Philippe Leroy Movies

In this summer drama, three young women take jobs as fruit pickers. One of them is a tease, one is a tough-girl, and one is incurably romantic. As they work in the summer's heat they find themselves increasingly attracted to their handsome co-workers. Hot love ensues as they all pair off. Unfortunately, their summer fun is spoiled by the death of one of the men. When not making love, the young people are involved in staging a successful strike. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This somewhat stilted sword-and-sandal adventure based on Gastad Green's novel The Gladiator deals with the conquest of Antigonea by the 13th Roman Legion. Silla (Philippe Leroy), the corrupt temporary governor, takes a local concubine, Fabiola (Rosanna Podesta), who is really in love with a bound gladiator named Brenno (Lang Jeffries). Following the completion of his training, Brenno defeats the evil Silla in the arena, and is freed to claim the beautiful Fabiola. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Samuel Bronston produced this extravagant blockbuster, shot in Super Technirama 70. Nominally directed by Nicholas Ray (who makes a brief appearance as the U.S. ambassador), Ray was taken off the film and replaced by the more pliable directorial touches of Andrew Marton. Charlton Heston stars as Maj. Matt Lewis, the leader of an army of multinational soldiers who head to Peking during the infamous Boxer Rebellion of 1900. As the film unfolds, the foreign embassies in Peking are being held in a grip of terror as the Boxers set about massacring Christians in an anti-Christian nationalistic fever. Inside the besieged compound, the finicky British ambassador (David Niven) gathers the beleaguered ambassadors into a defensive formation. Included in the group of high-level dignitaries is a sultry Russian Baroness (Ava Gardner) who takes a shine to Lewis upon his arrival at the embassy compound with his group of soldiers. As Lewis and the group conserve food and water and try to save some hungry children, they await the arrival of expected reinforcements, but the tricky Chinese Empress Tzu Hsi (Flora Robson) is, in the meantime, plotting with the Boxers to break the siege at the compound with the aid of Chinese recruits. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Four different takes on the meaning of love comprise this Italian anthology. "Love and Language," the first tale, centers on the difficulties of a Sicilian immigrant who is unable to master proper Italian. the second tale "Love and Life" centers on a jealous and unhappy wife who becomes so desperate to be free of her constantly philandering husband she takes on a lover of her own. When that doesn't work, she hires a gorgeous maid in hopes of finally getting proof that he is cheating. Unfortunately, things don't turn out quite the way she'd planned. In the third episode, "Love and Art" a nearly exhausted screenwriter hires a secretary to help manage his typing. She's a pretty lass and this makes his insecure wife crazy until he fires the female and hires a male secretary. Unfortunately, he too wants to write for the movies and soon begins making significant improvement to his boss's work making him a big success. The first screenwriter is so happy about this that he doesn't mind when his secretary begins having an affair with his wife. "Love and Death," the final episode centers on the love affair between a middle-aged widower and the grieving young widow he meets at the cemetery. Unfortuantely for his bank statement, the young, impoverished beauty isn't as bereaved as she seems. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A traveling circus visits the Gothic abode of the evil Count Drago (Christopher Lee), whose pastimes include experimenting on various animals with his potions and formulas. Naturally, he's no longer content to stop there, and the visitors become unwilling participants in the next horrific progression of the Count's macabre hobby. In a surprising twist, it is one of the troupe's dwarf performers who saves the day. This Italian production is believed to have been augmented with scenes shot by Michael Reeves (Witchfinder General), which may account for occasional atmospheric touches in an otherwise pedestrian mad-scientist effort. Look for young first-timer Donald Sutherland in bizarre dual roles -- as a bumbling soldier and a withered old witch. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Infidelity is the real subject linking the four funny vignettes that comprise this Italian anthology. "The First Night" centers on a naive pair of Sicilian newlyweds honeymooning in Naples. While celebrating their wedding night a friendly millionaire invites them aboard his yacht for a few drinks. There the tycoon offers the groom a fortune in exchange for having sex with his bride. Too drunk to think straight, the groom agrees to the bargain. The next night, he goes to cash the millionaire's check and finds it is no good forcing him to make a difficult decision. In the second story, "One Moment is Enough" an insanely jealous husband's attempts to keep his wife faithful fail miserably. The third story "The Last Card" centers on an unemployed football player who becomes a male prostitute to help support his impoverished family. Unfortunately, he is not quite up to the job. Finally in "Saturday, July 18," a wife spends a month vacationing in Capri. Her husband eventually shows up and begins boasting about how trustworthy she is. Unfortunately for him, she is anything but. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Composed by five different screenwriters, this Italian/French comedy stars the talented and ubiquitous Vittorio Gassman as an army officer who has a difficult time believing an attractive woman is in fact a woman. Michele Mercier plays a performer who is taking the place of a female impersonator so that he may defect. When Gassman visits the show on a weekend furlough, he sees her performance and, even though there seems plenty of proof, he refuses to buy her explanation. Also woven into the plot are several loosely relevant stories about others staying at the same resort on the Riviera. Sandra Milo, Umberto D'Orsi, Graziella Granata and Philipe Leroy are among the actors also appearing in this feature. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

The bulk of this amusing crime film consists of a plan to steal a fortune in gold from the supposedly impregnable vaults of Geneva's Credit Suisse Bank. A criminal genius (Philippe Leroy) watches from across the street as his six henchmen -- whose names all begin with the letter "A" -- carry out the caper. Among the burglars are such familiar actors as Gabriele Tinti and Gaston Moschin, while Rosanna Podesta appears as Leroy's mistress, the scheming Giorgia. After the heist itself, which consumes nearly an hour of screen time, the group becomes fraught with mistrust and suspicion, only to lose out on their wealth when the stolen gold ends up scattered in a public square. Leroy and the rest returned in director Marco Vicario's Il Grande Colpo dei Sette Uomini d'Oro the following year. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Award-winning Italian writer/director Mario Camerini, who successfully bucked the "neorealist" movement of the 1940s, continued operating in a strictly commercial vein with 1966's Delitto Quasi Perfetto. The plot is sheer gossamer, handled with artistry: a journalist, stumbling upon a plot to swindle an heiress, decides to turn the tables on the crooks. The leading lady is the delightful Graziella Granata, while the male contingent is well represented by Massimo Serato and Phillipe LeRoy. If you're not expecting The Bicycle Thief of La Dolce Vita, you're in for a good time. Evidently, Delitto Quasi Perfetto was never released to US theatres, though video versions are available. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This drama examines the ethics of filmmaking as it chronicles the detached way in which a documentary maker exploits the misery of his subjects. It all begins with the seduction of another man's wife. He takes the woman to Bombay where he is filming opium addicts undergoing a rather extreme cure involving physical beatings. He then heads for Bali to chronicle the cruelty suffered deaf-mute prostitutes. Next, he goes to a Buddhist temple and tries to persuade a monk to light himself on fire. Back in India he cons a starving, deposed maharajah into eating bugs in exchange for canned food. The mistress is disgusted by the way her lover callously exploits and degrades these victims. She berates him, but still heads for war-torn Vietnam to catch some atrocities. The documentarist is excited when he learns the Viet Cong are planning to bomb a bar, and he hides his camera inside. The bomb goes off and most of the inhabitants are blown up. Later the delighted director retrieves the film. When he finds his lover dead inside the ruins, he orders his assistant to film his crying face. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

When Paola (Daniele Gaubert) feels her husband Marco (Philippe Leroy) is neglecting her, she willingly falls for his best friend Alberto (Horst Buchholz). Marco allows the affair to proceed and Paola experiences feelings of love she never knew were possible. She returns to her marital commitments but allows her romantic fantasies of Alberto and a Lesbian lover to continue. Marco soon experiences the positive benefits of his wife's imagination as their romantic romps take a favorable turn for the better. Nude scenes could mark this film as an exploitation feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide