Mauro Bolognini Movies
An assistant director to Luigi Zampa in Italy and Yves Allegret and Jean Delannoy in France, he began helming features in the mid 1950s, and had his first international success with Gli Innamorati (aka Wild Love); his other notable work of the '50s include La Notte Brava and Il Bell'Antonio, both written by Pier Paolo Pasolini. A witty director of short episodes for such memorable 1960s anthology films as I Tre Volti and Le Streghe (aka The Witches), Bolognini's later feature work includes Mademoiselle De Maupin and Fatti Di Gente Per Bene (aka La Grande Bourgeoise). Most recently he has helmed the Italian television miniseries A Time Of Indifference. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1955
Despite of (or perhaps because of ) its sparse production values and unpretentiousness, the Italian Gli Innamorati was feted at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. The bulk of the story takes place in a single Roman neighborhood. In the manner of the 1925 German classic A Joyless Street, director Mauro Bolognini studies the hopes, dreams, successes and failures of the neighborhood's various and sundry denizens. No one subplot dominates the proceedings, though a bit of extra time is afforded the story of a fickle seamstress and her seemingly meek-and-mild boyfriend. The cast is dotted with such reassuringly familiar faces as Nino Manfredi and Gino Cervi. Released in the US as Wild Love, Gli Innamorati was instrumental in bringing international fame to director Bolognini, whose career soon shifted into high drive. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Franco Interlenghi, Antonella Lualdi, (more)
- 1957
The title of this Italian slice-of-life drama translates to Young Husbands. The husbands in question rather casually enter into marriage, never intending true fidelity to their spouses. When they realize that they're committed for life, our immature heroes return to their home town for one last fling. In the course of their final hours of bachelorhood, they come to the sobering conclusion that their carefree youth is not only past, it's already long past. Somewhat reminiscent of Fellini's I Vitelloni, Giovani Mariti boasts excellent performances from all concerned. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylva Koscina, Antonella Lualdi, (more)
- 1957
Popular European leading lady Marisa Allasio stars in Marisa la Civetta. Our heroine's dilemma: four suitors, all equally qualified to be her husband. Whom can she choose, and how can she avoid breaking the hearts of the other three? The complication: While making her decision, Allasio offhandedly promises to marry all four men. Her final choice is unpredictable only if the viewer hasn't seen the dozens of previous films that have used this plotline. Fans of Marisa Allasio didn't care whether the story was old or new: they came to see her, and they didn't go home disappointed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marisa Allasio, Renato Salvatori, (more)
- 1959
At almost two hours, this mediocre comedy by director Mauro Bolognini runs a bit long. The story is about a down-and-out husband and wife, forced to look anywhere for a place to live. They have children and are desperate enough to take whatever they can find. What the father finds -- without telling his family -- is a closed-down house of ill repute. They move in but the father is hard put to constantly hide the truth about their lodgings, in one way or another. It is this sole pursuit of disguising where they are that fuels the comedy, at times naturally veering into the risque -- or as some viewers might feel, into plain bad taste. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laura Adani
- 1959
The exploits of three young Roman criminals are chronicled in this socially conscious drama. The young men commit petty crimes all day begin with arms theft, and culminating with a night with three streetwalkers. After their pleasure, the boys try to cheat the hookers, but they ladies are smarter than that and have stolen their cash ahead of time. The punks then return to the city for more crimes. Exploits include the harassment of three homosexuals, and attempts to seduce some women. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurent Terzieff, Jean-Claude Brialy, (more)
- 1960
Directed by the comparatively unknown Mauro Bolognini, the Italian Bell' Antonio is distinguished by its screenplay, cowritten by directorial giant Pier Paolo Pasolini. Marcello Mastroianni and Claudia Cardinale are happily married until she finds out he's impotent. It takes her a year to find this out, which ought to give an indication of how seriously we're supposed to take this film. Also risible is the fact that Mastrioanni bears the reputation of a fabulous lover, as do practically all the members of his family. Nonetheless, he stands by like a dummy when Cardinale's father forces her to annul the marriage and wed another. It's all nonsense, of course, but Pasolini and his collaborators weave their tale so persuasively that one forgives the film's utter lack of credibility. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
- 1960
The original Italian is La Viaccia (the name of the family farm which motivates the plot). The death of a wealthy patriarch in 1885 sets off an interfamily power struggle. Son Ferdinando buys out his other relatives in order to gain full control over the dead man's property. But Ferdinando's country-bumpkin nephew Amerigo holds out. Amerigo's stance is weakened when he heads for the city and meets prostitute Bianca. To support her in the manner in which she is accustomed, Amerigo steals from his uncle. Disgraced in the eyes of his family, Amerigo decides to stay near his beloved Bianca by becoming a bouncer in her brothel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
- 1961
An uneven mix of right-on situations and two-dimensional characters or worse, La Giornata Balorda is all the more interesting because it was banned in Italy -- not because of sexual or anti-religious content, but because of its depiction of Italian society. David (Jean Sorel) is a poverty-stricken young man who has impregnated the woman he loves and now wants to marry her. The baby has already been born when David sets out to "buy" a job. His uncle, not a model of propriety, gets him introduced to a slick operator who really does not want to hire David at all. But the future employer's mistress takes one look at David and lets her lover know he just has to give him a job. Meanwhile, David is still stuck with the problem of getting the money together to "buy" his job, and he solves that in a rather creative manner. This story of networking among the non-yuppy population did not sit well with the Italian censors. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Sorel, Lea Massari, (more)
- 1961
Two popular lead actors star in this conventional story of unrequited love, directed by Mauro Bolognini. Emilio (Anthony Franciosa) is caught in the midst of a heavy-duty mid-life crisis when he runs into sexy Angiolina (Claudia Cardinale), voluptuous and frivolous in equal measure. In spite of good advice from his friends and family, including his sister Amalia (Betsy Blair), Emilio pursues the gorgeous Angiolina with single-minded dedication. He is incredibly unaware that she is as unconcerned as he is committed, and by not reading the obvious warning signs he heads right toward a big fall. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Franciosa, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
- 1962
Director Mauro Bolognini and Goffredo Parise adapted a skillful Alberto Moravia story into this rather pedestrian drama. An eligible widow (Ingrid Thulin) vacations in Venice with her young son. When Thulin begins a tentative romance with friendly John Saxon, her resentful son runs away from home and gets into trouble, falling in with a gang of hooligans. The rest of the film is bland and predictable, as the harsh realities of street life teach the youngster some valuable lessons, most of which are hammered home with redundant narration. Plot mechanics aside, however, Aldo Tonti's rich cinematography still makes the film worthwhile for those who swoon at the sight of the Lido. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paolo Colombo, Ingrid Thulin, (more)
- 1963
The young son of a wealthy industrialist eschews the material pleasures of life and decides to enter the priesthood. His father wishes his son to follow in his footsteps and recruits his young girlfriend to help change his mind. The girl seduces the inexperienced lad, and he quickly falls prey to the material and sexual pleasures of the flesh. Father and son argue over the boy's future as the son agonizes about his fall into hedonism. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alain Cuny, Jacques Perrin, (more)
- 1964
Five screenwriters combined to create this two-part comedy, with the result of the gang-written script a predictably uneven feature. Part one concerns two circus performers. The midget is married to the fat lady, but he is having an affair with a diminutive dame. He tries repeatedly to kill his wife, but the large lady refuses to die. Part two has a childless wife who yearns to have a baby turning her husband into an infant. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandra Milo, Vittorio Caprioli, (more)
- 1964
Alberto Sordi co-stars with Silvia Mangano in this Dino DeLaurentiis comedy production gang-directed by Tinto Brass, Mauro Bolognini, and Luigi Comenichi. The sketches primarily deal with the endearing battles between husbands and wives, giving Sordi the chance to mug for the camera in the comic fashion that made him famous. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alberto Sordi
- 1964
Michelangelo Antonioni served as just one of three directors on this Dino de Laurentiis production that also corralled Franco Indovina (Antonioni's assistant on three films) and Mauro Bolognini for three segments that all adhered to the titular theme, The Three Faces of a Woman: Il Provino, Latin Lover, and Famous Lovers. Il Provino (or Prefazione, The Preface), Antonioni's contribution, stars a former member of Iranian royalty, Saroya; the entire film consists of her screen test. Indovina's Latin Lover chronicles a professional woman's experience with a male escort, hired by her business to keep her company on her travels to Rome. Finally, Bolognini's Famous Lovers focuses on a woman whose marriage is threatened by an affair with a dashing young writer. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari
- 1965
Four different facets of love Italian-style provide the basis of this episodic film. The vignettes are "The Phone," about a woman so busy talking on the phone that she fails to notice that her husband is having sex with a neighbor; "Treatise on Eugenics," the chronicle of a Swedish girl's search for the perfect sire; "The Soup," about a wife's attempts to get rid of her husband's corpse; and "Monsignor Cupid," which follows the attempts of a concierge to seduce a handsome young man. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virna Lisi, Nino Manfredi, (more)
- 1966
This melodramatic Italian and French anthology is comprised of four unrelated short films directed by four different directors. The first vignette, "Queen Sabina" (or "The Hitchhiker") chronicles the sexual misadventures of a teenage girl on the road home. "Queen Armenia" (aka "The Room with a Juke Box") centers on a self-serving opportunistic gypsy babysitter who uses her employer's kids for her own gain. The third episode, "Queen Elena" (aka "The Digestive Tablet") centers on a husband who learns a lesson about the perils of infidelity after he succumbs to the wiles of the seductive wife next door. The last vignette, "Queen Marta" (aka "Giovanni") centers on a wealthy woman who, when drunk, uses her butler as an outlet for her lust. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Monica Vitti, Enrico Maria Salerno, (more)
- 1966
Maddalena (Catherine Spaak) masquerades as a heroic male named Teodoro and joins the army to gain insight on men in this costumed comedy satire. She falls for an officer (Tomas Milian) but he is naturally unable to act on his impulses because he believes she is a man. Other men also make passes at her in hopes she is really the man she claims to be. The situation allows for plenty of sight gags and situation comedy from the battlefield to the bedroom. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Spaak, Robert Hossein, (more)
- 1966
This Dino De Laurentiis production from 1965 is actually an anthology of five different directors' work, each telling their own stories about witches. The five stories are "The Witch Burned Alive," "Civic Sense," "The Earth As Seen From The Moon," "The Girl From Sicily," and "A Night Like Any Other." Silvia Mangano appears in all five, with Clint Eastwood starring in the last featured vignette. Like many gang-directed projects, this film is also plagued by a lack of continuity and by the pretentiousness of the individual directors. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Silvana Mangano, Annie Girardot, (more)
- 1967
Apparently in the Italy of the 1920s, the only way to keep your home out of the maws of the tax collector was to steal and cheat from everyone in sight -- and the dupes you'd swindle wouldn't know the difference since all their attentions would be focused upon cheating you. That little bit of homespun philosophy is the only conclusion to be drawn from Arabella, a broad sex-farce enlivened with British comic Terry-Thomas appearing in a quartet of roles, and the sexy Virna Lisi as the title character, who is compelled into chicanery in order to prevent her mother's home from being taken away by the tax man. To raise funds, Arabella rooks money from Terry-Thomas, in various fake beard incarnations as a general, a duke, a hotel manger, and an insurance agent. But while she is busy conning the four Thomases, she steps on the toes of an equally tricky burglar (James Fox) and two young lovers -- Giancarlo Giannini and Melina Vukotic. Arabella ultimately becomes attracted to the burglar. Now she must hold her base animal urges in abeyance and concentrate on squeezing more cash out of the Terry-Thomases. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virna Lisi, James Fox, (more)
- 1967
In this anthology, six French filmmakers each contributed a vignette, offering their take on the history of prostitution. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michele Mercier, Elsa Martinelli, (more)
- 1968
The Italian title for That Splendid November is Un Belissima Novembre, but it might as well have been "Belissima Gina". That's because the film's main attraction is Gina Lollobrigida, whose well-proportioned chassis diverts the audience's attention from the turgid plot. The story concerns a large Sicilian family whose patriarch is an advocate of self control. The hypocrisy of this stance is illustrated in a number of scenes involving sex, gluttony and greed. Adapted from a novel by Ercole Patti, That Splendid November was released in the US in 1971, three years after it made the European theatrical rounds. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
The love-hate relationship between a poet and his mistress provides the basis for this metaphorical drama. The trouble seems to come from the fact that the two have very different approaches to their relationship. The poet is interested in a more traditional romance while his hot-blooded lover would rather spend all their time having sex. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Harvey, Sylva Koscina, (more)
