Furio Scarpelli Movies

Even though this period drama is leisurely to especially slow in parts, it tells an entertaining story about Policarpo (Renato Rascel), a sincere and honest, low-level clerk in the government bureaucracy. Policarpo, dissatisfied with his salary, is moving through the labyrinth of paperwork necessary to justify and obtain a raise. Even though he refuses to go outside the bounds of the complex system, he begins to take heart when his daughter finally makes a good choice between two suitors. She chooses his boss's son. Though as Policarpo soon finds out, that union may not help him after all. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

It Happened in Rome -- as well as in Venice, Florence, and points in between in this frothy excursion into beautiful Italy. The slight story concerns two young girls -- the German Hilde (Inge Schoener) and the French Josette (Isabelle Corey) -- who are hitching through the countryside. Vacationing Britisher Margaret (June Laverick) has pity on them and gives them a lift. Unfortunately, Margaret has not been paying attention to her gas gauge, and the three end up trying to push the vehicle to a gas station. In the process, they lose hold of the car at a crucial moment and it rolls into the sea. With her means of transportation ruined, Margaret joins Hilde and Josette as a hitchhiker. Along the way, each of them encounters their fair share of amorous Latin lovers before finding true love. Interestingly, the writers of this glossy romance include the anarcho-communist Dario Fo, as well as Furio Scarpelli and Age (who both collaborated on The Good, the Bad and the Ugly). ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

This engaging slice of neorealism stars Marcello Mastroianni as "Il Medico" (The Doctor) and Vittorio de Sica as "Lo Stregone" (The Healer). Setting up practice in a backward, provincial village, Mastroianni finds that he can make no headway with the superstitious townsfolk so long as faith-healer De Sica holds them in thrall. A battle of wills ensues, which at first is won by De Sica. But when a medical crisis arises, it is Mastroianni who comes out on top. The feminine angle is provided by Marisa Merlini. Thanks to the drawing power of its two male stars, Il Medico e lo Stregone was well distributed in the U.S. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Told in pageantlike fashion, Casa Ricordi is the story of the Ricordi family, the most prestigious music publishers in all Italy. It was the Ricordis who, for better or worse, came up with the "royalty" concept, paying artists (and their families) for their work in perpetuity. As the family's fortune grows, the Ricordis rub shoulders with the musical glitterati of the 19th and 20th centuries, including Verdi, Donizetti, Puccini, Bellini and Rossini. Naturally, this allows the film to showcase some of these composers' most famous works--and in true Hollywood-by-the-Mediterranean fashion, the principal influence for these compositions are the various members of the Ricordi family. The soundtrack of Casa Ricordi reverberates with the voices of such musical immortals as Tito Gobbi, Renata Tibaldi, Mario Del Monaco and Gianni Poggi, among many others. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

OK Nerone stars Italian film favorites Walter Chiari and Cario Capanine as a pair of fun-loving American sailors. While on a sightseeing tour of Rome, the two tars imagine themselves back to the days of Emperor Nero (Gino Cervi). The rest of the film is in the fine tradition of such Eddie Cantor comedies as Roman Scandals and Ali Baba Goes to Town, with Chiari and Capanine introducing 1st-century Rome to the pleasures of 20th-century America. The climax takes place in the Colosseum, as our heroes stage a football game to rescue the Christians from the lions. OK Nerone exists strictly for laughs, and in this respect it succeeds admirably. English-language prints were radically trimmed to satisfy the censors of the early 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide