin into San Francisco and hid it in the cross the Don had imported from Italy and gave to his church. One of the gangsters is the Don's nephew. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Set in the time of Garibaldi's revolutionary efforts to free and unify Italy (1860s), this Italian film brings to the screen the story of a Sicilian participant in the town of Bronte. The story pits two kinds of revolutionaries against one another: idealists, and land-grabbers. When the townspeople execute their local rulers, Garibaldi sends a general to restore order. Ironically, the ones arrested and punished are the moderates who were against the slayings. This film was shot on location in Yugoslavia rather than Sicily. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This lavishly costumed historical epic had an estimated $100 million price tag. Spectacularly photographed battle action contrasts with often plodding individual scenes that bog down the plot. Fearing his growing power, European monarchs force Napoleon Bonaparte (Rod Steiger) to abdicate as Emperor and retire to Elba, and the French are concerned they will be outnumbered by a force of combined armies from many countries in Europe. Napoleon no sooner says goodbye to his loyalist troops than he begins to rally his men and prepare for another takeover. King Louis XVIII (Orson Welles) sends Marshal Michel Ney (Dan O'Herlihy) and his men to counter Bonaparte, but upon seeing his old commander (and ally), Ney thrusts his sword to the ground and takes up arms with the deposed emperor. They all return to Paris by popular demand, defying the orders of Louis (who flees from the palace) and running the monarchy tout seul. Soon England, Austria, Prussia and Russia unite to try and stop the dictator. Wellington (Christopher Plummer) readies his troops near Waterloo, refuses to retreat anymore, and waits for Prussian Marshall Blucher (Sergei Zakhariadze) and his army to join up with the British as the only hope to stop the French juggernaut. Jack Hawkins and Michael Wilding portray key military commanders Picton and Ponosby, respectively. Napoleon and his troops cut into the Prussian and British forces dramatically, weakening their power, but three problems arise. First, Ney refuses to lead his segment of the troops onward; and second, Bonaparte's men are plagued by the wet weather, which causes
the cannon brigade to become immobilized in mud (when Wellington strategically gives Bonaparte's troops the lower ground) rendering it ineffective until late in the day. And even more calamitously, Bonaparte - growing increasingly ill -- insists on leading his men from the rear, which causes the information to become outdated as soon as it gets to him. The Russian version of this film was nearly four hours long, while western audiences saw an edited version slightly over two hours long. Unfortunately, Waterloo bombed at the box office. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This romantic and sometimes ribald historical farce finds nobleman Guerrando (Tony Curtis) knighted in the days before the Crusades. He inherits a castle, tax-collecting rights, first choice of all the fair young maidens of the region, and a draft notice from the King. Boccadoro (Monica Vitti) is the liberal-minded forest woman who catches the eye of the young nobleman. Courtship, love and marriage follows, but the wedding night is interrupted by a call to arms. Guerrando and Boccadoro are unable to consummate the marriage, and a chastity belt is used to insure her virginal status. The young bride follows her husband's troop at a distance hoping to get her hand on the coveted key to the lock. Comedy ensues as the key changes hands several times before Guerrando ultimately regains possession and is able to unlock the passions of his love-starved wife. This overlong film can best described as a punchline in search of a joke. One gets the feeling that the producers had wanted to title the film A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Crusades. As it stood, On My Way to the Crusades, I Met a Girl Who... was too unwieldy for most theater marquees, necessitating the film's title-change to The Chastity Belt. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This historical epic from Italy tells the stories of two of the most memorable figures in the Old Testament. Gideon (Ivo Garrani) saves the children of Israel when, under God's command, he defeats the Midianites by destroying the altar of Baal. In the second half of the film, Sampson (Anton Geesink) is the most physically powerful man in the world -- until he falls prey to the allure of the wily Delilah (Rosalba Neri). Fernando Rey highlights the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

For anyone not up on Italian history during World War II, this interesting docudrama about the eventual execution by the Nazis of Mussolini's son-in-law Count Ciano (Frank Wolf) will have a few gaps. The war is ending and the fascists have clearly lost, so in their last-ditch effort to lay the blame elsewhere they choose Galeazzo Ciano, their former Foreign Minister, as one of several "traitors" to the fascist cause. Neither Mussolini himself nor an offer of the Count's diaries have any effect on the Verona-based trial which condemned and executed several others as traitors. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Filmed in 1962 but not released in the US until 1966 (with 20 of its 108 minutes removed), Conquered City is an all-star World War II drama financed in Italy and filmed in Greece. An Athens hotel, full of refugees and expatriates of all nationalities, is captured by Allied troops in the closing days of the War. British Major David Niven has been ordered to prevent a cache of weapons hidden in the hotel from falling into the hands of renegade troops. He cannot allow himself to trust anyone--not even the most innocent-looking (or attractive) of guests. Originally titled La Citta Prigioniera. Conquered City was released in English-speaking countries outside the U.S. as Captive City. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Steve Reeves once again dons sandals and hoists a sword to come to the dashing rescue of the oppressed masses in this routine Roman tale of the good old days when men were unbelievably muscular, invulnerable fighting machines. Randus (Steve Reeves) is a centurion assigned to Rome's army in Egypt in the first century B.C. who finds out, one fine day, that he is actually the son of the legendary Spartacus. Inspired by this new identity, he decides to continue with his centurion's duties as a cover and dedicate himself to freeing the slaves that labor for the unjust and brutal Cesare Grassus (Claudio Gora). When not overcoming the forces that keep people enslaved, Randus has time for Clodia (Gianna Maria Canale) and some relief from all that fighting. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Hercules (Reg Park) and King Androcles (Ettore Manni) are on an ocean expedition when Androcles is washed overboard during a storm near a mysterious island. Making landfall, Hercules finds that the island is the kingdom of Atlantis, ruled by a beautiful, cruel, and ambitious queen, Antinea (Fay Spain), who controls a mysterious source of power. She has transformed her personal guard into super-strong warriors -- each nearly a match for Hercules, put Androcles under her spell, and inflicted terrible wounds on her people, all in preparation for her plan to conquer the world. Hercules finds that her power stems from a source older than the gods on Olympus, one over which he has virtually no power. He must save his friend, release Antinea's people, and prevent her from carrying out her plans. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Generally considered to be the foremost example of Italian Gothic horror, this darkly atmospheric black-and-white chiller put director Mario Bava on the international map and made the bewitching Barbara Steele a star. Steele plays Princess Asa, a high priestess of Satan who is gruesomely executed in 1600s Moldavia by having a spiked mask hammered into her face. Before she dies, Asa vows revenge on the family who killed her and returns from the grave two centuries later to keep her promise. In a striking resurrection scene replete with bats, scorpions and fog, Asa rises from the tomb to claim her bloody vengeance. With vampires, bubbling flesh, dank crypts, undead servants and torch-bearing mobs, the plot is a little ripe, but the visuals are Bava's primary consideration. The atmosphere is so heavy and the imagery so dense that the film becomes nearly too rich in texture, but the sheer, ghastly beauty of it all is entrancing. Although this was only the second of Bava's twenty-six films as director, it is undoubtedly his best and the one upon which most of his considerable reputation rests. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide