Alberto Lionello Movies
Shakespeare buffs might be quite surprised to learn that his Midsummer Night's Dream had been turned into a rock musical, but here it is. The early '80s Italian rock star Gianna Nannini plays Titania, and belts out a raucous score, missiles flash by, Oberon dances through a woman's shower room, and in a modern twist, Demetrius and Lysander do not fall in love with their traditional ladies, but with each other. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Flavio Bucci, Gianna Nannini, (more)
Silver screen sexpot Edwige Fenech headlines this bawdy Italian sex comedy about a gorgeous housewife who plots mischievous revenge against her philandering husband, a powerful businessman. Gioia (Fenech may be a stunner, but that doesn't stop her husband Gianni (Alberto Lionello) from attempting to seduce any woman who crosses his path. Upon deciding that a taste of his own medicine may serve Gianni well, lusty Gioia recruits handsome stranger Patrizio (Ray Lovelock) in teaching her husband that it pays to remain faithful. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Simon (O.E. Hasse) fought in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), but now he is an old man, readying himself for death. His daily life is filled with memories, reveries, feelings, and small but meaningful encounters; these are the stuff the film is made up of. Some of the musings are of a hallucinatory nature, as when he meets with a tramp during imaginary walks. Others are more ordinary, as when he interacts with his son's family or enjoys looking at the pretty women in the building across the street. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- O.E. Hasse, Georges Wilson, (more)
Gianna Abastanza (Mariangelo Melato) is tired of men acting as though they can do everything better than women, so she enters the police force and dons a policewoman's uniform. By following the law more closely than her police comrades and superiors, she soon runs into trouble with them, though this does not prevent love from blossoming. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mariangela Melato, Orazio Orlando, (more)
Frustrated desire motivates the Sicilian newlyweds in this improbable sex comedy when they are discovered to be brother and sister just before their marriage can be consummated. They receive this news in a very unwelcome telegram, and spend much of the rest of the film trying to alleviate their frustration by various stratagems. Some of them are fairly innocent, such as novel-reading and pious works; others include seriously considering the option of incest. They have a number of embarrassing sexual encounters outside their relationship, but are saved from even more demeaning situations when a second telegram informs them that the first was definitely a mistake. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
How Funny Can Sex Be? is an eight-episode anthology film about love, sex and marriage in contemporary, mid-'70s Italy. Some of the segments--particularly those featuring Laura Antonelli and Giancarlo Giannini--are fun, but just as many fall flat. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
Julian (Jean-Pierre Leaud) is the son of German industrialist Klotz (Alberto Lionello) who seeks to go into business with the former Nazi Herdhitze (Ugo Tognazzi). Herdhitze had spent most of World War II collecting human skulls for experiments with brain matter. As a protest, Julian refuses to marry his fiancé from a pre-arranged marriage, and he becomes romantically involved with pigs. Part two finds a man driven to cannibalism by hunger while wandering Mount Etna. He scavenges the mountainside looking for any kind of sustenance. In both cases, humans revert to animal behavior when they are removed from the spectrum of social rules and opinions. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Clémenti, Jean-Pierre Léaud, (more)
Pietro Germi's funny anthology combines the standard sex comedy format with some unexpectedly subtle observations about village life. The film centers on three stories exposing the sexual secrets of the Italian town of Treviso. Toni Gasparini (Alberto Lionello) pretends to be impotent in order to wrangle an illicit affair with his doctor's wife. Bank clerk Osvaldo Bisigato (Gastone Moschin) leaves his shrewish wife (Nora Ricci) to move in with his mistress Milena (Virna Lisi), a cafe cashier, but Treviso's jealous husbands unite to cost the lovers their jobs and have them arrested. Meanwhile, most of the village's men are busy seducing a promiscuous teenager (Patrizia Valturri), whose father eventually reveals that she is underage. Franco Fabrizi, Beba Loncar, and cult filmmaker Giulio Questi are among the cast, and Carlo Rustichelli provided the score. Signore e Signori won the Best Film award at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virna Lisi, Gastone Moschin, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Sylva Koscina, Gastone Moschin, (more)
- Starring:
- Martine Carol, Felix Marten, (more)












