Alida Valli Movies

The seemingly endless chain of assassinations of judges who seek to end (or at least curtail) the pervasiveness of organized crime and deep corruption in Italian political life, is the topic of this political thriller. As the film opens, Carla (Carla Gravina) is the gynecologist wife of a judge (Jacques Perrin) who is determined to prosecute the country's gang lords with the help of an informant. His life is constantly under threat. Despite the pervasive presence of police bodyguards, the inevitable happens, and he and his informant are killed. Carla, infused with his mission and angry at his death, takes the notes he had hidden and contacts the widow of the informer. With that material, she produces a television documentary featuring the widows of assassinated judges. Of course, this puts her and many others in danger also. Despite this, it begins to appear that she has roused the women of the country to action. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this lifeless black comedy, Hermoine (Jacqueline Maillan) and Catarina (Alida Valli) are shocked to learn their late husband Alexandre (Jean-Pierre Aumont) was a bigamist. They combine forces to search for the hidden loot in a rambling French mansion and fend off a school of slimy, money-hungry lawyers. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

A lesbian love triangle leads to heartache in this erotic emotional drama. Bacha (Alida Valli) is a concentration-camp survivor and human rights advocate who is jealous when her lover Manuela (Marie-Christina Barrault) becomes involved with Bacha's protégé Claude (Guillemette Grobon). ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

On her trip home, Cecilia (Clio Goldsmith), a wealthy and sophisticated woman, pulls over along the highway to vent her misery at the pending death of her father. A man (Vittorio Mezzogiorno) stops his car and comes up to see if he can be of assistance. She is so overcome at his kindness that they end up in each other's arms, overcome by passion. After she returns home, the man has not forgotten her and suddenly appears at her house -- a fugitive, armed with a gun, and running from the authorities (whether he is a right-wing or left-wing terrorist is never clear, though he is probably some kind of terrorist). Cecilia decides to leave with him, and they stay together until reaching a town where she comes across her husband. This jolt causes Cecilia to re-examine her escapade, and to take control of her life again. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

A Yugoslavian man meets a woman in Paris, where he has come to do some research, and their mutual attraction leads to a liaison and shared adventures, not many good. They are both survivors from Nazi concentration camps which automatically gives them a kindred understanding. Their past comes back to haunt them though as they run into an ex-German soldier who shows them a skull from a person that had been tortured - an act that infuriates them so much that they knock down the German and steal the skull to finally put it in the French memorial for deportees. As they travel around the streets of Paris, they are constantly reminded of the previous Nazi presence, or run into Nazi-like behavior. There is a reprieve from Paris, however, as they separately go to Normandy where her family lives. Once together there, they go for a walk and come across some inane adults playing war games in German bunkers on the beach, reminders of the D-day landing on Normandy. By now it seems that their unwanted run-ins with a painful past have got to end, one way or another. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Well into his maturity, Salomon Landolt, who is the Bailiff of Griefensee, invites five women with whom he has had satisfying relationships to visit him at his castle. Each one thinks she was the only one invited. Flashbacks detail the nature and quality of his encounters with each woman. Near the end of the film, the Bailiff asks the five women to choose a wife for him: she must either be a mature housewife-type, or a maidservant who is both young and a virgin. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Giulio Berruti's unusual cult horror film casts former sex symbol Anita Ekberg as Sister Gertrude, a nun working in a mental institution. Gertrude is clearly insane, and takes a great deal of morphine for her self-diagnosed cancer. She goes to town and picks up men, seduces a younger nun (Paola Morra) who was abused by her grandfather, and supposedly murders patients until the Mother Superior (Alida Valli) has her poisoned. Luigi Casellato appears as a crippled painter who gets kicked to death, and genre favorite Joe Dallesandro leads the supporting cast as a handsome doctor. Antonio Maccoppi's skillful cinematography gives the film a harsh, intimidating look and Ekberg creates a sympathetic character, although certain scenes -- such as her stepping on a patient's dentures -- cross the line into unintentional humor. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

A psychiatrist (Sami Frey) takes complete responsibility when his son is found floating in a swimming pool, stabbed to death. All the evidence points to a young orphan boy as the real murderer. Why is the psychiatrist claiming the murder as his own? ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

A malevolent man terrorizes his mother and a young, poverty-stricken girl when he finds himself excluded from his father's will. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

In this chiller from Italian director Mario Bava, Elke Sommer stars as Lisa, a young tourist who keeps running into a strange bald man who carries around a mannequin. The bald man is Leandre (Telly Savalas), the butler at the estate of a blind Countess (Alida Valli) and her slightly off-kilter son Max (Alessio Orano). In a bizarre turn of events, Lisa kills a man in self-defense and winds up hitching a ride with Frances Lehaf, his wife Sophia (Sylva Koscina), and her chauffeur/lover George. Car troubles land them at the Countess' estate where Lisa is plagued by strange dreams and visions of the man she killed. More troubling for Lisa is that both the dead man and Max appear to know her. Meanwhile, the other guests begin to die: George is murdered by an unseen assailant, Sophia runs over her husband with the car, and then is dispatched herself by a killer who is revealed to be Max. Lisa awakens in Leandre's room full of dummies and runs off through the house. She encounters Max, who shows her the skeletal remains of Eleanor, the lover he killed for having an affair with his stepfather. Max believes that Lisa is Eleanor reincarnated. After an odd sex scene, he is confronted by his mother whom he winds up stabbing to death. Moments later, she reappears and the shock sends Max falling to his own death. Lisa awakens in the house, which now appears to have been abandoned for decades. She boards an airplane to head home, but in a chilling climax, she discovers the plane devoid of all passengers...except for a few old friends including the diabolical Leandre. ~ Patrick Legare, All Movie Guide