Tina Aumont Movies

A popular British comic strip series served as inspiration for this light-hearted espionage adventure, which if nothing else certainly shows the marks of its origins in the mid-1960s. A large departure for director Joseph Losey, better known for brooding interpretations of Harold Pinter works (The Servant, Accident), the film is emphatically bright and colorful, taking on at times a nearly psychedelic feel. The strangeness is emphasized by the unusual casting, including Italian star Monica Vitti in her first English-speaking role as the title character and Dirk Bogarde, playing against type as her arch-nemesis. Essentially everything is played for its camp value, including the rather convoluted, James Bond-like plot, which concerns the hijacking of a shipment of diamonds heading for the Middle East. Like its mod-era sets and costumes, this unusual, inconsistent effort is certainly intriguing and attractive, but might seem rather dated to some. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

Under the tutelage of one-time husband, director Roger Vadim, Jane Fonda plays the much-younger wife of stuffed-shirt millionaire Michel Piccoli. When Piccoli's handsome young stepson Peter McEnery comes to visit, Fonda is immediately smitten. When Piccoli forces McEnery into a marriage of convenience, she contemplates committing suicide over returning to her barren but lavish lifestyle. The Game is Over was inspired by the Emile Zola novel La Curee (the film's European title). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Bernardo Bertolucci was obviously influenced by the films of Jean-Luc Godard and the worldwide political upheavals of 1968 while assembling his feature-film Partner. This unorthodox adaptation of Dostoevsky's The Double studiously avoids traditional linear storytelling and exposition techniques. Pierre Clementi stars as a repressed young student who concocts a radical alter ego for himself. As the student's two faces argue polemics, Bertolucci uses the opportunity to take freewheeling critical potshots at all forms of political ideology. Not all of Partner makes sense, but the film will command the viewer's interest from beginning to end. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The famous Italian lover Casanova is portrayed by Claudio De Kunert as a child and by Leonardo Whiting as an adolescent on the verge of manhood. Planning to help the poor by going into religious law, he quickly is smitten by a bevy of beauties and by Millescudi (Senta Berger) in particular. After his first sermon as an aspiring abbot, the collection plate is flooded with love letters to the handsome young man. Casanova soon abandons his religious pursuits for more worldly pleasures. The gravely voiced Lionel Stander and Wilfred Brambell also appear in this 2 million dollar production. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Tinto Brass directed this bizarre counterculture escapade, which was shot in 1968 and reflects that momentous year in its frequently playful outrage. Anita (Tina Aumont) is a student activist whose politics move even further to the left after she's raped by police officers following her arrest during a demonstration. Her fiancée Berto (Nino Segurini) is still eager to marry her, but during a performance-art ceremony held in an industrial wasteland, Anita changes her mind and runs away. She soon meets Coso (Gigi Proietti, here billed as Luigi Proiette), who may or may not be an escaped prisoner, and together they wander from one part of Italy to another, encountering a variety of bizarre characters along the way, including a family of well-bred cannibals, a handful of mental patients who stage a revolt, a military leaders whose short stature has not stunted his arrogance, a band of angry but inept police officers and a hotel full of sexual experimentalists. Abandoning a traditional narrative once Anita and Coso hit the road, L'Urlo (aka The Howl) was Brass's second film exploring the changing mood of the Swinging Sixties, following Nerosubianco (aka Attraction and Black On White). ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This Italian avant-garde underground film features Viva, Tina Aumont, Pierre Clementi, and Carmelo Bene. Lengthy shots of stationary figures such as Frankenstein, Attila the Hun, Montezuma, and the Devil represent centuries of sublimation that have created civilization. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

This comic Italian melodrama recounts the story of a friendship which develops out of a romantic obsession. The Italian communist party was largely independent of the Eastern Bloc, and has played a large political role in that country, particularly on the local level. This story tells of Annibale Pezzi (Adriano Celentano), a hospital patient who is also the local communist party boss, and of Sister Germana (Sophia Loren), the nursing nun who is treating him. Annibale successfully invents one ailment after another in order to avoid having to leave the delightful ministrations of this special woman. Though she is at first antagonistic to him and his beliefs, their mutual respect grows until he is finally able to accept the idea of being discharged. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

A group of extremely glamourous college coeds (Suzy Kendall among them) are being stalked by a hooded sex-killer whose weapon of choice is a hacksaw. Despite this perverse premise and an equally sick title (which translates as "The Bodies Show Signs of Carnal Violence"), this remains a rather dull exercise, representing the lower end of the Italian giallo thriller spectrum and lacking much of the violence common to films of the same genre, thus failing to keep its flimsy plot in motion. What gore was present in the Italian cut has been all but wiped out by the film's U.S. distributor. Released on video as Torso. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

Tinto Brass scored his first major international success with this shocking but stylish tale of decadence in the Third Reich, inspired by a true story. Madame Kitty (Ingrid Thulin) is the proprietor of one of Berlin's most luxurious brothels, where many members of the Nazi high command are her regular customers. Kitty is approached by Helmut Wallenberg (Helmut Berger), an S.S. official who orders her to shut down her business and act as his partner as he founds a new bordello, which will exclusively cater to the elite of the Nazi Party and the German military. Unknown to Kitty, Wallenberg's brothel has been staffed entirely by women recruited by the S.S. for their loyalty to the Reich, and each room has been equipped with secret recording devices, which will allow Wallenberg and his staff to not only gather blackmail material against troublesome officers, but to discover who might be expressing disloyal thoughts about Hitler's regime when their guard is down. Margherita (Teresa Ann Savoy), a pretty young prostitute working for Kitty, is especially devoted to both her job and her country, but when she falls in love with Biondo (John Steiner), a German officer and frequent customer who has grown disillusioned with both the war and National Socialism, she discovers the true purpose of "Salon Kitty," and sets out to destroy the operation, with Kitty's help. Both a scandal and a success in Europe, Salon Kitty initially played the exploitation circuit in the United States in an edited version titled Madame Kitty, though the shorter version still earned an X rating. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Francesco Rosi utilizes the breathtakingly beautiful Italian landscape in an unspecified Italian city to hatch this mystery film involving murder and corruption in high places. As the film begins, a well-known prosecutor is killed. The murder turns out to be the first in a series of murders -- and all the victims are judges. With Italy lapsing into chaos because of the crimes, the craggy and careworn Inspector Rogas (Lino Ventura) is brought in to solve the murders. Rogas thinks that a man, sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit, is the person responsible for the killings. But when Rogas reports that fact to his superiors, they want nothing to do with the case. When more killings occur, Rogas uncovers a plot involving his superiors who are using one man's revenge murder as a ploy in order to affect nefarious changes on the entire country. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Gregor (Maurice Ronet) is a rich, charming womanizer who has been married three times. Perhaps he is not quite charming enough, because his ex-wives have it in for him. They conspire together to find just the sort of girl who will happily ruin him. Once they find her, they make sure the two get together. Things work out just according to plan, except for one thing: Gregor is happy to lose it all for love. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Director Jacques Richard tried to emulate a silent movie in all its aspects when he filmed Rebelote. Originally screened with a live string orchestra, the silent black-and-white film has inter-titles and tongue-in-cheek, melodramatic acting and a "soap opera" type plot. Unfortunately, the tale of a sad delinquent trying to overcome his miserable childhood to find success at love and life is not a cleverly acted or staged parody, and so the idea falls short of the standards of excellence of bygone, silent screen days. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi