Catherine Spaak Movies
The daughter of Belgian critic-screenwriter Charles Spaak, Catherine Spaak grew up around European showbiz folk. At fifteen, she made her film debut in Nightwatch (1960). So long as she remained on the continent, she was permitted a reasonably wide variety of roles, ranging from nuns to wartime resistance fighters. Once she came to Hollywood, however, Spaak was packaged and promoted as just another foreign starlet, interchangeable with Claudia Cardinale, Camilla Sparv, Elke Sommer and the rest of the batch. Catherine Spaak is the younger sister of actress Agnes Spaak (Dr. Orloff's Monster, Better a Widow etc.) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie GuideA betrayed wife decides to teach her philandering husband a lesson in this riotous farce. Marta (Catherine Spaak) discovers that husband Franco (Nino Manfredi) has been stepping out with her own best friend (Maria Grazia Buccella), and gets revenge by inventing an imaginary lover. Franco takes the bait, leading to improbable but hilarious complications. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Brancaleone (Vittorio Gassman) leads an inept group of Crusaders to the sea in this offbeat war comedy. The Crusaders hope to find a ship that will take them to the Holy Land to reclaim the area for Christianity. The situation allows for plenty of sight gags and ribald humor. Catherine Spaak co-stars with Gassmann in this amusing effort from director Mario Monicelli. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio Gassman, Catherine Spaak, (more)
Horst Bucholz plays Dino, a painter who realizes he has no artistic vision and decides to move back into his wealthy mother's (Betty Davis) home. Just before he does this, however, he falls in love with beautiful and self-serving Cecilia (Catherine Spaak). Though Dino diligently attempts to convince her to marry him, she refuses, but offers to be his lover until someone better strikes her fancy. When that becomes an actuality, Dino does not fare well under the emotional trauma and has a nervous breakdown. With the help of his mother, Dino recovers to find he may not be completely devoid of talent after all. Based on La Noia, an Italian novel by Alberto Moravia. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Davis, Horst Buchholz, (more)
In this WW II drama set during a weekend in June of 1940, German invaders force British troops to flee Dunkirk. The French soldiers stationed on a nearby beach also want to withdraw so they too can battle the Germans, but they have been ordered to stay in place and the British are to use the boats first. Though it is a bloody conflict and many innocent residents are killed, one young woman, Jeanne (Catherine Spaak) refuses to evacuate her home. She becomes friends with one of the French soldiers, Julien (Jean-Paul Belmondo) who later saves her from being raped. The situation on the beach grows increasingly tense as the waiting soldiers are easy targets for German warplanes. Julien tries to persuade Jeanne to leave this dangerous place. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Catherine Spaak, (more)
This uneven remake of the 1950 Max Ophuls feature from the play by Arthur Schnitzler takes place in Paris just before World War I instead of Vienna at the turn of the 20th century. A soldier (Claude Giraud) sleeps with a prostitute (Marie Dubois) before he seduces Rose (Anna Karina), and a willing but married Sophie (Jane Fonda). A night of drinking finds the soldier back with the prostitute again in this feature directed by Roger Vadim. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Claude Brialy, Jane Fonda, (more)
Catherine Spaak (Il Sorpasso/The Easy Life, Le Treu/The Night Watch) stars as a young woman who is convinced to vacation on a tropical island with a couple of young and eager men (Jacques Perrin and Fabrizio Capuci). While she enjoys her time in paradise, they each attempt to win her affection. Unable to decide between them, she eventually chooses an older fellow (Gabrele Ferzetti. Tragedy soon follows, prompting the young woman to go off on her own. Spaak sings Non e M'eute during titles as the talented and prolific Carlo Rustichelli provides the film's score. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Spaak, Gabriele Ferzetti, (more)
Three different takes on love are presented in this episodic Italian film. The first story begins as a prostitute is involved in an auto wreck and ends up in a body cast. While recuperating, she attempts to seduce a young priest preparing to take his final vows. He does not succumb and instead tries to save her. By the story's end, she has become a nun, and he has left the clergy. The second tale follows a widow as she takes her husband's corpse back to Sicily. En route she makes a few new friends who turn out to be those who killed her husband, who unbeknownst to her was a notorious mafioso. In the last story, a young woman marries a troubled middle-aged man. To help him, she suggests he take a lover. She then finds out he has had one for a long time. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Spaak
Catherine Spaak was only eighteen, yet already known, when she co-starred in this comedy-drama with Nino Manfredi. She plays naive young woman Dora, who heads for the big city and a lot of growing up. Her exploits are mainly centered on the men she meets as she flits from one to the next without a great deal of worry or regret. She does have one on-again, off-again steady relationship with Nino (Manfredi) and spends some time with a middle-aged couple, Scipio and Amneris. All told, her relationships and experiences, especially her last romantic encounter which is not at all the best, contribute to her coming-of-age.
~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Spaak, Nino Manfredi, (more)
Italian nuns raise a quiet ruckus to stop a major airline from flying over their village in this gentle comedy. They are upset because the noise from the jets creates a vibration that is threatening to crumble a much-revered ancient fresco. It also interferes with the quiet of their cloistered lives and so the Mother superior and two of her underlings journey to Rome to have a chat with the owner of the airline. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Spaak, Sylva Koscina, (more)
Crazy Desire (La Voglia Matta) stars Ugo Tognazzi as a middle-aged Italian businessman on a cross country motor trip. He comes across a group of rambunctious teenagers, including sexy Catherine Spaak. Infatuated by the girl, Tognazzi allows Spaak to deplete his pocketbook to pay for a wild seaside spree for herself and her friends. When challenged to a fight by the leader of the kids, Tognazzi, much to his own surprise, wins, and is hailed as "one of the gang." But when he wakes up on the beach the next morning, he's all alone. Alternately wacky and wistful, Crazy Desire was the film that secured the international reputation of Italian director Luciano Salce. From the opening sequence during a amateurish outdoor production of Julius Caesar to the closing seascape shot of the solitary and bemused Ugo Tognazzi, there's hardly a false move in the picture. Crazy Desire was based on Enrico Siella's short story A Girl Named Francesca. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ugo Tognazzi, Catherine Spaak, (more)
Romance, sex, and marriage are the themes of this episodic Italian comedy. The first of the four vignettes, "The Women" tells the story of a bored adulterer who feels ignored by his gaggle of mistresses and decides to obsess upon seducing an old conquest one more time. He later inadvertently deflowers a virgin. In "The Serpent" an ignored wife endeavors to get her husband to pay attention to her while they are on a Sicilian holiday by faking an encounter with a poisonous snake. She later pretends that two helpful truck drivers, who picked her up after a breakdown, raped her causing their arrest. Later the husband arrives, explains his wife's behavior and promises to be more mindful of her. In "The Soldier" a soldier attempts to seduce a lovely widow during a train ride. She ignores him until all the other passengers leave then in utter silence makes passionate love. Later when the train reaches its destination, the soldier tries to follow her, but her relatives stop him. She gets into a car and disappears down the road. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudia Mori, Catherine Spaak, (more)
Regarded by many as Dino Risi's finest film, The Easy Life (Il Sorpasso) casts Vittorio Gassman as Bruno, a jaded, aging roue, who introduces young Roberto Mariani Jean-Louis Trintignant to his hedonistic lifestyle.. Previously a man with a purpose in life, Roberto soon becomes as wanton and wastrelly as Bruno. The older man is proud of his handiwork--until tragedy strikes. Risi sagaciously sets his moral fable against the beauties of the Riviera; we may not approve of Bruno's lifestyle, but we certainly understand why it appeals to him. Among the screenwriters of The Easy Life was Ettora Scola, a frequent Dino Risi and Vittorio de Sica collaborator and an excellent director in his own right. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio Gassman, Jean-Louis Trintignant, (more)
Nicole Molino (Catherine Spaak) and Nicola Molino (Gianni Garko) are not related to one another. In fact, they don't even know each other until both are inadvertently assigned the same hotel room on the island of Ischia. Nicole isn't interested in any hanky-panky, so Nicola promises to keep his hands to himself. Though this is an Italian picture, the storyline adheres strictly to tried-and-true Hollywood formula, and Nicole and Nicola fall in love. 18 in the Sun was released in the US under the infantile title Beach Party Italian Style; its original Italian title was Diciottenni al Sole. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Skimming the surface of characterization, this romance-tragedy by François Villiers is based on a novel by Jean-Jacques Gautier and concerns the relationship between Laurent (Jean-Claude Brialy), a painter, and Renée (Michele Morgan) and her daughter Daniele (Catherine Spaak). Just when Renée and Laurent are ready to make their love affair official, Renée's daughter shows up and there are immediate sparks of attraction that fly between her and the painter. Sure enough, the fickle artist drops the mom and marries the daughter -- and then they make the mistake of moving in with Renée. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michèle Morgan, Jean-Claude Brialy, (more)
Marc Michel plays an imprisoned man awaiting trial for the attempted murder of his wife. He is transferred to another cell, where his fellow prisoners are planning a jailbreak. He decides to go along with the elaborate plan, and the cellmates attempt to tunnel their way to freedom. Le Trou represents the last film of director Jacques Becker, who died shortly after its completion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Constantin, Jean Keraudy, (more)
- Starring:
- Catherine Spaak, Christian Marquand, (more)
















