Luigi Tosi Movies

Very loosely based on its Biblical source, this standard Italian sword-and-sandal action film stars Orson Welles as an intense, inward-turning King Saul, deteriorating at the same time that David is rising in renown. The shepherd David (Ivo Payer) is sent to the Israelite forces with supplies for his older brothers when he first discovers who Goliath is -- the giant over nine feet tall that challenges any single warrior to meet him one-on-one in battle. If someone takes up his challenge, it would decide whether the Israelites or Philistines are victorious in their current stand-off. David's one-shot victory turns the tide and hastens Saul's decline. The monarch's lithesome daughters Merab and Michal are played by Eleonora Rossi-Drago and Giulia Rubini, his son Jonathan is portrayed by Pierre Cressoy, and Goliath by Kronos, a muscular "giant" of European circus and music hall circuits. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this high-seas adventure set in the 15th century, a dashing hero is released from prison and assigned to save the governor of Rhodes' kidnapped daughter from a wicked pirate. Instead, the parolee joins the pirates, but when they catch him staring at the girl, they beat him senseless and leave him to die. They then leave to sell the girl to a white slaver. Fortunately, the hero remembers right from wrong, enlists the aid of local fishermen, and saves the girl. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

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

Black Devils of Kali is the alternate English-language title for the German Mystery of the Black Jungle. Lex Barker plays the head of expeditionary forces, forging into the wilds of India. Far from civilization, Barker and company come across an idol-worshipping tribe. The object of idolatry is Kali, who, if you remember the 1939 film Gunga Din, is the god of Death. Black Devils of Kali was based on a novel by Emilio Salgari; the director was Ralph Murphy, who in happier times was a fixture on the Paramount Pictures lot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Beautiful Hedy Lamarr finds herself faced with a difficult decision when she must choose an appropriate costume for an important masquerade ball in this metaphorical fantasy that unfolds in three parts. To help her decide, she asks a trio of male friends. Their disparate suggestions that she go as either Helen of Troy, the Empress Josephine or Genieve de Brabant, and the reasons behind their choices provide the bulk of the film. Originally, the film was three hours long and purported to present the essence of being a woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Henry Vidon stars as Pope Pius X in the Italian Secret Conclave. The film traces the Pope's early life as a village priest, then follows him directly to the Vatican. The Papal installation, seldom seen before on film, is recreated on location at the Sistine Chapel, with several genuine cardinals in attendance. Dramatic conflict occurs when the Pope-to-be nearly refuses the honor, feeling himself unworthy. Also adding bite to the proceedings are the WW I scenes, detailing Pius X's efforts to put an end to the carnage. Secret Conclave ends with Pius X's death during Mass, a scene handled as tastefully as the rest of the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The English-language title of this wacky comedy is It Was Him...Yes! Yes! "Him" Walter Milani, is played by Walter Chiari, a singular comic actor who was touted by American critics as a "new" star, even though he'd been successfully plugging away in European films since 1947. Chiari plays a meek-and-mild clerk in a department store who discovers that his boss (Carlo Campanini) is mortally afraid of him. It seems that the boss is plagued by nightmares, in which Malani appears as a "villain" who doles out ridicule and humiliation. With the help of a psychiatrist, the boss comes to grips with his inner fears, while the hapless Milani reacts in confusion as all sorts of favors and kindnesses are heaped upon him. The dream sequences are cleverly rendered send-ups of every Freudian symbol in the book. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In their very last feature film, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy travel to London so that Stan can claim his uncle's inheritance. All of the cash has been eaten up by taxes, but at least Stan is able to claim a tax-free island and yacht that his uncle has left him. Boarding the yacht (actually a run-down tub) in Marseilles, Stan and Ollie set sail for their island in the company of stateless refugee Max Elloy, who signs on as a cook, and Italian bricklayer Adriano Rimoldi, a stowaway. The little party is nearly torn to bits by a storm at sea, but the yacht runs safely aground on a newly formed atoll. Its population is increased to five when nightclub singer Suzy Delair, fleeing her domineering naval-officer fiancé Luigi Tosi, takes refuge with the other castaways. Laurel & Hardy and their friends live an idyllic, Robinson Crusoe-like existence until Delair's fiancé shows up. He announces he hasn't come to claim her, but to investigate reports that the atoll is rich with uranium. Indeed it is, and soon every nation in the world is clamoring to claim the island's radioactive deposits. Laurel and Hardy take quick action, declaring sovereignty over "Crusoeland." They then devise an anarchic government over which Ollie presides. Stan is relegated to the position of "The People." Comical chaos reigns when their "no laws, no taxes" policies attract the attention of various unsavory types, including rabble-rouser Michael Dalmatoff. Filmed over a period of 12 months, this expensive Franco-Italian co-production suffers from a too-complex plot, lazy direction, poor voice-over dubbing of the largely European supporting cast, and especially the horrible physical condition of Laurel, who was suffering from several life-threatening illnesses during filming. Fortunately, he regained his health after the production wrapped, as proven by his hale-and-hearty appearance on a 1954 installment of TV's This Is Your Life. Though some disciples of Laurel and Hardy will have a great deal of difficulty sitting through Atoll K, it does contain a few isolated moments of pantomimic brilliance and first-rate sight gags. Originally running 98 minutes, Atoll K was judiciously pruned down to 82 minutes for its English-language release. In Great Britain, the film was titled Robinson Crusoeland, while it was released as Utopia in America. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The principal selling angle for The Earth Cries Out was its timeliness. The film is one of the first to record the migration of European Jews to Israel following the 1948 pullout of the British. After exhausting its cache of stock footage, the film settles into banality by concentrating on the exploits of three different people: A terrorist, A British officer, and a colonizer. Though well photographed (and, in the English version, well dubbed), The Earth Cries Out pales in comparison to such Hollywood Israeli-based films as Sword in the Desert (49), The Juggler (52) and Exodus. The film was initially released in Italy as Il Grido Della Terra. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide