Renato Castellani Movies
Italian filmmaker and screenwriter Renato Castellani was born in Italy, but spent a few childhood years in Argentina when his father went there on an assignment for Eastman Kodak. Later Castellani was educated in Switzerland. He entered Italian cinema as a screenwriter during the late 1930s after studying architecture in Milan. Among the screenplays were Soldati, and Camerinini. In 1941 he became a director noted for the elegance that imbued his early films. Following WW II, he became known for his up-beat neorealist films. Among his best is Under the Sun of Rome (1948). After 1954, he returned to the detachment of his earlier style and made a British version of Romeo and Juliet. Soon afterwards his film career fizzled, and during the 1960s he began working in Italian television and writing/co-writing scripts. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This lavish, 10-hour European miniseries plots the life and times of the famous composer Giuseppe Verdi. Filmed on-location, the series also provides stellar interpretations of Verdi's work by Maria Callas and Luciano Pavarotti. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Pickup, Carla Fracci, (more)
Everyone who knows anything about art knows that Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the Renaissance era's defining artists, but what are the secrets that lurk beneath his remarkable talent and supreme innovation? Shooting on the actual locations where Da Vinci lived, worked, and strived for inspiration, director Renato Castellani crafts an authentic look at the artist's life, including the creation of such timeless masterpieces as Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. From his historical paintings to his innovative inventions and his bitter rivalry with fellow artist Michelangelo, Castellani's loving portrait of the artist's life combines eyewitness accounts and well-documented evidence with informed speculation to create one of the most historically accurate portrayals of Da Vinci ever to reach the screen. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1967
In this Italian melodrama, a soccer referee has more passion for the game than he does for his wife. The man's father doesn't help as he dislikes both the sport and his wife. The couple continues to drift apart and ends up having several affairs. They then attend the same soccer match and end up renewing their love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1967
A couple with marital problems hopes to find new spirit living in a haunted house in this arcical comedy. Pasquale (Vittorio Gassman) and Maria (Sophia Loren) are a couple who are married, but not at all happily; he's a chronically unemployed musician, she can't stand her husband, and they've both decided they'd be better off dead. However, when their suicide pact goes wrong and both are still alive, Maria decides to pay a visit to Alfredo (Mario Adorf), who ran the orphanage where she was raised. Alfredo has had a lustful eye on Maria ever since she was a teenager, and he sees the current turn of events as a perfect opportunity to break up her marriage. Alfredo offers to "help" the couple by having them housesit at an old mansion which is said to be haunted; unknown to them, Alfredo has secreted himself away in the house in order to drop clues that ghosts walk. Adding to the confusion, Pasquale decides to make some extra money by renting out one of the rooms to a streetwalker, Sayonara (Margaret Lee), which leads Maria to suspect that her husband is either the new lodger's customer or her pimp. Marcello Mastroianni also makes a cameo appearance. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophia Loren, Vittorio Gassman, (more)
- 1965
Marcello Mastroianni stars in this film which combines much of the 1965 release Paranoia with new footage. A police inspector is told of the bizarre behavior of a pistol-packing papa who shoots blanks at his wife to keep her intimidated. He inserts a real bullet every so often just to let her know she should pay attention. Another story has Mastroianni as a man who tries to sell his blonde wife to a wealthy sheik with a large harem. His wife has her own ideas and sells her husband instead as an addition to a male harem. He is condemned to servitude as the beautiful blonde steps into a luxury car and leaves him in the desert. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Pamela Tiffin, (more)
- 1964
The Italians continue their penchant for gang-directed features in this sexploitation comedy. Part one is entitled "Cocaine On Sunday" in which a husband (Nino Manfredi) and wife (Annamaria Ferrero) start snorting the stuff after the friend who owned the bottle is arrested. In part two, Ugo Tognazzi plays a professor who feels he is becoming too much like his elderly maiden aunts. In the final episode, a businesswoman agrees to meet a street musician, but he is frustrated when she is delayed by her vocational priorities. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nino Manfredi, Anna Maria Ferrero, (more)
- 1964
In flashback, Marcello Mastroianni recalls his wartime romance with Sophia Loren. He is so enamored with her that he finances her escape from the bordello where she lives and sets her up with a good job in the restaurant that he owns, and later finds a place for her on his mother's domestic staff. He is not, however, enamored enough to make their union legal, and expects Loren to behave like a servant by day and his mistress by night. Years later, Loren lies on her deathbed. The contrite Mastroianni finally consents to marry her. Not only does she make a full recovery, but she brings her three grown sons to live with the nonplused Mastroianni after the wedding. He tries to weasel out of the arrangement, but is mollified by Loren's insistence that all three boys are his sons. Thus, after nearly twenty years' servitude, Loren is at last in a position to call the shots. Sold to American distributors on the basis of Sophia Loren's revealing costumes (some of these absolutely defy the laws of gravity), Marriage Italian Style remains a warm and spicy concoction today, even after years of less expert imitations. The film was based on Filumena Marturano by Eduardo de Filipo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, (more)
- 1964
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
- 1963
A pretty woman approaching middle age rents out rooms to borders in a small Italian town. Margherita (Gina Lollobrigida) rents to an aging sailor, who reflects on his pleasurable life experiences, and a handsome younger man (Jean Paul Belmondo). The film seems to have been rushed to be entered at the Venice Film Festival. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo
- 1961
This uneven but interesting drama by director and writer Renato Castellani tells the tale of a brigand and the people who become involved with him. Michele Rende (Adelmo di Fraia) is both a town legend and a hot-tempered young man who is thrown in prison after being accused of a murder he did not commit. Unwilling to submit to trial, Michele escapes and heads up into the hills, from which vantage point he helps poor farmers to carry out the illegal acquisition of unused farm lands. A local boy, Nino (Francesco Seminirao) has come to worship Michele like a real hero and later, Michele falls in love with Nino's sister. It is this last relationship that eventually leads to tragedy for all concerned. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- 1958
This clever melodrama from director Renato Castellani stars Anna Magnani as a hardbitten prostitute whose immorality rubs off on a naive woman (Giulietta Masina) in a women's prison. Taking the innocent Masina under her wing, Magnani corrupts her, but is secretly touched by her kind heart. On Magnani's advice, Masina makes a bargain with Adonis (Alberto Sordi), who framed her for burglary, promising silence in exchange for part of the loot. She is acquitted, but Magnani's lessons have changed Masina's life for the worse, and she returns to prison as a garishly sleazy hooker. Magnani is horrified, having gone through some psychological changes in the opposite direction herself. Renato Salvatori, Cristina Gajoni, and Milly Monti also appear in this entertaining Italian/French potboiler adapted by Castellani and Suso Cecchi D'Amico from Isa Mari's 1953 novel Roma, Via delle Mantellate. Several versions exist, running 110, 98, and 85 minutes. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Magnani, Giulietta Masina, (more)
- 1957
I Sogni nel Cassetto was released in the U.S. as Dreams in a Drawer. The hero and heroine are students in a Northern Italian university. Though he barely knows her, the immature Mario (Enrico Pagani) proposes marriage to the equally childlike Lucia (Lea Masari). Both boy and girl are forced to grow up in a hurry when Lucia becomes pregnant. An unexpected tragedy sobers Mario to the fact that he still has a long way to go before attaining true manhood. During the preview process, I Sogni nel Cassetto was screened with two different endings, allowing audiences to make a choice. In Hollywood, it is likely that the final decision would have been very different. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lea Massari, Cosetta Greco, (more)
- 1954
Generally forgotten today, Romeo and Juliet is a satisfactory, if perfunctory, adaptation of Shakespeare's immortal tragedy. Cast as the "star cross'd lovers" this time out are Laurence Harvey, who's quite good, and Susan Shentall, who isn't. Whether or not Shentall would have improved with experience is a moot point, since she retired from the screen to get married soon afterward. Director Renato Castellani was showered with praise for his decision to lens the story on location in Italy. Less popular was his decision to delete several of Shakespeare's more famous passages, arguing that they held up the progress of the story (sometimes whole scenes, including the one with the apothecary, were chopped out). The supporting cast includes Dame Flora Robson as Nurse, Mervyn Johns as Friar Laurence, Bill Travers as Benvolio, Norman Wooland as Paris, John Gielgud as the (unseen) Chorus, and Sebastian Cabot as Capulet; the rest of the major roles were filled by Italian actors. Though overshadowed by later film versions, this Romeo and Juliet was impressive enough in 1954 to win the Grand Prix at the Venice Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Harvey, Susan Shentall, (more)
- 1952
Due Soldi di Speranza is better known by its English-language titles Two Pennies of Hope and Two Cents Worth of Hope. The film was the third in director Renato Castellani's "young love" trilogy (the first two being Sotto il sole di Roma and E Primavera). Filmed on location near Naples, the story concerns the romance between Carmela (Maria Fiore) and Antonio (Vincenzo Musolino). The ardor is one-sided at first, but Carmela is a determined young woman, willing to scale and conquer any obstacle in pursuing her heart's desire. Once he's "hooked," Antonio scurries from job to job to prove his financial viability. Faced with the hostility of their parents, Carmela and Antonio symbolically shed themselves of all responsibilities to others in a climactic act of stark-naked bravado. Due Soldi di Speranza won the 1952 Best Film award at the Cannes Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Fiore
- 1949
Toto, the brilliant Italian comic actor, frequently appeared in parodies of previous movie hits. Toto le Moko is a lampoon of Jean Gabin's Pepe le Moko, and as such plays best if one is familiar with the Gabin picture. Toto plays the cousin of notorious Pepe le Moko, leader of all illegal activities in the Casbah. When Pepe disappears, Toto is obliged to take his place. Through a combination of a magic potion and sheer dumb luck, Our Hero manages to keep himself alive, and also finds time to dally with several desirable lovelies. But when Pepe returns, there's you-know-what to pay. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Totò, Gianna Maria Canale, (more)
- 1947
Renato Castellani both directed and co-wrote the romantic comedy E' Primavera. The film was the second of Castellani's trilogy dealing with the less-than-smooth course of young love in postwar Italy (it was filmed just after Sotto il sole di Roma and just before Two Cents Worth of Hope). Leading man Mario Angelotti, loving not wisely but too well, quickly discovers that the penalty for bigamy is two wives. Between his tempestuous Sicilian bride, played by Elena Varzi and his sedate Milanese missus (Irene Gemma), the poor man barely has time to take a breath. Director Castellani does wonders with his largely non-professional cast, especially Angelotti, who is a "natural" for the screen. E' Primavera was released in England and the U.S. as It's Springtime and It's Forever Springtime. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elena Varzi
- 1946
Aldo Fabrizi is the star of -- and, artistically, the raison d'etre for -- the Italian Professor, My Son. Fabrizi plays Orazio, a humble porter working in a prestigious school. Orazio labors tirelessly day and night so that his son (Giorgio de Lullo) can attend the school. Once the son has matriculated into a professor, he turns his back on Orazio, who is now socially unacceptable. Despite the sobriety of the proceedings, the film is more satirical than sad. Filmed in 1945 as Mio Figlio Professore, Professor My Son was released in the U.S. in 1949. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aldo Fabrizi, Mario Soldati, (more)
- 1946
Filmed in Italy in 1948 as Sotte il Sole de Roma, this Renato Castellani-directed effort reached American screens the following year through the good graces of United Artists. Adhering to the then-fashionable "neorealist" school, the film is gritty and uncompromising for the most part, though it manages to exude a sense of optimism by film's end. Told in episodic fashion, the story concentrates on the various ramifications of Italy's post-fascist reconstruction, as seen through the eyes of an orphan (Oscar Blando) who comes of age during WW II. Some of the best scenes concern the boy's tempestuous courtship of his long-suffering girlfriend (Liliana Mancini). Dismissed as "mediocre" in the American trade paper Variety, Under the Sun of Rome nevertheless won the "Best Italian Film" award at the 1948 Venice Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francesco Golisano
- 1945
Better known as one of Italy's most visionary producers, Giuseppe Amato was also a director of considerable skill. Filmed in 1945, Amato's Malia was released in the U.S. in 1952, on the coattails of his internationally successful Umberto D. Though Rosanno Brazzi is top-billed in the American version, the film's real star is Gino Cervi, cast as a Sicilian priest. Fighting strenuously against the ancient superstitions which hold his parishioners in thrall, the priest finds himself at odds with a local soothsaying quack (Virginia Balistreri). The ultimate test of religion vs. mysticism takes place when the priest tries to help a young girl suffering from malaria. Hemstitched into the proceedings is a gratuitous romantic triangle involving new a bride (Maria Denis), her philandering husband (Rosanno Brazzi), and her impressionable sister (Anna Proclamer). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rossano Brazzi, Anna Proclemer, (more)
- 1938
The Italian historical melodrama The Cuckoo Clock was acquired for US distribution by MGM-who promptly shelved the film for several months in reflection of mounting anti-Mussolini sentiments in the US. Vittorio De Sica heads the cast of this complex mystery, in which a huge, American-manufactured cuckoo clock is purchased by a European banker for the express purpose of smuggling gold into England. After agreeing to help the banker in his scheme, an elderly nobleman (secretly a spy) is murdered and his body is stuffed into the clock. The captain of the ship transporting the clock is accused of the killing, but during a spectacular courtroom trial the actual culprit reveals his guilt-and his essentially patriotic motives. Set during the early 19th century, The Cuckoo Clock is lovely to look at but a bit thin dramatically. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio De Sica, Guglielmo Sinaz, (more)
