Mariangela Melato Movies

Also known as Nada, The Nada Gang is a lesser effort from director Claude Chabrol. A group of European terrorists calling themselves the Nada kidnaps an American ambassador. Their hideout is besieged by a sadistic police official and his minions. Thanks to the official's eagerness to pull the trigger, everyone winds up dead, including the ambassador. The Nada Gang was based on a novel by Jean-Patrick Manchette. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Mediterranean sea is the backdrop for this social drama from director Lina Wertmuller. While vacationing on a yacht, the wealthy capitalist Raffaella (Mariangela Melato) shouts out orders in between spouting off political opinions amongst her friends. She is especially confrontational to the deck hand and servant Gennarino (frequent Wertmuller leading man Giancarlo Giannini), by demanding that he appear more presentable. Gennarino grows increasingly frustrated by her demands and develops contempt for her independence. When it is nearing dark, Raffaella has Gennarino take her out in the dinghy for a swim. The two find themselves stranded after the motor seizes up and a current sends them drifting out to sea. Eventually finding land, they end up on an uninhabited island and their small boat deflates. Removed from the trappings of society, Gennarino and Rafaella engage in a passionate power struggle fueled by sexual tension and basic survival. Their desperation develops into a strange and cruel love affair that determines whether or not they want to be rescued. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

By the Blood of Others was directed by Marc Simenon, son of famed French crime novelist Georges Simenon. In emulation of his dad, the younger Simenon builds his suspense methodically, with very little wasted motion. The story involves the kidnapping of two young women by a mentally unbalanced man. The men in charge of the small village where both kidnapper and victims live desperately try to formulate a plan to end the crisis safely. The pastoral village settings provide a piquant contrast to the sordidness of the abduction. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lo Chiameremo Andrea is an Italian comedy by famed director Vittorio De Sica. It tells the story of Paolo (Nino Manfredi) and Maria (Mariangela Melato) two elementary schoolteachers whose "biological clock" is ticking. They have been married for some time, and desperately want a child of their own. So powerful is this desire that Maria suffers for a while from a hysterical pregnancy. The film focuses on their efforts to overcome sterility and the humor to be found in the affectionate lack of understanding each has for the other . ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Lina Wertmuller's fifth feature, The Seduction of Mimi, stars the director's favorite leading man, Giancarlo Giannini. Giannini plays the muddler of the title, who can't keep apace with the exigencies of a cruel, callous society (this character would be honed to perfection in Wertmuller's subsequent Seven Beauties); his political and sexual ignorance land him in hot water time and again. Wertmuller devotes much of the picture's running time to lengthy monologues and diatribes involving sex and politics; the film attained notoriety for its infamous sequence of Giannini bedding an obese woman. Wertmuller won a Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival for her work in this picture. Originally titled Mimi Mettalurgio Ferito nell'Onore, the film has also been released as Mimi the Metalworker and Wounded in Honor. It was remade (very loosely) by Richard Pryor as Which Way Is Up? (1977). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

If this Italian drama were any less well told, it would come off as a pure union propaganda piece. Instead, it is a worthy film for the director who made the acclaimed film Investigation Of A Citizen Above Suspicion. In any manufacturing situation, it simply doesn't pay to be the fastest and hardest working person on the assembly line. In the first place, you probably can't keep up the pace you've set. In the second place, you make all your co-workers a) look bad and b) have to work harder; they will not thank you for this. Appearances to the contrary, it's a really stupid thing to do. However, Lulu Massa (Gian Maria Volonte) doesn't understand this simple principle, and he enjoys the pay bonuses he gets from management -- until he has to leave work to recuperate from an accident in which he lost a finger. During that time, he visits a colleague who shows him not only the error of his own ways, but the horror of his whole working situation. When he goes back to work, Massa tries to organize a union. At first, he is just as unpopular with his co-workers as before, but he is persistent. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

A Georges Simenon novel was the basis for the French Le Chat. Not much happens in the way of plot, nor are many words of dialogue spoken; the character relationships (or lack of same) are the focal point here. Jean Gabin and Simone Signoret, long married, plainly despise one another. Rather than call it quits, Gabin and Signoret spend their days in a crumbling mansion, figuring out ways to make each other's lives a hell on earth. The only thing Gabin truly cares about is his pet cat--and you can bet Signoret will do something about that. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Payne stars as legendary pirate Barbarossa -- aka Redbeard -- in Raiders of the Seven Seas. Capturing a Spanish galleon almost single-handedly, Barbarossa claims haughty Contessa Alida (Donna Reed) as his own property. Engaged to marry naval officer Alfredo (Gerald Mohr), Alida despises Barbarossa, but she changes her mind when she finds out what a louse Alfredo can be. All loose plot strands are neatly tied up during the swashbuckling finale, wherein Barbarossa leads an attack on Havana. The supporting cast of Raiders of the Seven Seas is populated with such familiar faces as Lon Chaney Jr., Henry Brandon, and Frank DeKova. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide