Yvonne Sanson Movies

The conformist is 1930s Italian Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant), a coward who has spent his life accommodating others so that he can "belong." Marcello agrees to kill a political refugee, on orders from the Fascist government, even though the victim-to-be is his college mentor. The film is a character study of the kind of person who willingly "conforms" to the ideological fashions of his day. In this case, director Bernardo Bertolucci suggests that Marcello's desire to conform is rooted in his latent homosexuality. In addition to its strong storyline, the film is critically revered for the astonishing production design by Nedo Azzini, which, together with Vittorio Storaro's camerawork, recreates the atmosphere of Fascist Italy with some of the most complex visual compositions ever seen on film, filled with highly stylized uses of angles, shapes, and shadows. The Conformist was cut by five crucial minutes when first released in the US; those missing moments were restored in the 1994 reissue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Vittorio De Sica delivers a full-blown comic performance as Cesare Celli, an American gangster exiled to Italy and kidnapped by a collection of inept crooks. These incompetents are headed by Harry Price (Robert Wagner), who demands a ransom from Cesare's friends for his safe return. When none of Cesare's friends send money to rescue Cesare from the kidnappers, Cesare is outraged and concocts a scheme for a five-million-dollar platinum robbery as a way to pay Harry's gang back for their efforts and to get his revenge on a world that has ignored him. Cesare trains his collection of nincompoops for the robbery and imports the famed Professor Samuels (Edward G. Robinson) to plan the heist. After a series of problems raising the money for the robbery and obligatory bumblings by the gang, Cesare and his men are ready to proceed with the heist. But then, right before the robbery, Harry and his girlfriend, Juliana (Raquel Welch), decide to betray Cesare and abscond with the platinum themselves. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this Greek drama, a bank clerk robs his employer so he can impress his girl. Inevitably, the fellow ends up in jail after the money runs out. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The roguish smile of Cornel Wilde and the impressive cleavage of Jean Wallace (Mrs. Cornel Wilde) are the principal attractions of the costume swashbuckler Star of India. Wilde plays a 17th-century French nobleman who embarks upon a search for a valuable emerald which has been stolen from a Dutch collection. Dogging the nobleman's trail is a Dutch spy (Jean Wallace) posing as a French aristocrat. Both hero and heroine are bedeviled by an epicene villain (Herbert Lom), who stole the gem in the first place but who enjoys the protection of King Louis XIV (Basil Sydney). Not unexpectedly, Star of India wraps things up with an outsized sword duel between the stalwart Wilde and the smirking Lom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A rich man's attempts to steal away a poor man's wife set the stage for this comic farce, set in Naples in 1860. Luca is a simple but honest man married who runs a mill and his married to Carmela (Sophia Loren), a strikingly beautiful woman. Carmela's face and figure attracts the eye of the Governor (Vittorio De Sica), a Spanish nobleman who has been appointed ruler of Naples. Determined to have Carmela as his own, the Governor has Luca arrested on false charges, and sets out to seduce her while her husband is behind bars. When Carmella resists, the Governor plays his trump card -- he is willing to free Luca, but only under the condition that she sleeps with him first. Carmella is appalled, but dreams up a way to use the situation to her advantage; she slips the Governor a mickey, and after he's asleep, she makes haste to the prison, carrying the Governor's pardon of her husband. However, Carmella arrives to discover a surprise -- Luca has already escaped from the jail. When Luca makes his way home, he discovers the Governor, still fast asleep, and is convinced he's already seduced Carmella; enraged, he sets off to the Governor's mansion, determined to get revenge with the Spaniard's wife. Bella Mugnaia was based on a novel previously filmed as Il Cappello a tre punte in 1934. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Of the dozens of film versions of Dumas' The Three Musketeers, this 1953 film version is one of the few to remain faithful to the source. As always, the story begins when farm boy D'Artagnan (Georges Marschal) rides into Paris, intending to become a King's Musketeer. En route, he manages to offend Porthos (Gino Cervi), Athos (Jean Martinelli) and Aramis (Jacques Francois), challenging all three to a duel at the same time. The foursome eventually becomes fast friends, uniting against such common enemies as Cardinal Richelieu (Renaud Mary) and Milady DeWinter (Yvonne Sanson). The plot then segues into the efforts of the Musketeers to save the honor of Queen Anne. The film is stolen by Bourvil as D'Artagnan's slovenly lackey Placher. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tormento is right. Anna Ferrari (Yvonne Sanson) is thrown out of her home by her nasty stepmother. She moves in with boyfriend Carlo Guarnieri (Amedeo Nazzari), intending to marry him. While awaiting the birth of their child, Carlo is arrested for a crime he didn't commit. A long prison sentence threatens the legitimacy of Anna's child. Will this dilemma be solved in time, or will Anna be forever stigmatized? An expertly assembled "soap opera," Tormento arrived in the U.S. with surprisingly few censorial excisions; the TV prints, however, are considerably shorter than the theatrical version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Originally titled Nous Sommes Tout des Assassins, We Are All Murderers was directed by Andre Cayette, a former lawyer who detested France's execution system. Charles Spaak's screenplay makes no attempt to launder the four principal characters (Marcel Mouloudji, Raymond Pellegrin, Antoinine Balpetre, Julien Verdeir): never mind the motivations, these are all hardened murderers. Still, the film condemns the sadistic ritual through which these four men are brought to the guillotine. In France, the policy is to never tell the condemned man when the execution will occur--and then to show up without warning and drag the victim kicking and screaming to his doom, without any opportunity to make peace with himself or his Maker. By the end of this harrowing film, the audience feels as dehumanized as the four "protagonists." We are All Murderers was roundly roasted by the French law enforcement establishment, but it won a special jury prize at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed in 1947, Alberto Lattuada's Flesh Will Surrender was released in the U.S. three years later. The film was adapted from a Gabriele d'Annunzio novel by three of Italy's top postwar scenarists: Suso Cecchi, Federico Fellini and Pietro Tellini. Aldo Fabrizi stars as Giovanni Episcopo, a mild-mannered clerk who makes several fatal mistakes. The first is to associate himself with a notorious forger (Ronaldo Lupi); the second is to marry the forger's ex-mistress (Yvonne Sanson). Disgraced, financially ruined and ostracized, Giovanni's only solace is the love of his faithful son (played by Fabrizi's real-life son Amedeo). The hero's tragedy is not that he's a bad man, but that he's too good for his own good. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Italian film comedian Toto was usually better than his material. L'Imperator di Capri is one of a handful of films that is truly worthy of Toto's farcical skills. The plot is a familiar one for the star, involving mistaken identity, close shaves, and a dalliance with a beautiful woman. Forced to pose as a visiting Indian prince, Toto does his best to carry off the deception while visiting the island of Capri. This time, he must contend with the amorous advances of two well-proportioned ladies, played by Yvonne Sanson and Marisa Merlini. Writer/director Luigi Comencini manages to extract the best of Toto and his idyllic surroundings in this frantically funny film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Before turning to horror pictures, Italian filmmaker Riccardo Freda directed some of the finest costume epics of the postwar era. Filmed in 1946 as Aquila Nera, Freda's Return of the Black Eagle made it to American screens in 1949. Based on a story by Alexander Pushkin, the film concerns the exploits of a Russian soldier who wreaks vengeance against an evil landowner by assuming the guise of a masked bandit. Rossano Brazzi stars as Vladimir Dubrowski, aka the Black Eagle, while Irasema Dilian is his beloved Masha, daughter of his bitter enemy Kirila (Gino Cervi, cast in an uncharacteristically unsympathetic role). The swashbuckling and derring-do is leavened by a few welcome moments of humor, especially when Brazzi disguises himself as a wimpy French tutor. Return of the Black Eagle could have benefited from Technicolor, though the black-and-white photography of Rodolfo Lombardi is fine in its own way. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide