Aldo Lado Movies

The performer known as Farinelli, born Carlo Broschi (and played in this film by Stefano Dionisi), was famous in the 18th century as the world's greatest castrato, a male singer whose testicles were removed in childhood so that he would retain the high, clear voice of a child while gaining the control and power of an adult vocalist. A strikingly gifted singer with a range of more than three octaves, Farinelli was given little choice but to sacrifice his manhood in exchange for his art, and as his career was founded on the surgery that would dramatically restrict his off-stage life, his art was in turn hemmed in by his family. Carlo's father declared early on that he should only sing the songs of his brother Riccardo (Enrico LoVerso), and while Farinelli's fame gives Riccardo's career a needed boost, the mediocrity of Riccardo's compositions holds Farinelli back. When the singer is given the opportunity to work with the great composer Handel (Jeroen Krabbe), his brother's jealously and Farinelli's own poorly chosen career alliances stand in his way. The brothers' often contentious partnership also extends to the bedroom; while Farinelli's performances set women on fire, he's physically incapable of satisfying them sexually, so he provides the foreplay in a bizarre game of seduction and then turns his conquests over to his brother. Farinelli il Castrato received a Golden Globe award as Best Foreign Language Film of 1994 and an Academy Award nomination in the same category. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The Last House on the Left was a morally bankrupt but highly profitable film about rape, murder, and revenge. The 1978 sequel, The New House on the Left, may even be more reprehensible than the original. Whereas the murder site of the first film was a remote house, the scene of the crime in the sequel is a train (thereby negating the title). This film includes more rapes, more murders, and more revenge than the original --and, undoubtedly, more cash lining the pockets of the producers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A man is found one morning in the bushes of a city plaza in Prague. He is taken to a hospital where the doctors confirm that, although his eyes are wide open, he is dead. There is no heartbeat or sign of life, except, strangely enough, his body temperature is normal. No matter, he's certified as dead and sent into cold storage to wait for an autopsy. "I'm alive," the man thinks, "can't you see I'm alive?" The man, Gregory (Jean Sorel), isn't dead but he's paralyzed and helpless to alert his condition to anyone. As the doctors prepare for the autopsy, Gregory thinks back to yesterday, when he was making plans to help his girlfriend (Barbara Bach) get out of the country. Gregory begins piecing together the mystery of what happened to him in fractured bits of memory -- but will solving the puzzle do him any good? ~ Buzz McClain, Rovi

When the story begins a young girl who has wandered away from her nanny at a French ski resort is abducted, killed, and buried in the snow. Later, in Venice, the young daughter of Franco (George Lazenby), a popular sculptor, is stalked by a woman in a black veil. Finally, after several near-chances, the girl is grabbed, only to be found later floating in a canal. The police are as arrogant as they are stumped, so Franco, accompanied by his estranged wife, Elizabeth (Anita Strindberg), investigates. As Franco begins uncovering clues, the people he talks to about the case begin to die gruesome deaths. ~ Buzz McClain, Rovi