Raf Vallone Movies
Educated at the University of Turin, Raf Vallone was a professional soccer player and jack-of-all-trades journalist before making a spectacular film acting debut in the neorealist classic Bitter Rice. While Vallone has never wanted for roles of depth and meaning (Giovanni in De Sica's Two Women [1961], Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge [1962]), some producers insist upon casting him only as a jet-setting playboy, nattily attired in the latest fashions, a beautiful girl on each arm. In addition, Vallone has played so many unsavory characters like Mario Bello in 1964's Harlow that one wonders if his first name shouldn't be "Raffish." The actor began curtailing his film work in 1990, not long after his well-rounded portrayal of Cardinal Lamberti in The Godfather III (1990). Raf Vallone is the husband of his one-time co-star, actress Ellen Varzi. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1948
Originally released as Riso Amaro, Bitter Rice was one of the landmark films of the postwar Italian neorealist movement. Silvana Mangano portrays one of hundreds of women toiling slavishly in the Po Valley rice fields. She is courted by two men: respectable Raf Vallone and no-good fugitive from justice Vittorio Gassman. Mangano chooses Gassman, a decision which brings disaster not only to her but to her co-workers. The rice-field scenes are realistic enough to pass muster as documentary footage, though they tend to be undercut in the English-language version by the amateurish dubbing. Critics were unanimous in their praise for Bitter Rice; their words were, however, ignored by the male fans who came to see the film solely on the strength of the now-famous production still of the buxom Silvana Mangano standing in the rice field wearing tight shorts and torn black stockings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio Gassman, Doris Dowling, (more)
- 1949
The White Line is a modest anti-war statement set in a tiny Italian village near Trieste. As the result of an International Peace Conference, the nearby borders are changed, with a white line drawn in the middle of the town. One half of the community belongs to the Italians, while the other half is controlled by Yugoslavia. The ramifications of this decision range from humorous to disastrous, with some consequences wandering to the realm of the surreal. In keeping with the Biblical phrase "And a child shall lead them," it is up to the kids in town to point up the absurdities of the new border. Alas, tragedy ensues, but out of hopelessness arises a new form of hope. Filmed in 1950 as Cuori senza Frontiere, The White Line attained bookings in the U.S. thanks to the presence of Gina Lollobrigida in a secondary role (Lollobrigida was afforded top billing in the American prints). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gina Lollobrigida, Raf Vallone, (more)
- 1950
Disciples of Italian filmmaker Pietro Germi have noted the stylistic influence of Hollywood's John Ford in Germi's neorealist Il Camino Della Speranza. The story concerns the plight of illegal immigration, as experienced by a pair of Sicilian miners. Unable to find work in their own country, the protagonists embark on a long and arduous journey to the French border, with immigration officials nipping at their heels every step of the way. Structurally, the film resembles Ford's Stagecoach, right down to the upbeat denouement, wherein one sympathetic authority figure decides "to heck with the rules." Heading the cast is Italian movie favorite Raf Vallone. Germi co-wrote the film with Federico Fellini and Tullio Pinelli. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raf Vallone, Elena Varzi, (more)
- 1950
Strange Deception combines a standard revenge tale with a postwar reenactment of the first four books of the New Testament. Freshly released from a Russian POW camp, Italian soldier Raf Vallone tries to discover who betrayed his brother to the Nazis. Alain Cuny is an enigmatic carpenter who has confessed to causing the brother's death. Cuny is slain by Vallone, whereupon it is revealed that the carpenter sacrificed himself on behalf of the real culprit, Phillipe Lemaire. Vallone catches up with Lemaire, but is unable to kill him, thanks to the Christlike example of Cuny. Originally titled Il Cristo Proibito (The Forbidden Christ, just so we don't miss the point), this film represented the movie directorial debut of novelist Curzio Malaparte, who also wrote the musical score. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raf Vallone, Elena Varzi, (more)
- 1950
Italian filmmaker Giuseppe De Santis followed his internationally acclaimed Bitter Rice with another exercise in neorealism, Non C'e Pace Tra Girl Ulivi (No Peace Under the Oliver Tree). Raf Vallone stars as shepherd Francesco, whose sister is raped by the villain of the piece. Thrown into jail on a trumped-up charge, Francesco escapes, vowing a horrible revenge against the man who framed him and violated his sister. Somewhat self-consciously directed, Non c'e Pace etc. isn't quite in the same league as Bitter Rice, though the performances are convincing and the cinematography (by Piero Portalupi) is first-rate. Welcome comedy relief is provided by Dante Maggio as Vallone's best friend. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raf Vallone, Lucia Bosé, (more)
- 1951
Silvana Mangano portrays a fickle club chanteuse who must choose between the love of two men (Raf Vallone and Vittorio Gassman). She chooses neither, entering a convent for the sake of convenience. This overwrought drama was produced by Dino de Laurentiis, and reworked by five screenwriters including such respected names as Dino Risi and Franco Brusati, but comes up as a soggy soap-opera rather than an imposing star-vehicle. Nino Rota's fine score and the always watchable Mangano are its only saving graces. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Silvana Mangano, Raf Vallone, (more)
The grim Emile Zola "naturalist" novel Therese Raquin has been vividly cinematized by director Marcel Carne. Simone Signoret plays the title character, the long-suffering housewife who dreams of a more romantic life-partner than the bourgeois Camille (Jacques Duby). Therese enjoys a torrid affair with burly truck-driver Laurent (Raf Vallone), only to realize the true emptiness of her aspirations. Ultimately, Therese brings about her own destruction, never truly learning to appreciate what she already has. In the U.S., Therese Raquin was released under the come-on cognomen The Adulteress. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Simone Signoret, Raf Vallone, (more)
- 1953
Camicie Rosse (Red Shirts) was released in most markets as Anita Garibaldi, in deference to the star status of Anna Magnani. The actress plays the wife of the great Italian patriot Garibaldi, who at the beginning of the film hovers on the brink of death, harking back to past glories. Most of the story deals with the European political upheavals of 1848-49, and Garibaldi's participation in these earth-shattering events. Raf Vallone stars as Garibaldi, while the stellar supporting cast includes Alain Cuny, Jacques Sernas, Serge Reggiani and Michel Auclair. According to some reports, Auclair was supposed to have played Garibaldi, but was replaced by Vallone when the film's initial director, Goffriedo Allesandri, was put out of commission by an auto accident (Allesandrishares screen credit with Franco Rosi, who completed the film). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Magnani, Raf Vallone, (more)
- 1953
Il Segno di Venera (The Sign of Venus) offers an earthier Sophia Loren than American audiences would later become accustomed to. Agnese (Loren) has no trouble attracting men, which is more than can be said for her plain-Jane friend Cesira (Franca Valeri). The two girls embark on a search for an appropriate mate for Cesira, despite the fact that all eligible males instantly gravitate to Agnese. Some of the choices -- petty thief Alberto Sordi, impecunious poet Vittorio De Sica -- are frankly not good enough for either girl. Alternating between humor and pathos, Il Segno di Venera is light, forgettable entertainment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Franca Valeri, Vittorio De Sica, (more)
- 1954
Director Pierre Billon co-adapted the screenplay of Orage from a novel by Henri Bernstein. Released in the U.S. as Storm, the film stars Raf Vallone as André, a good husband and family man. André, in fact, is too good to suit his mistress Françoise (Françoise Arnoul). Realizing that he'd be better off with his wife, Elena (Elena Varzi), who is about to have a baby, Françoise nobly and respectfully sends André packing. There's more to the story than that, of course, but Françoise and André are the only people in the story truly worth caring about. Pierre Billon slyly depicts the mistress as being far more desirable than the wife, demonstrating that what happens to André could happen to any man in the audience. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raf Vallone, Françoise Arnoul, (more)
- 1954
This film is comprised of three vignettes focusing upon women and war. The first episode, set in WW II, chronicles the sad journey of an American woman who goes to Italy to bring her husband's body home. In Italy she makes a heart-wrenching discovery: he had been living with an Italian family and had impregnated their daughter and sees the child. The second story chronicles the abandonment of Joan of Arc, by her king and her soldiers. The third episode is a humorous adaptation of "Lysistrata," the Greek play where Athenian wives refused to sleep with their husbands until they stopped making war. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1954
La Pensionnaire was released in English-speaking countries as The Boarder. The title character is a good-hearted prostitute named Joy, played by Martine Carol. Unable to locate a cheap hotel room at a swank seaside resort, Joy settles for the only available space, which happens to be in a high-class hotel. Despite her sordid profession, the girl is befriended and protected by the hotel staff, who pay for her lodgings. Not so charitable is the local police chief, though he agrees to allow Joy to stick around if she promises to reform. This proves difficult when Joy innocently finds herself in the middle of several domestic brouhahas. La Pensionnaire might make an amusing double feature with the 1990 Julia Roberts film Pretty Woman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martine Carol, Raf Vallone, (more)
- 1954
The French/Italian Obsession was based on a novel by American suspense writer William Irish (aka Cornell Woolrich). Michelle Morgan and Raf Vallone are carnival performers, touring the provinces with a successful trapeze act. Though Morgan knows that Vallone is on the lam from a murder charge, she marries him anyway. When Vallone is sidelined by an injury, he is replaced by handsome young aerialist Jean Gaven, an unsuspecting friend of the man Vallone killed. Gaven is himself bumped off before long, prompting the disillusioned Morgan to turn over Vallone to the authorities. As it turns out, we're in Postman Always Rings Twice territory: Vallone didn't kill Gaven, but by the time the guilty party confesses, the police have confirmed that Vallone was responsible for the earlier murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1955
Despite their questionable behavior during WWII, the Italians were generally cast in a sympathetic light in war films of the 1950s. In Siluri Umani (Human Torpedoes), Raf Vallone stars as a member of an elite Italian navy unit. Their mission: to attack a British convoy in motorboats armed with explosive warheads. The only way by which these courageous guerillas can avoid being blown up themselves is to jump from their boats at the last minute. It goes without saying the some don't make it. Siluri Umani is based on an actually military maneuver which occurred in March of 1941. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raf Vallone, Franco Fabrizi, (more)
- 1956
Ugo Betti's allegorical play The Island of Goats served as the basis for the French melodrama Les Possedees. Raf Vallone heads the cast as a man who looks, and acts, like a goat. Vallone wreaks havoc upon a houseful of females, who cannot seem to resist his charms despite his ugliness. Madeline Robinson co-stars as the head of the household, whose fascination with Vallone results in near-disaster. A few of the film's sexier scenes were trimmed for American consumption, but the story, such as it is, remains intact. Also known as The Possessed, this quirky little film was given its biggest showing at the Cannes Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Madeleine Robinson, Raf Vallone, (more)
- 1956
West Germany's entry in the 1957 Cannes Film Festival was this cinemadaptation of the Gerhardt Hauptman play Rose Bernd. The title character, played by Maria Schell, is a servant girl on a remote farm. Sexually assaulted by both her employer and a coworker, Rose later bears a child, who die soon afterward. After nearly two hours of unrelieved misery, Rose finally finds happiness in the arms of a longtime admirer (where has he been for the past 12 reels?) Rose Bernd (aka The Sins of Rose Bernd) received a smattering of American showings thanks to the drawing power of star Maria Schell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Schell, Raf Vallone, (more)
