Elli Parvo Movies
- 1958
British sex symbol Belinda Lee stars in the overheated Italian costume melodrama La Venere di Cheronea (The Venus of Cheronea). Lee is cast as Afrodite, the girl who allegedly inspired the greatest works of famed Greek sculptor Praxiletes (Massimo Girotti). According to the screenplay, Afrodite was also the romantic bone of contention between Praxiletes and fugitive warrior Claudio (Jacques Sernas). Naturally, the plotline requires the curvaceous Lee to disrobe at the slightest provocation, and just as naturally, the censors had a hissy-fit every time she bared her knee or shoulder. The principal attribute of La Venere di Cheronea is the excellent color cinematography of Arturo Galles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Belinda Lee, Massimo Girotti, (more)
The grim, drab life of a man who labors in a Po Valley sugar refinery in northern Italy provides the center of this black-and-white drama from Michelangelo Antonioni. The worker lives with a married woman and their young daughter. One day, the woman learns that her legal spouse died. The refinery worker immediately proposes, but she spurns him in favor of another. Deeply depressed, the laborer begins to drift aimlessly across the northern wasteland with his daughter in tow. Along the way, he meets many people, including a woman from his past. Despite his many low-key adventures, he is unable to forget his daughter's mother and so returns to find that she lives in a new home with a new child. The story comes to its climax during a demonstration protesting the building of a U.S. airfield where the refinery stands. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Cochran, Alida Valli, (more)
- 1955
Sicilian Sasa Scimoni (Alberto Sordi) learns L'Arte di Arranglarsi, or "The Art of Getting Along", in this perceptive Italian comedy. Over a period of several decades, Scimoni must adapt to the various power structures in Italy. Whether it be the monarchy, the socialists, the fascists or the Church, Scimoni manages not only to acclimate himself to the prevailing winds, but also turn a neat financial profit in the bargain. Only by trying to second-guess himself does Our Hero come acropper. L'Arte di Arranglarsi was the last of three collaborations between director Luigi Zampa and screenwriter Vitaliano Brancati, each one casting a satiric eye on middle-class Italian life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alberto Sordi, Armenia Balducci, (more)
- 1950
Dishonored is set in Rome in 1870, not long before the national revolution spearheaded by Italian patriot Garibaldi. The story concentrates on a pair of revolutionists, one of whom turns out to be a Judas-like spy. Banking on his friendships within the movement, the villain lies, cheats and kills with impunity, only to be brought down by the person who formerly regarded him as his best friend. Dishonored takes a bit too long to get started, but once the plot wheels have been set in motion, events move along at a feverish pace. Antonio Vilar and Otello Tisaro play the leading roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Antonio Vilar, Elli Parvo, (more)
- 1950
Two masters of Italian neorealism--screenwriter Cesare Zavattini and director Luigi Zampa--collaborated on It is Easier for a Camel. As indicated by the film's title, a measure of religiosity figures into the proceedings. Recently deceased Carlo Bacchi (Jean Gabin), on the verge of being sent to Hell, is given 12 extra hours' life to redeem himself. Returning to earth, Bacchi tries to buy his way into the good graces of God. This, of course, has no effect on his ultimate fate--but an extreme act of self-sacrifice does. The film works best when it sticks to the story at hand, instead of going off on satirical tangents aimed at hypocrisy and conspicuous consumption. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin, Elena Altieri, (more)
- 1949
Originally Il Sole Sorge Ancora, Outcry is a neorealist tribute to the Italian resistance fighters of World War II. The scene is the tiny village of Lombardy, just outside Milan. The villagers have suffered four years of humiliation and exploitation at the hands of the fascists. But when a priest and a communist hostage are executed by pro-Nazi troops, the townsfolk join the resistance in revolting against their oppressors. Woven throughout this basic storyline are the exploits of Army deserter Vittorio Duse, who juggles with the affections of the daughter (Lea Padovani) of the partisan leader and a woman of wealth (Elli Parvo). Some observers have suggested that Outcry director Aldo Vergano might have become the pre-eminent Italian neorealist director had his career not been curtailed by a prison term; others have noted that Vergano's films, while spirited and sincere, pale in comparison to the more famous efforts of DeSica and Rosselini. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lea Padovani, Elli Parvo, (more)
- 1948
This Italian version of Dostoyevsky's Brothers Karamazov understandably suffers in comparison with the lavish internationally produced 1958 remake. Still, the earlier film has much to offer, especially in terms of acting and directing. Reasonably faithful to the original, the film recounts the doleful story of a domineering Russian landowner and the effect his death has on his four sons. Singled out for critical praise was Giulio Donnini as the epileptic Smerdiakov. I Fratelli Karamazov successfully manages to pack most of the novel into 116 minutes, while the more celebrated remake was half an hour longer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fosco Giachetti, Elli Parvo, (more)
- 1947
The King's Jester is a non-musical Italian film version of the tragic opera Rigoletto. While we hear no vocal renditions of "Caro Nome" and "La Donna e Mobile", those songs, along with the rest of Verdi's score, can be heard as incidental music. French character actor Michel Simon stars as the hunchbacked jester Rigoletto, whose thirst for revenge motivates the story. When Rigoletto's daughter Gilda (Maria Mecarder) is seduced by the Count, the jester plots to set up the nobleman to be killed--but it is the long-suffering Gilda who ends up the victim of Rigoletto's machinations. Exceptionally well photographed by Ubaldo Arata, The King's Jester was a success in both Italy and the US, where it was sometimes run under its original title Rigoletto. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Simon, Rossano Brazzi, (more)
- 1946
Director Roberto Rossellini started this tragic drama in 1943, but was forced to abandon the project as wartime conditions in Italy became more desperate. He subsequently moved on to other efforts, and the film was completed in 1945 by director Marcello Pagliero; after some censorship interference, it was released the following year. Desiderio depicts Paola Previtali Elli Parvo), a young call girl, who sickens of her life in Milan after a friend of hers commits suicide. Feeling unworthy of her boyfriend Giovanni (Carlo Ninchi), she returns to her native village in the Abruzzi mountains. But there her father turns his back on her and she is blackmailed for sex by a former lover. When her brother-in-law Nando (Massimo Girotti) starts making advances on her, her sister Anna (Roswitha Schmidt) tells her to leave town. In despair, Paola takes her life by jumping off a bridge. 46/79 ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elli Parvo, Carlo Ninchi, (more)
- 1946
No "story by" credit is bestowed in the 1942 French filmization of Carmen, though its debt to novelist Prosper Merimee and composer George Bizet is more than implicit. Filmed in Spain by a largely French cast and crew, Carmen stars Gallic heartthrob Vivien Romance in the title role, and the equally attractive Jean Marais as Don Jose. Director Christian-Jaque was quite outspoken in his admiration of the western films of John Ford, so it's no surprise that Carmen is staged like a western, with plenty of deep-focus landscape shots of smugglers and soldiers galloping across the horizon. Even the basic story, of Don Jose's dissolution at the hands of the seductive Carmen, lends itself to the western approach, if one thinks of the hero as a federal marshal gone bad through the influence of a clever saloon gal. Carmen received very little play when released in America in 1946, due in part to the 1947 Columbia Technicolor adaptation The Loves of Carmen, which starred Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Viviane Romance, Elli Parvo, (more)
