Ettore Manni Movies
In films from 1951, Ettore Manni distinguished himself in roles of all varieties and sizes. During his first decade on the screen, he was often cast in costume epics, playing Marc Anthony in several films based on the life of Cleopatra and showing up in a number of Hercules pictures. In contemporary productions, he was frequently seen as a priest or law officer. Ettore Manni's final film, City of Women, was released posthumously. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this dream-sequence film, renowned Italian director Federico Fellini expounds at length on the nature, complexities, attitudes, and hang-ups of women and how this all relates to men "hunting" sexual conquests. Snaporaz (Marcello Mastroianni) is traveling in a compartment on a train when he lapses into sleep and dreams the ensuing story. He follows a woman off the train and through a field and then loses her. Soon, as a representative of the male sex in general he finds himself in a hotel, among myriad women attending a feminist conference. Surreal episodes take him through a villa with his alter-ego Dr. Katzone (Ettore Manni, who died during filming) and references to his sexual exploits. Reunited with his former wife for a moment, he starts another sequence which reviews his past. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Anna Prucnal, (more)
- 1976
A beautiful woman (Laura Antonelli) is engaged to one man, but has an affair with both a young nobleman (Terence Stamp) and later his cousin (Marcello Mastroianni). This Italian production, also known as Divina Creatura, appears in both subtitled and dubbed versions. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laura Antonelli, Terence Stamp, (more)
- 1976
- R
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
- Starring:
- Roger Moore, Stacy Keach, (more)
Based on a true story, this political thriller/drama explores the ordeal of Linda Murri (Catherine Deneuve), a 19th-century upper-class Italian woman who was caught in an unhappy marriage and who broke the code of behavior for aristocrats by taking a lower-class lover. After her husband was murdered, Murri stood trial for the murder. Her professor father's socialist opinions were clearly the reason for the harshness of the prosecution. The case was widely known throughout Italy at the time, and caused a national furor. Murri did not actually arrange to murder her boorish nobleman husband Count Bonmartini (Paolo Bonacelli); rather, she told her brother how unhappy she was and that she was afraid for her life. He acted on her complaint by taking the drastic step of murder. The trial resulted in her being given a long prison term, along with her brother (Giancarlo Giannini), her lover Carlo Secci (Ettore Manni) and her brother's assistants Pio and Rosa (Corrado Pani and Tina Aumont). The relentlessness of the prosecutor Giudice Stanzani (Marcel Bozzuffi) and the spinelessness of the family patriarch Augusto Murri (Fernando Rey), the professor with the unpopular opinions, are key dramatic features of this complex story. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giancarlo Giannini, Catherine Deneuve, (more)
A beautiful salesgirl falls victim to a brutal gangster, and after being forced into a life of depravity, her escape is only the beginning of her terror in director Giuliano Carnimeo's gritty Eurocult classic. Anna (Edwige Fenech) was a naïve shop girl working in a small boutique when she fell prey to the deceptive charms of serpentine gangster Guido (Corrado Pani). After being forced into prostitution and suffering endless abuse at the hands of the brutish Guido, Anna resolves to escape with her son and start life anew with kindly doctor Lorenzo (John Richardson). Soon tracked down by the ruthless and vengeful gangster, Anna is forced to face her fears and fight for her life. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
An unreleased suspense thriller from Italy's master of horror and fantasy, Mario Bava, Rabid Dogs makes its belated debut in this special DVD release. When a bank robbery goes awry for a pair of violent criminals, they take an innocent woman hostage, who must fight for her survival. Shot mostly inside a speeding car, this tense and claustrophobic drama was filmed in 1974 (five years before Bava's death), but shortly before completion the death of one of the principal financiers threw the project into limbo. In 1998, the film's elements were rediscovered and editing was completed using Bava's notes as a guide; the result is a film that takes a decidedly modern detour from Bava's traditional Gothic subject matter and gives a much broader perspective on the range of his talents. A few years later, the film was reworked and retitled Kidnapped for a brief theatrical run in the U.S. That version of the film would later be released on DVD by Anchor Bay, with the original, Rabid Dogs cut included as supplimental material. Curiously enough, the version of Rabid Dogs featured on the Kidnapped disc still differs from the version of the film previously released by Lucertola. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Riccardo Cucciolla, Lea Lander, (more)
- 1973
- PG
The US title of this Italian-Spanish-French coproduction is Chino, in deference to the character played by star Charles Bronson. Having long suffered the stigma of being part-Indian, New Mexico horse breeder Chino Valdez (Bronson) wants nothing more than to be left alone with his beloved horses. Even so, Chino opens his heart and his home to teenaged runaway Jamie Wagner (Vincent Van Patten), who becomes his protégé. But things take an unpleasant turn when the formerly taciturn Chino falls in love with Louise (Jill Ireland, the half-sister of antagonistic rancher Maral (Marcel Bozzuffi, replacing the original choice for the role, Lino Ventura). This film was based on The Valdez Horses, a novel by Lee Hoffman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Bronson, Marcel Bozzuffi, (more)
- 1972
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In this campy jungle adventure, courageous, stiff-upper-lipped Captain Fox and his entourage head for the Congo's darkest heart to search for a missing woman. Along the way they face many of the usual jungle dangers, but not a one prepares them for the fearsome, mythical ape-man Karzan (think Tarzan with a "K"). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1970
This peculiar spaghetti western from prolific director Demofilo Fidani (using the pseudonym "Miles Deem") deals with a man named Blonde (Chet Davis) tracking bounty hunter Lazar (Hunt Powers) to the mining town of Lamazos. The evil town boss, Barret (Gordon Mitchell), wants Lazar dead, so he sends a group of assassins to murder him. Lazar survives, and Barret ends up offering him $100,000 to leave town. Lazar accepts the money and travels on to a remote shack, where he tortures an old man (Ettore Manni), making him a slave. What Lazar doesn't know is that the old man is Blonde's father, and he pays for his mistake with his life, leaving the man and his gunslinging son rich after the obligatory showdown. Fidani's film is unusual in its almost hallucinatory lack of logic, creating a surreal effect aided by the cinematography of Aristide Massaccesi, who would go on to some notoriety as cult director "Joe D'Amato." ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1968
This mild comedy finds two envoys from Hell sent to Earth to cause trouble. Relfagor (Vittorio Gassman) and his faithful sidekick Adramalek (Mickey Rooney) start out by disintegrating the peace soon to take place between Rome and Florence. While traveling, they manage to seduce the wife of an innkeeper, induce the wife of a nobleman to engage in adultery, and cause a wealthy count to lose all his money and die in disgrace at his own hands. When Relfagor falls for the lovely Magdalena (Claudine Auger), he loses his magic powers and becomes a mere mortal. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio Gassman, Mickey Rooney, (more)
- 1968
No relation to the 1953 El Alamein (beyond a common "real life" source), The Battle of El Alamein was a French-Italian coproduction, largely lensed in Spain. Set during the titular desert battle of 1942, the film departs from expectation by concentrating on the Axis point of view. Though they mistrust one another, the German and Italian troops are forced to work shoulder to shoulder to ward off the British. And talk about revisionist history: Rommel (Robert Hossein) is the hero of the piece, and Montgomery (Michael Rennie) is the villain! Battle of El Alamein would make a fascinating triple feature with Five Graves to Cairo (1943) and The Desert Fox (1953). Incidentally, the "Calvin Jackson Padgett" credited with the direction is really Giorgio Ferroni. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
Paolo Moffa directed this gritty spaghetti western under the name "John Byrd," and if the sets look familiar, they were previously seen in Sergio Leone's classic Per Qualche Dollaro in Piu. Craig Hill stars as Clive Norton, a bounty-hunter hired to track down the outlaw Johnny Gunn (Giovanni Cianfriglia, best known as "Ken Wood"), who has looted an army payroll. Norton saves Gunn's brother (Ettore Manni) from execution in exchange for his help, and later enlists a Mexican bandit (Francesco Santoveti) who double-crosses them and joins Gunn. The inevitable shootout follows, with predictable results. The film's most memorable performance comes from Cianfraglia, a former stunt double for Steve Reeves who later gained a cult following as star of the Super Argo series. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1967
A French Army Captain (Jean Marais) and his adjunct (Sydney Chaplin) are separated from their unit during the Napoleonic Wars in this comedy adventure. Both men are caught behind enemy lines and have amorous romps with the comely Carlotta (Marilu Tolo), who charms them in various stages of undress. Guy Bedos provides comedy relief as the frightened infantry regular. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Marais, Sydney Chaplin, (more)
- 1967
Aldo (Giulio Platone) is a henpecked husband who takes time off from his business ventures to enjoy a night in Rome in this comedy drama. He meets Debra (Sandra Milo) and brings her back to his apartment. After she has a conversation with a mystery man named Rossano, she kills herself. Aldo tries but fails to have his so-called friends help him get rid of the body before his wife finds out. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandra Milo, Enrico Maria Salerno, (more)
- 1967
In this gory sequel to the spaghetti western Stranger in Town, a mysterious stranger masquerades as a postal inspector and rides out to round up a ring of thieves who are racing across the West in a stage coach made of gold. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Anthony, Dan Vadis, (more)
- 1966
Not originally a "Ringo" entry, this exciting spaghetti western was redubbed to exploit the series' popular success. Mark Damon plays Ringo (Johnny in the original), a bounty-hunter who is hired to nab outlaw leader Franco Derosa, but ends up taking on Derosa's entire gang and demolishing half of Coldstone City with dynamite before the situation is resolved. Skillfully directed by Sergio Corbucci, this action-packed film features a stirring Carlo Savina soundtrack and numerous explosions, as well as an engaging performance by Damon, star of Roger Corman's The Fall of the House of Usher. Corbucci went on to direct the immensely popular Django. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
In 1951, French writer Jean Genet presented a screenplay called "Les Rêves Interdits/L'Autre Versant du Rêve" to actress Anouk Aimée as a wedding gift. He then proceeded to sell the rights three times without telling her. Eventually the script was reworked by Marguerite Duras and filmed by British director Tony Richardson as Mademoiselle, with Jeanne Moreau in the title role. In its final form, Mademoiselle tells the story of a repressed schoolteacher who visits a veritable plague of deliberate "accidents" on the people of her rural French village. She sets fires, poisons animals, and causes floods -- all in a fit of thwarted passion for an immigrant woodcutter. Though Marlon Brando was originally set to play the role of the Italian craftsman, the part went to Ettore Manni when the production schedule shifted. Umberto Orsini plays Antonio, the woodcutter's forlorn son, whom Mademoiselle maliciously humiliates out of perverse desire for his father. A notoriously difficult shoot, Mademoiselle was filmed consecutively with The Sailor From Gibraltar, another collaboration between Richardson, Moreau, and Duras. As for Genet, he despised the casting of Moreau; nevertheless, she would go on to star in Querelle, another adaptation of the author's work. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeanne Moreau, Ettore Manni, (more)
- 1965
In this horror movie, a brave Roman soldier and a slave girl must battle an insane man and his zombie army in order to bring back the treasure they stole. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Originally released in Great Britain as The Battle of the Villa Fiorita, this film is not a wartime epic but a cozy domestic drama. Maureen O'Hara plays an American woman who leaves British husband Richard Todd, taking their two children along. While vacationing on the Riviera, Maureen falls in love with Rosanno Brazzi, a widowed Italian concert pianist who also has children. None of the kids are keen on this continental romance, and do their best to break up the affair. One of the children is played by pre-teen Olivia Hussey, several years before her star turn in Zefferelli's Romeo and Juliet. Consistently lovely to look at, Affair at Villa Fiorita is not for those who prefer surprises in their film fare. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maureen O'Hara, Rossano Brazzi, (more)
