Maura Monti Movies

As indicated by its title, The Icicle Thief shamelessly parodies Vittorio De Sica's neorealist classic The Bicycle Thief--but it's much more than a mere lampoon. Director Maurizio Nichetti appears on-screen as a pompous filmmaker whose new film The Icicle Thief is the last-minute substitute for a more highly regarded "masterpiece" on an intellectual Italian TV program. The film, in black and white, begins to unreel on screen, only to be interrupted at crucial moments by loud, vulgar, full-color commercials. The film-within-a-film's central character (Nichetti again!), who works in a chandelier factory, is suddenly cut adrift when there's a power failure at the TV studio. Soon the hero of the film finds himself in the alien environment of TV advertising, and separating reality from fantasy becomes a lost cause. The worst of it is, the viewers at home don't notice that anything's amiss--they've been so long inundated by commercial intrusions on theatrical films that they're grown numb to the artistic outrages perpetrated upon both director Nichetti and star Nichetti. The various clever cinematic tricks deployed by Nichetti in Icicle Thief are reminiscent of another highly regarded film classic: cartoon director Chuck Jones' Duck Amuck. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of four low-rent Mexican horror productions from the 1960s which featured an ailing Boris Karloff in supporting roles (and released after his death), this sci-fi/horror quickie features Karloff as a 19th-century scientist who invents a powerful energy device capable of rendering any weapon useless. Although we're led to believe that military forces will soon step in to nab the device, the scientist's laboratory is suddenly invaded by aliens -- who consider the raygun too dangerous to be allowed to fall into human hands. To achieve their ends, the invaders take over the bodies of the scientist and his assistant, who also happens to be responsible for a series of sex-killings in the surrounding village. Several confusing plot twists later, Karloff regains control of his senses and sets the machine to self-destruct before it can fall into evil hands. The filmmakers barely had enough talent to adhere to the simplest of storylines, much less this hodgepodge of cut-rate H.G. Wells posturing and sleazy exploitation. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

In this Mexican sci-fi fantasy, big beefy Martians invade the earth. Ostensibly they have come to warn people about the dangers of nuclear testing and exploring space, but too soon their real mission becomes manifest when they begin using their special powers and gadgets, including an airborne eyeball that shoots out rays, to exploit weak earthlings. They also begin performing biological experiments on some of the people until a brave hero rushes in to destroy the alien craft. Before he does, he manages to woo two of the female Martians. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide