Ennio Flaiano Movies
Best known for the work he did in conjunction with Fellini, Italian screenwriter Ennio Flajano and his most frequent collaborator Tulli Pinelli penned many scripts during the '50s and '60s. Before coming to films, the Pescara, Italy-born Flajano was an architect, a professional writer, a drama critic, and an author. Fellini appreciated Flajano's deft humor, wry cultural observations, and subtly and used the writer to help pen some of his best films including La Strada (1954) and La Dolce Vita (1960). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Based on an interesting plot from a novel by Robert Sheckley, this movie features tongue-in-cheek performances by Andress and Mastroianni, which are responsible for its status as a minor cult favorite. Set in the 21st century, this science fiction movie depicts a society in which population control is facilitated by the use of legalized murder. The society plays an assassination game for fun, in which the last person left alive is the winner. The movie is made for entertainment, but there are some sexual situations. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Ursula Andress, (more)
Fresh off of the international success of La Dolce Vita, master director Federico Fellini moved into the realm of self-reflexive autobiography with what is widely believed to be his finest and most personal work. Marcello Mastroianni delivers a brilliant performance as Fellini's alter ego Guido Anselmi, a film director overwhelmed by the large-scale production he has undertaken. He finds himself harangued by producers, his wife, and his mistress while he struggles to find the inspiration to finish his film. The stress plunges Guido into an interior world where fantasy and memory impinge on reality. Fellini jumbles narrative logic by freely cutting from flashbacks to dream sequences to the present until it becomes impossible to pry them apart, creating both a psychological portrait of Guido's interior world and the surrealistic, circus-like exterior world that came to be known as "Felliniesque." 8 1/2 won an Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film, as well as the grand prize at the Moscow Film Festival, and was one of the most influential and commercially successful European art movies of the 1960s, inspiring such later films as Bob Fosse's All That Jazz (1979), Woody Allen's Stardust Memories (1980), and even Lucio Fulci's Italian splatter film Un Gatto nel Cervello (1990). ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
Released in the US by 20th Century-Fox, Boccaccio '70 is a compendium of short subjects directed by three of Italy's top filmmakers. Each story is written in the style of the famed Italian essayist Boccaccio, albeit told in contemporary terms. First up is "The Raffle", written by Cesare Zavattini and directed by Vittorio De Sica: Sophia Loren (wife of Boccaccio '70 producer Carlo Ponti) plays the sexy operator of a shooting gallery, who offers herself as first prize to the best shot. In "The Job", written by Suso Cecchi D'Amico and directed by Luchino Visconti, Romy Schneider carries a torch for her philandering boss Tomas Milian. The final segment is "The Temptation of Dr. Antonio", directed by Federico Fellini and scripted by Fellini, Ennio Flaiano and Tullio Pinelli; in this one, Anita Ekberg is an image on a poster who comes to life for the benefit of a drooling middle-aged professor (Peppino De Filippo). A fourth episode, "Renzo and Luciana", directed by Mario Monicelli, was cut from U.S. release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophia Loren, Luigi Giuliani, (more)
- 1956
The Spanish/Italian Rocket From Calabuch is significant only as the last film of beloved character actor Edmund Gwenn. The 78-year-old star plays a retired atomic scientist who settles in a peaceful Spanish village. But he can't remain sedentary for long, and soon he's off and about developing a new kind of rocket. So much for his retirement, and so much for the peace and quiet in his village, which is soon overrun with reporters and spies. Rocket From Calabuch was originally released in Spain as simply Calabuch; the film didn't make it to the states until after Edmund Gwenn's death in 1959. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Gwenn
- 1965
The business of death provides the framework for this black comedy about a mortician's assistant who wants to marry an executioner's daughter. Her father really wants to change professions, but cannot, as he will lose his new government-sponsored apartment. The young man is persuaded to take over the job, but he swears he will quit before he must kill someone. Unfortunately, an execution is scheduled shortly before the beginning of a major carnival, a time when many executions are halted. The bride and groom travel there, hoping the victim will be pardoned, but he is not and the groom must fulfill his duty. Although he swears he will never do another, his face tells another story, and the old executioner knows that many more state-sanctioned deaths will follow. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nino Manfredi, Emma Penella, (more)
- 1953
The misleadingly titled Italian comedy Luxury Girls is set in an exclusive Swiss finishing school. Rambunctious American lass Lorna Whitmore Susan Stephan is enrolled in the school by her wealthy parents. Before long, Laura has set the institution on its ear with her precocious behavior. Her female partners-in-"crime" spend their waking hours thinking of men and how to trap them, rather than concentrating on their schoolwork. There are a few attempts along the way to inject a note of seriousness now and then, but for the most part Luxury Girls is a chucklesome romp. While the cast is largely comprised of unknowns, Jacques Sernas does box-office duty as a commoner passing himself off as an aristocrat. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Stephen, Anna Maria Ferrero, (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)
- 1968
An enterprising reporter takes along four willing adventurers to interview and photograph a young Sardinian criminal in hiding. Under intermittent gunfire, they make their way to the mountain hideout of the bandit. After a leisurely conversation and photo session, the encampment comes under fire from a group of armed citizens acting as police. Bullets fly and violence overtakes the criminal's two henchman, as the thrill-seeking group and the wanted criminal find themselves under attack. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylva Koscina, Jean Sorel, (more)
Italian maestro Federico Fellini's first international success is a nakedly autobiographical film that bears many of the formal and thematic concerns that recur throughout his work. Set in the director's hometown of Rimini, I Vitelloni follows the lives of five young vitelloni, or layabouts, who while away their listless days in their small seaside village. Fausto (Franco Fabrizi), the leader of the pack, marries his sweetheart, but finds himself constantly distracted by other women. Meanwhile, would-be playwright Leopoldo (Leopoldo Trieste) continues work on his dreary plays, dreaming of staging them one day. Clownish Alberto (Alberto Sordi) still lives at home with his mother and sister, Olga (Claude Farell), while boasting of preserving the family honor by watching over her. While the movie seems to pay little attention to Riccardo (Riccardo Fellini) and Moraldo (Franco Interlenghi), the latter eventually emerges as its key character, plainly serving as Fellini's alter ego. Stuck in adolescence, the five friends stumble into various misadventures, as they seek to spice up their uneventful provincial lives. Ultimately, one of them breaks free from their self-imposed paralysis and moves on, leading to one of the most poignant farewell sequences in film history. A hit in Italy upon its release, I Vitelloni secured Fellini's reputation as an up-and-coming talent, while also introducing its title into Italian vernacular. ~ Elbert Ventura, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alberto Sordi, Franco Interlenghi, (more)
Swindle and The Swindlers are both English-language titles for 1955's Il Bidone, a lesser-known effort from Federico Fellini. Broderick Crawford, Richard Basehart, and Franco Fabrizi play a trio of con artists who victimize the Italian bourgeoisie (who are shown to be no better than the crooks). Giueletta Masina (Fellini's wife), who had previously costarred with Richard Basehart in La Strada, here plays Basehart's wife. Humphrey Bogart had been intended for the role played by Broderick Crawford; one wonders how Crawford's self-deprecating curtain speech about the hollowness of his existence would have played in Bogart's hands. Swindle was not released to the US until nine years after its completion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Broderick Crawford, Richard Basehart, (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)
Juliet of the Spirits is a fantastical showcase for Federico Fellini's vibrant imagery, starring his wife, Giulietta Masina, as the titular leading character. Juliet is a wealthy housewife who constantly fears her husband, Giorgio (Mario Pisu), is cheating on her. While she yearns for a peaceful intimate evening on the night of their 15th anniversary, the egotistical Giorgio has forgotten about it and instead arrives home with his eccentric friends. After a trip to a séance, Juliet is haunted by images from the spirit world, including obsessions from her past involving religion and her late relatives. With her sisters and mother prying into her life, Juliet seems to be seeking an inner peace amidst all the sexual temptations surrounding her. She meets her neighbor, Suzy (Sandra Milo), a showy pleasure-seeker who lives in a sensual playhouse. It appears that all of Juliet's family, friends, and fantasies demand that she loosen up and embrace sexual freedom, yet she remains chaste and dowdy, lamenting over her unfaithful husband. The reasons for Juliet's repression are not clearly defined by the narrative, despite glimpses into her supposed imagination. Forced to endure the constant bombardment of sexually charged imaginings, the demure Juliet retreats on her own. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giulietta Masina, Mario Pisu, (more)
In one of the most widely seen and acclaimed European movies of the 1960s, Federico Fellini featured Marcello Mastrioanni as gossip columnist Marcello Rubini. Having left his dreary provincial existence behind, Marcello wanders through an ultra-modern, ultra-sophisticated, ultra-decadent Rome. He yearns to write seriously, but his inconsequential newspaper pieces bring in more money, and he's too lazy to argue with this setup. He attaches himself to a bored socialite (Anouk Aimée), whose search for thrills brings them in contact with a bisexual prostitute. The next day, Marcello juggles a personal tragedy (the attempted suicide of his mistress (Yvonne Furneaux)) with the demands of his profession (an interview with none-too-deep film star Anita Ekberg). Throughout his adventures, Marcello's dreams, fantasies, and nightmares are mirrored by the hedonism around him. With a shrug, he concludes that, while his lifestyle is shallow and ultimately pointless, there's nothing he can do to change it and so he might as well enjoy it. Fellini's hallucinatory, circus-like depictions of modern life first earned the adjective "Felliniesque" in this celebrated movie, which also traded on the idea of Rome as a hotbed of sex and decadence. A huge worldwide success, La Dolce Vita won several awards, including a New York Film Critics CIrcle award for Best Foreign Film and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Yvonne Furneaux, (more)
- 1955
Sophia Loren was still in the "Anna Magnani" phase of her career when she starred in La Donna del Flume (The River Girl). Sophia is cast as Nives, the girlfriend of capricious cigarette smuggler Gino Lodi (Rik Battaglia). When Gino deserts her, the impregnated Nives is soured on all men, including the "right" one, a likeable police guard (Gerald Oury). The first half of the film plays for laughs, while the second half evolves into a lachrymose soap opera. Through it all, Sophia Loren looks like a million lire--and she even gets to sing and dance! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophia Loren, Rik Battaglia, (more)
- 1955
Sophia Loren was twenty-one years old when she starred in this lightly spicy comedy. Antoinette (Loren) is an attractive young woman who is adjusting her stockings one day when a passing news photographer snaps her picture. To Antoinette's shock, the picture appears on the front page of one of Rome's biggest newspapers, and she's angered and embarrassed by the attention; soon, she finds herself fighting off the lustful attentions of Corrado (Marcello Mastroianni), the photographer who turned her into an unwitting cheesecake star, and Count Gregorio (Charles Boyer), a nobleman who tells Antoinette that he can make her a movie star. However, while the Count's attentions have little to do with any real effort to bring her to stardom, in time Corrado finds himself genuinely falling in love with the beautiful Antoinette. Fortuna Di Essere Donna was released in the United States under the titles Lucky To Be A Woman and What A Woman! ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Boyer, Sophia Loren, (more)
La Notte is another of Michelangelo Antonioni's cinematic interrupted journeys. Just as no one solved the central mystery in Antonioni's L'Avventura, neither does anyone truly enjoy the literary party that is La Notte's centerpiece. The party is being thrown to celebrate the publication of author Marcello Mastrioanni's new novel. But before he even reaches the door of the house, Mastrioanni's evening is ruined when his wife Jeanne Moreau announces suddenly she is disgusted with him--this reaction evidently triggered by an earlier visit to a dying friend. Moreau skips out on the party to wander the streets, searching for...for what? Meanwhile, Mastrioanni tries to inaugurate an empty affair with Monica Vitti, the daughter of a wealthy industrialist. The very elements that drive Mastrioanni and Moreau apart at the beginning of the film reunite them at the end. Maybe. L'Avventura and La Notte were the first two chapters in Antonioni's "barreness and alienation" trilogy; the third, L'Eclisse, was released two years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Jeanne Moreau, (more)
- 1961
Essentially a romantic drama set in Amsterdam, this standard tale starts out in a mining area in Holland where conditions are about as rough as they get. Two of the miners, Italians Federico (Lino Ventura) and Vincenzo (Bernard Fresson) take off together for the city's red-light district, where the women pose in windows for prospective customers. There the duo meet Else (Marina Vlady) and Carrel (Magali Noel) who are willing to leave their windows to spend a weekend at a resort with the two men. Soon Else has fallen in love with Vincenzo and the future of the two hookers, as well as the miners, seems to look brighter. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lino Ventura, Marina Vlady, (more)
- 1954
La Romana (Women of Rome) is a worthwhile early starring vehicle for Gina Lollobrigida. "La Lollo" plays a young woman who is strong-armed into a modelling career by her ambitious mother. Before long, she discovers that there's a lot more money to be had if she sells her body rather than merely putting it on display. Of the many men in her life, Lollobrigida truly loves only one, but doesn't realize this until it's too late. American prints of La Romana were heavily trimmed to avoid the steamier passages, but Lollobrigida's star quality comes through loud and clear. The film was adapted by director Luigi Zampa from a novel by Alberto Moravia. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gina Lollobrigida, Daniel Gélin, (more)
Acclaimed Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini drew on his own circus background for the 1954 classic La Strada. Set in a seedy travelling carnival, this symbolism-laden drama revolves around brutish strongman Zampano (Anthony Quinn), his simple and servile girlfriend Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina, Fellini's wife), and clown/aerialist Matto (Richard Basehart). Appalled at Zampano's insensitive treatment of Gelsomina, the gentle-natured Matto invites her to run off with him; but Gelsomina, like a faithful pet, refuses to leave the strong man's side. Eventually Zampano's volcanic temper erupts once too often, leading to tragic consequences. Written by Fellini and Tullio Pinelli and scored by Nino Rota, La Strada was the winner of the first official Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film, awarded in 1956. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giulietta Masina, Anthony Quinn, (more)
- 1965
Ugo Tagnazzi and Rhonda Fleming co-star in this situation comedy that spoofs the lifestyles of wealthy American women. Ricardo (Tognazzi) is a teacher who accompanies an American businessman to act as an interpreter. Soon he is off on a series of adventures that brings him into the jet-set social life of the idle rich females of New York, Miami, and Texas. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ugo Tognazzi, Rhonda Fleming, (more)
- 1972
This dark offbeat comedy features Marcello Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve. Mastroianni plays Giorgio, who lives on a island somewhere off the Mediterranean coast of France. He lives there with his dog, and the remains of an old German World War II airbase. He earns his living drawing cartoons. Liza (Deneuve) swims to the island from a rich man's yacht, and the yacht's crew confirm the end of her relationship with the owner by bringing her luggage to the island. She and Giorgio meet and become involved. She is jealous of his relationship with the dog and kills her rival while assuming its duties: wearing a collar, fetching sticks, etc. A great deal more happens in this movie, all of it symbolic. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Nights of Cabiria opens with Cabiria (Giulietta Masina) and her boyfriend playfully embracing by the seaside -- and then he shoves her into the water and steals her purse. Cabiria is revived by some local boys and runs off by herself, shouting. What follows is a series of similarly humiliating episodes, in which the defiantly positive prostitute Cabiria is hurt, but never broken. She gets picked up by movie star Alberto Lazzati (Amedeo Nazzari, doing a self-parody) and taken to his palatial estate. However, his mistress shows up and Cabiria gets locked in the bathroom all night with the dog. She then joins her fellow prostitutes for a blessing from the Virgin Mary, and ends up getting drunk and wandering into a local show, where the hypnotist invites her to join him on-stage. The audience heckles her, and she toughly reminds them of her independence and that she owns her own house. There she meets Oscar (François Perier), an accountant who romantically pursues her. Despite the warnings of her fellow prostitute friend, Wanda (Franca Marzi), she prepares to sell all her belongings and accept Oscar's proposal of marriage. After being ruthlessly taken advantage of once again, Cabiria walks off alone with a smirk of hope. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giulietta Masina, Amedeo Nazzari, (more)
- 1952
Parigi e Sempre Parigi (Paris is Always Paris) was the second feature-length effort from famed Italian documentary director Luciano Emmer. Whereas Emmer's first feature, Domenica d'Agosto (Sunday in August) was a warm-hearted study of the Italian middle class, Parigi concentrates on a gentle cultural clash between a band of Italian sports fans and the citizenry of Paris. The hero, DeAngelis (Aldo Fabrizi), has heard so much about "naughty Paree" that he's determined to experience that naughtiness first hand. This plot device, of course, obliges the director to introduce several delectable French mademoiselles in the proceedings. Ultimately, DeAngelis realizes that reports of French libertinism have been grossly exaggerated, but he has a high old time finding this out. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aldo Fabrizi, Lucia Bosé, (more)
- 1958
Five romantic and funny vignettes comprise this Italian anthology that is set amidst the beauty and fun of the famed French coastline. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylva Koscina, Franco Fabrizi, (more)
- 1970
A young man finds himself tragically trapped between cultures in this drama that was filmed in the beautiful Canadian countryside. The young man is half-native and half-Quebecois; no matter where he goes, be it in the country, or the city, he cannot seem to fit in. As a result, he begins getting into trouble involving gangsters, fast cars, and loose women. Just before his early death, he gets involved in a surreal initiation rite. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Pilon, Genevieve Deloir, (more)
