Umberto Raho Movies

In 1978, Italian politics were thrown into turmoil when the Christian Democratic president Aldo Moro was executed. This gripping political drama is based on American journalist Robert Katz's non-fiction book Days of Wrath and documents the convoluted chain of events that lead to Moro's death. Moro was the first politico to bring his country's political factions together in 40 years. His ordeal begins shortly after he is elected. He is en route to church with his five body guards when they are ambushed by radical communist terrorists, the Red Brigade. They quickly execute the body guards and spirit Moro to a hidden "people's prison' where he is interrogated. Neither Moro's Christian Democrats nor the newly reinstated Communists will deal or in any way acknowledge the Red Brigade. They do however engage in a massive search for the missing Moro. But the search is poorly organized and ineffectual. Meanwhile Moro is allowed to send letters to the government. He suggests that the Vatican be called in to negotiate a prisoner exchange with the terrorists, but the Vatican refuses. Instead, they make a formal plea for Moro's unconditional freedom. The government does little or nothing to help the president and Moro realizes that the organization he helped create has abandoned him. In desperation, he becomes sharply critical of the government that continues to stall while the Red Brigade becomes increasingly frustrated and impatient. Eventually they decide to kill Moro and later stuff his body in a red Renault which they parked between the Christian Democrat and the Communist headquarters. The Moro Affair or Il Caso Moro as it was known in Italy, was extremely popular in it's native country, but it also sparked considerable controversy for as the case unfolds, nagging doubts and holes arise that infer that perhaps the government had more of a hand in the assassination than the Red Brigade. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This Anglo-Italian production was first seen as a five-part, five-hour miniseries on Britain's ATV in 1980. In Italy to pay a visit to her blind sister, British musician Barbara (Prunella Ransome) was told that her sibling had disappeared -- and may well have been murdered by a serial killer who specialized in knocking off sightless women. In despair, Barbara formed a friendship with fellow Briton David Malcolm (Jeremy Brett), who had exiled himself on a small off-coast island after his wife and son were killed in a diving accident. While pretending to be blind in hopes of trapping her sister's "killer," Barbara discovered that David's son was not dead after all, and might very well be the man she was looking for. But was her sister really dead -- and what did David know that he wasn't telling? After airing on British TV, Seagull Island was reedited and shown theatrically in Italy under the title L'Isola del Gabbiano. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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 introverted American professor (Burt Lancaster) has retired to an Italian house, but finds his life interrupted when a decadent family moves upstairs. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

A serial killer is murdering beautiful models in this Italian slasher film. It turns out that he is using the poisoned claws of a black cat to do it. A blind composer whose girlfriend was one of the victims sets out to stop him. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide

This above-average horror film concerns a young couple (Antonio Cantafora, Elke Sommer) who manage to revive a cruel sorceror-Baron (Joseph Cotten) from the 1500s. Posing as a cripple, the Baron assimilates back into society and buys back his old castle, where he begins torturing and murdering innocent locals in his dungeon. Veteran filmmaker Mario Bava's direction is assured, and Euro-horror buffs will enjoy the cast, which includes Massimo Girotti ("Terence Hill" of spaghetti western fame), Luciano Pigozzi, Umberto Raho, and young Nicoletta Elmi (Profondo Rosso). ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a 17-year-old girl is put under psychiatric care after she tries to commit suicide. Her therapist soon discovers that the poor girl, suffered from parental neglect. They favored her younger sister. Time passes and the treatment continues. The patient is finally cured. It is based on a real case history. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This trend-setting thriller put its director, Dario Argento, on the international map and began a flood of imitative mystery-horror hybrids which dominated Italian genre output in the early 1970s. Tony Musante, best known for the television series Toma, portrays an American who witnesses the murder of a woman at a trendy Rome art gallery. Before long, Musante finds himself targeted by a mysterious killer. Based on a story by Byron Edgar Wallace, Bird and hints at the flamboyance which would become Argento's trademark. This and Argento's subsequent two films Il Gatto a Nove Code and Quattro Mosche di Velluto Grigio were much less horror-oriented than his later work. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Anna (Ghistlaine D'Orsay) is a teenage girl beset with mental problems. Her parents have shuffled her in-and-out of various institutions with little improvement on her condition. Blanche (Margarita Lozano) is the dedicated Swiss psychiatrist who successfully delves into Anna's past and accurately identifies her malady as schizophrenia. Flashbacks reveal her childhood experiences which become clues to the nature of her illness. Anna's parent's are portrayed as wealthy and too busy to really concern themselves with their daughter's problems. The story is taken from the Andree Sechehaye diary concerning her own battles with the illness. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Jason Fister (Dustin Hoffman) is the Internal Revenue Service agent sent to Rome to investigate the hidden money of the late gangster Mike Madigan (Cesar Romero). Jason meets Vick Shaw ( Elsa Martinelli) and he mistakenly takes her to be the dead mobster's mistress when in fact she is his daughter. Soon underworld thugs converge on the couple in an attempt to steal the stolen loot. This film was completed in 1967 and was subsequently shelved. It was released in the wake of Hoffman's popularity from his roles in The Graduate and Midnight Cowboy. This inept and contrived comedy is Hoffman's first feature film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a CIA agent must race against time to find a purloined nuclear bomb, "Bloody Mary", which had been taken by a ring of foreign spies. He soon finds himself aboard an Athens-bound freighter where he encounters Russian and Chinese agents. Will he find the weapon in time? ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Writer/director Paul Czinner, who in 1936 adapted Shakespeare's As You Like It to the screen, was the guiding force behind the 1966 feature Romeo and Juliet. Unlike Czinner's earlier Shakespeare film, however, not a word of the Bard's text is spoken in the 1966 production. Rather, this is a filmed record of a performance of Prokofiev's ballet version of Romeo and Juliet, as originally presented at the Royal Opera House. The stars are the matchless Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, who brilliantly overcome the disappointingly bland choreography of Kenneth McMillan. For the benefit of non-ballet aficionados, each of the production's three acts is introduced by a spoken synopsis. Others in the corps de ballet include David Blair as Mercutio, Desmond Doyle as Tybalt, Gerd Larsen as Nurse and Ronald Hynd as Friar Lawrence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this campy Italian sci-fi adventure wicked aliens from outer space abduct and miniaturize Earth's leaders to make it easier to destroy the planet until a courageous hero appears to fight against him and his legion of skintight leather-clad robot women. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide