Vittorio Caprioli Movies
Italian actor Vittorio Caprioli made his first stage appearance sometime in the 1940s. With Alberto Bonnucci, Caprioli co-founded the Arlecchino Theatre, a comedy/satire troupe, in 1950. In films, he worked with most of the major European directors, including Fellini (Variety Lights), Rosselini (General Della Rovere), and Malle (Zazie dans le Metro). Turning to directing in 1961, Caprioli helmed dozens of stage productions and eight films, the best of which was 1969's Splendori e Miseri de Madama Royale. One of Vittorio Caprioli's last important acting assignments was Bertolucci's Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man, in which he was seen as Adelfo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1967
In this Italian comedy set in the 16th-century, a prince and a princess marry. Trouble ensues when a rumor that they have not consummated their marriage is circulated. The prince's father is most concerned, as a virgin marriage means he will have no heirs. He insists that the marriage be annulled. He then requires his son to marry another, but his current wife's family will not agree to the annulment until the prince proves he is a capable lover. The prince refuses to cooperate until his father threatens to cut him off financially. The prince then is paired with a virgin, and eventually passes his test. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1963
This arty New Wave film marked the directorial debut of Jacques Rozier, and almost finished him commercially. A vacationing television technician (Jean-Claude Aimini) falls in love with two teenage girls (Yveline Cery and Stefania Sabatini) in the months preceding his induction into the military. The girls plot revenge when they discover his two-timing, but one of them has already fallen in love with him. Rozier did not make another film for over a decade following this one's crashing failure. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stefania Sabatini
- 1966
A betrayed wife decides to teach her philandering husband a lesson in this riotous farce. Marta (Catherine Spaak) discovers that husband Franco (Nino Manfredi) has been stepping out with her own best friend (Maria Grazia Buccella), and gets revenge by inventing an imaginary lover. Franco takes the bait, leading to improbable but hilarious complications. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Sophia Loren, complete with blackface and an Afro, came to international acclaim in this fairly literal version of the Giuseppe Verdi opera. Loren (with singing dubbed by Renata Tebaldi) portrays the title character, an Ethiopian slave owned by Amneris (Lois Maxwell), the daughter of the Egyptian king. Aida's romantic heart is her weakness, as she must choose between loyalty to her conquered race and romance with Radames (Luciano della Marra), an officer of the Egyptian army. Director Clemente Fracassi gets a bit carried away with epic splendor and the opulent color format, but fans of Loren and opera novices should find the film rewarding. Despite Loren's lauded performance, the role of Aida was originally intended for Gina Lollobrigida. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophia Loren, Lois Maxwell, (more)
- 1952
An all-star cast graces this Italian "omnibus" feature. The film consists of eight short stories, each based on nostalgic literary efforts. Linking the various stories is bookseller Aldo Fabrizi, who passes the time by reading the works dramatized herein. In "The Excelsior Ball," dancer Alba Arnova arouses the libido of several observers. In "Less Than a Day," a three-hour train delay wreaks havoc on the romance between Arnova and Andrea Checchi. In "Sardinian Drummer Boy," the title character (Enzo Cerusico) becomes an unexpected hero on the battlefield. In "Matter of Interest," two farmers (Arnoldo Foa and Folco Lulli) quarrel over a compost pile. In "The Idyll," two very young people (Maurizio Di Nardo and Geraldina Pariniello) fall in love. "Potpourri of Songs" delivers on its title through the musical versatility of Barbara Florian and Elio Pandolfi. "The Trial of Frine" finds accused murderess Gina Lollobrigida being defended by colorful lawyer Vittorio De Sica. And in "The Trap," an accusatory husband (Amedeo Nazzari) drives his far-from-innocent wife (Elis Cegani) into an act of extreme desperation. Also known as In Olden Days, Altri Tempi was distributed worldwide by RKO Radio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aldo Fabrizi, Enzo Staiola, (more)
- 1967
In this explicitly violent espionage drama, spies and counterspies collide in Athens as they endeavor to lay claim to a vital piece of microfilm that contains info regarding the identity of several key agents. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This entertaining, light comedy is carried on the shoulders of Nino Manfredi, who plays a gypsy coffee vendor illegally selling expresso on trains. Inventive, creative, and needing to stay several steps ahead of the conductors and other bureaucrats out to shut down his operation, the cafe artist often finds himself hiding out in the most unusual places. He needs the money because his young, asthmatic son needs medical attention. That fact casts no shadow on the comedy though, as the coffee vendor continues to dodge his pursuers toward what must surely be an upbeat ending for all concerned. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nino Manfredi, Adolfo Celi, (more)
- 1977
This slapstick Italian sex comedy actually looks far more expensive than it really is, as it used the sets left over from the 1980 spectacular Caligula. It can't quite make up its mind, though, if it's a comedy (the emperor Claudius is a doddering, stuttering, impotent old fool), a sex film (with much nudity and several orgy scenes), or a slasher/gore picture (in a scene where soldiers invade an orgy and starting dismembering and decapitating everyone in sight -- which, incredibly, is treated as a slapstick scene!), and winds up being not much of anything. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio Caprioli, Gian Carlo Prete, (more)
- 1987
- R
Jennifer (Nicola Warren) and her husband, Fred (Andy J. Forest), seek out their old lovers for another fling in this erotic drama. Fred hooks up with the prostitute Rosalba (Francesca Dellera), while Jennifer returns to the arms of the handsome pimp Ciro (Luigi Laezza). The unfaithful couple return to each other after the affairs prove to be less satisfying then the memory of their initial experiences. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicola Warren, Andy J. Forest, (more)
- 1954
Carosello Napoletano was the first major Italian musical of the postwar era. The title, which translates to Neopolitan Carousel, refers to a family of street singers. The story covers a century or so in the lives of this family, with ample screen time given over to romance and heartbreak. Basically an "inventory musical", the film spotlights several well-known Neopolitan tunes, given sprightly performances by the cast. The uncredited voice of famed tenor Beniamino Gigli is heard from time to time for the benefit of his legions of fans. At 125 minutes, Carosello Napoletano tends to wear on the viewer at times, though lovers of popular Neopolitan music and dance will get their fill. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paolo Stoppa, Clelia Matania, (more)
- 1975
- R
Jane Birkin stars in this sex farce as a young British prostitute in Paris who, after her soft-core business fails, decides to go big-time and incorporate herself, selling stock to four disparate investors. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Birkin, Patrick Dewaere, (more)
- 1983
In this musical adaptation of the Cinderella story geared toward teen audiences, Cindy (Bonnie Bianco) lives with her father, stepmother, and two half-sisters in Brooklyn. The shrewish stepmom hates Cindy and is taking off for Rome to get her daughters trained in classical music. Completely against her wishes, she has to take Cindy along because her husband insists. Once in Rome, Cindy's great voice comes into its own when she sings for a band run by a prince (who has kept his true identity to himself). Everyone is invited to the prince's family mansion for a party, and when Cindy goes -- thanks to being outfitted by a friendly astrologer -- she is furious when she discovers the prince's real identity and throws her shoe at him in a fit of temper. The rest is history. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bonnie Bianco, Pierre Cosso, (more)
- 1958
When a Roman plumber witnesses a man's fatal heart attack, he wonders if he himself might suffer the same fate. Looking back on his life, he decides he has not really experienced all there is to living. He quits his job and makes plans to broaden his life experience before he runs out of time. He goes out on the town at night, visits museums, reads books and catches up on technological advancements. After awhile, he laments that he might be too old to have started down a new path in life. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1962
Excellently directed by Elio Petri, this psychological and social drama illustrates the contrast between an older man's humanity and the reality of the world around him. When Cesare (Salvo Randone) sees a man die of a heart attack while on a streetcar, he is shocked into changing his own lifestyle before it is too late. So he quits his job and careers around the city, visiting museums, cultural centers, and old friendships or passions that passed him by earlier when he was too busy to notice. But as he runs into a former friend who seems to be corrupted, an old flame which has long since fizzled, and other people with obvious clay feet his attitude toward what he has missed begins to change. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Salvo Randone, Franco Sportelli, (more)
- 1987
In one popular Spanish-English dictionary, "picaro" is defined as "roguish; scheming, tricky; low, vile; mischievous," and when used as a noun it refers to a rogue, a schemer. Yet the word also harkens to the kinds of novels (picaresque) that came out of Spain in the 17th century, including Don Quixote, stories that recounted the wanderings of vagabonds of one kind or another. This film by the esteemed director Mario Monicelli is set in the 17th century and concerns the picaresque adventures of two amusing "picaros." Lazarillo and Guzman (Enrico Montesano and Giancarlo Giannini) first met when they were slaves rowing on a prison-galley ship, and they strike up a friendship based on their having endured similarly horrific childhoods. While escaping from the slave ship during a mutiny (they chose the wrong side) they narrowly escape drowning and are separated. Guzman becomes an impoverished Baron's (Vittorio Gassman) personal servant and puts his thieving ways to good use in that capacity, while Lazarillo joins an acting troupe. When they meet again, they immediately decide to pull off a con-job they call "the cannoli trick." ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Enrico Montesano, Giancarlo Giannini, (more)
With a deft guiding hand, director Roberto Rossellini brings out the depths in this study of a man's transformation during the German occupation of Milan. Based on a novel by Indro Montanelli, the story is true. Colonel Mueller (Hannes Messemer) and his cohorts have decided to plant a spy in the Milan prison. They choose a petty thief from the streets who earns his living plying the black-market trade and assign him to the task. He is thrown in jail under the false identity of General della Rovere (Vittorio De Sica) in order to bring the Italian resistance fighters among the prisoners, out into the open. As the fake general slowly makes friends with these men, he becomes a leader of sorts, and this transformation gets him thinking in a different way about himself. This well-wrought drama was given the "Best Foreign Film" award in 1960 by the New York Film Critics, and it won the Golden Lion at the 1959 Venice Film Festival. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio De Sica, Hannes Messemer, (more)
- 1990
In this wry comedy, if it were not for the fact that screenwriter Giuseppe Marchi (Giancarlo Giannini) is clearly overwhelmed by attacks of guilt at his sometimes caddish behavior, it would be easy to dislike him as he is shown disclosing his inner life to his psychiatrist (Vittorio Caprioli). Instead, he is seen to have suffered a series of acute psychosomatic illnesses which were misdiagnosed so that he suffered a slew of unnecessary abdominal operations. Eventually some shred of self-understanding, coupled with a deep sense of resignation at life's unfairness, prompts him to leave all his travails behind for a simple, if lonely, life in Calabria. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giancarlo Giannini, Emmanuelle Seigner, (more)
- 1965
This film has two segments exploring relationships subjected to sudden trauma. In the first, "Violence," a young wife is gang-raped while her husband is forced to watch. Afterwards, neither one even acknowledges what happened. In "Love," a wife is hospitalized after attempting suicide, and her husband flirts innocently with a pretty young nurse. When the wife dies, the husband is consumed with guilt over his perceived unfaithfulness. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Director Alessandro Blasetti used an all-star Italian cast for this satirical comedy that pokes fun at the selfishness of humans and uses one character to link a series of comic vignettes. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gina Lollobrigida, Silvana Mangano, (more)
- 1976
In this comedy, Louis de Funes is a top restaurant critic, the head of an important French culinary guide. At the beginning of the film, he and his son (Coluche) are at odds, as the son prefers working as a circus clown to studying the fine arts of gastronomy. The two join forces, however, to thwart the greedy owner of a chain of inferior restaurants, who plans to take over the finest restaurants in France and substitute his formulaic fodder for real cooking. Another lure bringing the son into the picture is a lovely secretary working for the guide. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis de Funès, Coluche, (more)
- 1975
- R
After his son is kidnapped, a millionaire industrialist (James Mason) seeks revenge, in spite of the potential danger that his rash actions will bring about for his child and another kidnapped boy, the son of a poor mechanic (Luc Merenda). ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 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)
