Memmo Carotenuto Movies
- 1969
This romantic comedy finds a married couple taking a honeymoon after seven years of marriage. Hannelore (Liselotte Pulver) and her husband Lukas (Dieter Hallervordern) start off for Rome in their Volkswagon but run out of gas. An opportunistic local offers to help them and then helps himself to Lucas' money. While Lukas goes after the thief, Hannelore is enamored with an Italian playboy (Alberto Farnese). She quickly succumbs to the advances of the Lothario. Her husband gets back the money and takes pity on the thief, a father of 12 whose wife is soon expecting the 13th. Lukas refuses to press charges and Hannelore returns to Lukas after her affair with her Italian lover. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liselotte Pulver, Dieter Hallervorden, (more)
- 1967
In this Italian melodrama, a soccer referee has more passion for the game than he does for his wife. The man's father doesn't help as he dislikes both the sport and his wife. The couple continues to drift apart and ends up having several affairs. They then attend the same soccer match and end up renewing their love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Following up 1964's Academy Award nominated L'Homme de Rio, French filmmaker Philippe de Broca wrote and directed this big-screen adaptation of André Couteaux's novel Un monsieur de compagnie. Jean-Pierre Cassel stars as Antoine, a young man who holds the philosophy "Laziness is the mother of all virtue" close to his heart and spends many dreamy days fishing with his wealthy grandfather. But when he has a prophetic dream that the old man will die impoverished, Antoine is motivated to change his life and try to earn his own money. Also starring Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Pierre Marielle, Un monsieur de compagnie was released in the United States in 1966 under the title Male Companion. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Pierre Cassel, Jean-Claude Brialy, (more)
- 1961
While this effective film may ostensibly be a thriller about the robbery of an armored vehicle, considerable black comedy ensnares the action in many places. Ginny (Nadja Tiller) is an enigmatic German woman cons a gang of crooks into robbing an armored car bound for France containing a US Army payroll. The crooks plan to stage a phony car crash to lure the guard out of the truck. They then plan to commandeer the truck, drive it to a carnival ground and open the vault in private. The demonic device has booby traps for boobies who plan to open it, and though tragedy and death are the result of the thieves' botched heist, they lose a little of their meaning to the battle with the box. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nadja Tiller, Rod Steiger, (more)
- 1959
Based on a Spanish literary classic, this excellent costume drama follows the adventures of Lazarillo (Marco Paoletti), a young impoverished boy who has no one to financially or emotionally support and nurture him. So he becomes the cohort of a villainous, blind beggar as the only ready means of survival. Next, he hooks up with an impecunious cleric who in that regard, is not much different than the beggar. Lazarillo then continues on his way and finds a supposed nobleman who turns out to have about as much money as Lazarillo -- nada. Finally, the lad joins up with a troupe of actors, a family who wanders from town to town performing, and finally life begins to look more interesting. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marco Paolette, Juan Jose Menendez, (more)
- 1959
This routine period drama is set during the first half of the 19th century, when Queen Isabela II of Spain was opposed by her uncle, Don Carlos. In this story, Jose (Francisco Rabal) is an officer in Don Carlos' army who deserts but is captured and sentenced to be shot by a firing squad. In the gentleman's war of the day, Jose is given an overnight reprieve before showing up for his appointment with the "ten waiting rifles." While he is out free during this time, he mulls over the idea of running away with the woman he loves. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francisco Rabal, Ettore Manni, (more)
- 1958
Il Cocco di Mamma translates to "Mamma's Boy," a more than adequate description of protagonist Maurizio Arena. On the verge of achieving success as a prizefighter, Arena loses because he's afraid his face will be permanently damaged. Branded a coward by his friends and family, our hero is finally able to find inner reserves of strength through the love of a good woman (Inge Schoener). No longer frightened of facial disfigurement, Arena at last emerges victorious. The story is nothing special, but the handling of the material, combined with the film's realistic depiction of life in working-class Rome, is first rate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maurizio Arena, Edoardo Nevola, (more)
Mario Monicelli's classic crime comedy Big Deal on Madonna Street (I Soliti Ignoti) features Vittorio Gassman and Marcello Mastroianni as a pair of thieves who head a group of criminals in a break-in attempt. Their plan involves digging an underground tunnel from an apartment that leads to a neighboring business and drilling their way inside. In addition to each of the burglars struggling with individual personal problems, the group must reassess their plans after they find themselves not in the store, but a different room of the apartment from which they started. Big Deal on Madonna Street is a spoof of Jules Dassin's caper classic Rififi. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio Gassman, Marcello Mastroianni, (more)
- 1958
Told in anecdotal fashion, this lightweight comedy examines the amorous activities of husbands who remain in the city while the wives and kiddies are shipped off to summer vacation resorts (shades of The Seven Year Itch!) Most of the individual episodes are obvious in their humor and outcome. The best sequence involves a wandering husband, played by Renato Salvatori, who carries on a flirtation with shapely artist Giorgia Moll. Also good for laughs is the scene in which an errant hubby follows his wife to a seaside resort, convinced that she's been unfaithful. Mariti in Citta was released in English-speaking countries as Husbands in the City. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giorgia Moll, Nino Taranto, (more)
- 1957
Though the English translation of Padre I Figli is Fathers and Son, the film bears no resemblance to the Russian novel of the same name. Set in the weeks just prior to Christmas, the story focuses on the Yuletide preparations made by five different families. The humor derives from the communication gap between the elder family members and their bewildering offspring. The powerhouse cast is headed by Vittorio de Sica and Marcello Mastrioanni. Because of this, and the universality of the film's theme, Padre I Figli did quite well in the U.S. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio De Sica, Marcello Mastroianni, (more)
Farewell to Arms is the second film version of Ernest Hemingway's World War One novel--and also the last film produced by David O. Selznick (Gone with the Wind). Rock Hudson plays an American serving in the Italian Army during the "War to End All Wars". Jennifer Jones is his lover, a Red cross nurse. They have a torrid affair, which results in Jones' pregnancy. As the months pass, Hudson and Jones lose contact with one another, and Jones believes that Hudson has forgotten her. But a battle-weary Hudson finally makes it to Switzerland, where Jones is hospitalized. The baby is stillborn, and Jones dies shortly afterward, murmuring that her death is "a dirty trick." Filmed on a simpler scale in 1932 (with Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes starring), A Farewell to Arms was blown all out of proportion to "epic" stature for the 1957 remake--so much so that its original director, John Huston, quit the film in disgust. Still, the basic love story is touchingly enacted by Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jones. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Jennifer Jones, (more)
- 1955
Sophia Loren was twenty-one years old when she starred in this lightly spicy comedy. Antoinette (Loren) is an attractive young woman who is adjusting her stockings one day when a passing news photographer snaps her picture. To Antoinette's shock, the picture appears on the front page of one of Rome's biggest newspapers, and she's angered and embarrassed by the attention; soon, she finds herself fighting off the lustful attentions of Corrado (Marcello Mastroianni), the photographer who turned her into an unwitting cheesecake star, and Count Gregorio (Charles Boyer), a nobleman who tells Antoinette that he can make her a movie star. However, while the Count's attentions have little to do with any real effort to bring her to stardom, in time Corrado finds himself genuinely falling in love with the beautiful Antoinette. Fortuna Di Essere Donna was released in the United States under the titles Lucky To Be A Woman and What A Woman! ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Boyer, Sophia Loren, (more)
- 1954
Legendary producer David O. Selznick teamed with Italian neorealist Vittorio De Sica (The Bicycle Thief) to bring audiences this heartfelt romantic drama concerning the pain of lost love and the difficulty of saying goodbye. When a beautiful but married American woman, Mary Forbes (Jennifer Jones), meets a handsome Italian, Giovanni Doria (Montgomery Clift), while on holiday in Rome, their forbidden affair soon develops into something more for the lovelorn Giovanni. As Mary bids her heartbroken lover farewell at the train station, Giovanni cannot repress his true feelings and begs her to remain with him in Italy. With a script that credits such writers as Truman Capote, Carson McCullers, Paul Gallico, and Alberto Moravia, Indiscretion of an American Wife has endured to become a true buried treasure of romantic cinema. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Jones, Montgomery Clift, (more)
- 1954
Can a good man tame a woman on the wrong side of the law? Paolo (Marcello Mastroianni) is a slightly clumsy cab driver who, not long after being issued a new vehicle, picks up an interesting fare -- a strikingly beautiful young woman, Lina (Sophia Loren), who is going to the beach with two of her boyfriends. When they arrive at the seashore, Lina invites Paolo to join them, but he soon discovers Lina is simply working her charm on him so her friends can steal his cab. Paolo takes up the matter with the police, but Lina's profoundly silly explanation of the events makes him wonder if he simply misinterpreted the whole thing. However, after meeting Lina's dignified father Stroppiani (Vittorio De Sica), Paolo discovers that both father and daughter are thieves, as is the rest of the family. As Paolo unsuccessfully tries to bring the family to justice, he finds himself falling for the beauteous Lina, and decides to marry her, certain that matrimony will bring her to the straight and narrow. Peccato Che Sia una Canaglia (released in America as Too Bad She's Bad) marked the first time Sophia Loren (then only twenty years old) was co-starred with her frequent screen partner Marcello Mastroianni; they would eventually make thirteen pictures together. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophia Loren, Vittorio De Sica, (more)
Vittorio De Sica plays the middle-aged marshal of carabiniers in a remote Italian mountain village. He's anxious to marry, and selects young Gina Lollobrigida as his bride; but she is already in love with De Sica's shy subordinate Roberto Risso. Mistaking her headstrong behavior as promiscuity, De Sica makes advances towards her, but she spurns him. Forsaking the girl to the arms of Risso, De Sica decides to settle for village midwife Marisa Merlini. Originally titled Pane, Amore, e Fantasia when released in Italy, Bread, Love and Dreams contains what some regard as Gina Lollobrigida's best and most naturalistic performance. The film's popularity resulted in two sequels, both with Lollobrigida: Pane, Amore e Gelosia (US title: Frisky) and the open-ended Pane, Amore e... (released in the states as Scandal in Sorrento). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio De Sica, Gina Lollobrigida, (more)
