Mario Carotenuto Movies
Italian comedian Mario Carotenuto was best known for playing smart-alecky middle-class youths, frequently opposite his brother Memmo Carotenuto, who tended to play Mario's working-class foil in mainstream comedies and theatrical productions. Carotenuto was the son of early silent-film star Nello Carotenuto. Mario made his film debut in the early 1950s but did not become well-known until he starred in Alberto Lattuada's The Beach (1954). Other well-known Carotenuto films include Scandal in Sorrento (1955) and Il Padre di Famiglia (1963). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1995
Unhappy neighbors hatch a homicidal scheme, then turn on each other in this Italian thriller similar to Strangers on a Train (1951). Vincenzo Persico (Rolando Ravello) is a miserable man. Despite graduating from college six years ago, he can't land a teaching position, so he's forced to live in humiliation with his mother, a pensioner. Vincenzo's neighbor, the 70-year-old Bartoloni (Alberto Sordi) is in a similar position. His wife, once a gorgeous artist, is now an obese, abusive alcoholic. One night Bartoloni gets Vincenzo drunk and makes him a proposition -- he'll pay him a large sum of money if the young man will kill his wife. The intoxicated Vincenzo doesn't agree, but the offer plagues his mind. Not long after, Mrs. Bartoloni is killed in a fall from her balcony. When her husband discovers his money missing, he assumes that Vincenzo is responsible. At the same time, Vincenzo claims to have landed a job, buying his mother gifts and taking his girlfriend out dancing. Bartoloni betrays Vincenzo, accusing him of murder. Arrested, Vincenzo unemotionally claims his innocence. The police investigation reveals Bartoloni's love for another woman, leaving them baffled over a case that had seemed to be an accident. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- 1974
Gianna Abastanza (Mariangelo Melato) is tired of men acting as though they can do everything better than women, so she enters the police force and dons a policewoman's uniform. By following the law more closely than her police comrades and superiors, she soon runs into trouble with them, though this does not prevent love from blossoming. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mariangela Melato, Orazio Orlando, (more)
- 1972
In this drama, a wealthy US heiress and her partner embark upon their annual journey to Rome to play scopa, an Italian card game, with a financially struggling couple. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1972
In this politically conscious Italian drama a woman's working-class husband becomes the prisoner of the Vatican after he commits political crimes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1971
This ribald comedy is based on a classic 16th-century play, La Betia, by the playwright Ruzante. The story is simple enough: Zilio (Nino Manfredi), a peasant handyman, agrees to help his friend (Smoki Samardi) marry the woman of his dreams (Rosanna Schiaffino). His stipulation is that when they wed, he should have an equal share of lovemaking with the woman. The wedding is accomplished, but the handyman's stipulation is not met until a fourth person (Zilio's wife) joins the fray. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1969
- G
- Add If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium to QueueAdd If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium to top of Queue
A mid-1960s TV documentary special (and a New Yorker cartoon before that) was the inspiration for If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium. The film is a likeable satire of "packaged" European tours, where the nonplused tourists are expected to rush from one landmark to another in a breathless 18 days. Ian McShane stars as the amorous tour guide, with Suzanne Pleshette as the American department store buyer he falls for; their romance ends when Pleshette decides that the supposedly worldly McShane is too immature for her. An all-star cast, including Murray Hamilton, Peggy Cass, Pamela Britton, Marty Ingels, John Cassavetes and Vittorio De Sica, pops up in comic cameo roles. Our favorite bit: an American and German tourist, simultaneously regaling their respective wives with wildly divergent accounts of the same wartime confrontation. If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium was reworked in 1987 as a made-for-TV movie, cleverly title If It's Tuesday, It Still Must be Belgium. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Suzanne Pleshette, Ian McShane, (more)
- 1963
Head of the Family (IL Padre de Famiglia) is a sparse seriocomic effort directed and co-written by Italian documentary filmmaker Nanni Loy. When his wife Leslie Caron announces she is pregnant, Nino Manfredi is at first overjoyed. His delight dwindles into quiet desperation as his little family grows and grows. With so many precocious children scurrying about, the macho Manfredi feels that his position as head of the household is threatened. In a gentle, nonaggressive manner, Head of the Family reveals several universal truths about family solidarity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nino Manfredi, Leslie Caron, (more)
- 1960
Vittorio Gassman showcases his comic talents in this farce by director Dino Risi about the growing success of a con artist. Gerardo (Gassman) starts out as a vaudeville performer and noting that acting abilities can be used for less legit purposes, he creatively assumes different guises in order to con people out of anything from a pair of shoes to ultimately mucho lira. In one of his escapades he passes himself off as Greta Garbo, donning an appropriate disguise, and has all manner of paparazzi ready to take the bait. He did not learn all his inventive and often spontaneous tricks alone, his cellmate Chinotto (Peppino de Filippo) was a great mentor. But even his cellmate could not coach him on how to remain single after his girlfriend Annalise (Anna Maria Ferrero) sets her heart on matrimony. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio Gassman, Dorian Gray, (more)
- 1959
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
- 1957
In this Italian romantic comedy set in the town of Sorrento, on the beautiful Bay of Naples, a woman rents a home from a dashing womanizer. Unfortunately, after 30 years away, the man returns to become the town police chief and wants to reclaim his home. The woman refuses to leave. The man then attempts to use his many charms. The ploy works and the woman agrees to dump her fiancé and marry him instead. When the womanizer realizes what she is about to do, he jilts her instead and decides to woo his own landlady instead. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
The superb cinematography of Aldo Tonti adds immeasureably to the enjoyment of Souvenir D'Italie. The story revolves around three lovely young ladies: Margaret (June Laverick) from England, Hilde (Ingeborg Schoener) from Germany and Josette (Isabelle Corey) from France. Hitchhiking through Northern Italy, our three heroines enjoy numerous picaresque adventures. Some of the best scenes involve Alberto Sordi as a self-styled gigolo whose charms fail to impress the trio of lovelies. Likewise amusing is Vittorio de Sica in an extended cameo role. An English-language version of Souvenir D'Italie was prepared simultaneously by British producer J. Arthur Rank. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- June Laverick, Inge Schoener, (more)
- 1956
Mio Figlio Nero boasts one of the most eccentrically diverse casts in motion picture history. Silent movie queen Gloria Swanson hams it up as Agrippina, the mother of infamous 1st-century Roman emperor Nero. Her little boy grows up to become Alberto Sordi, who plays the notorious lyre-plucker and firebug for laughs. Nero's milk-bathing paramour Poppea is portrayed as a doe-eyed nymphet by Brigitte Bardot, while Roman statesman Seneca is given a satirical slant by Vittorio de Sica. It goes without saying that historical accuracy is not the strong suit of Mio Figlio Nero, which was released in the US as Nero's Big Weekend. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alberto Sordi, Gloria Swanson, (more)
- 1955
This routine drama set in post-war Italy is the first feature by novice director Sergio Capogna and is based on a best-selling novel by Vasco Pratolini. The story centers around one main protagonist, a young man (Massimo Tonna) who in addition to growing into adulthood, has to come to grips with the post-war conditions in the country. Not overly long on morality at first, he opts for seducing an older widow with the sole intent of stealing as much from her as he can. He follows his plan all the way to the end, with tragic consequences that he did not foresee -- and a lesson learned, too late. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- 1954
La Pensionnaire was released in English-speaking countries as The Boarder. The title character is a good-hearted prostitute named Joy, played by Martine Carol. Unable to locate a cheap hotel room at a swank seaside resort, Joy settles for the only available space, which happens to be in a high-class hotel. Despite her sordid profession, the girl is befriended and protected by the hotel staff, who pay for her lodgings. Not so charitable is the local police chief, though he agrees to allow Joy to stick around if she promises to reform. This proves difficult when Joy innocently finds herself in the middle of several domestic brouhahas. La Pensionnaire might make an amusing double feature with the 1990 Julia Roberts film Pretty Woman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martine Carol, Raf Vallone, (more)
