Alberto Sordi Movies

This Dino De Laurentiis production from 1965 is actually an anthology of five different directors' work, each telling their own stories about witches. The five stories are "The Witch Burned Alive," "Civic Sense," "The Earth As Seen From The Moon," "The Girl From Sicily," and "A Night Like Any Other." Silvia Mangano appears in all five, with Clint Eastwood starring in the last featured vignette. Like many gang-directed projects, this film is also plagued by a lack of continuity and by the pretentiousness of the individual directors. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Alberto Sordi plays the title character in the Spanish-Italian Lo Scapolo (The Bachelor). Forever on the verge of marriage, our hero is invariably "rescued" by an inbuilt mental quirk. He is convinced that he is thoroughly satisfied with his bachelorhood, but eventually realizes he's been lying to himself. When he finally succumbs to matrimony, it is with the woman that neither he nor the audience would ever have predicted as the winner. Weaving in and out of the proceedings as a sort of Greek chorus are bandleader Xavier Cugat and his then-wife, sultry vocalist Abbe Lane. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Made in Italy is a multistoried film, set...in Italy, of course. An all-star cast appears in brief seriocomic vignettes about rich and poor, tourist and native. Director Nanni Loy exhibits the realistic and somewhat earthy technique he'd used on his earlier documentaries, with heavy emphasis on ironic punch lines. Filmed in 1965 by a Franco/Italian production team, Made in Italy received the best possible exposure upon its 1967 American release when clips were showcased on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. Best bit: The "give to the poor" poster in an impoverished Italian mountain village. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This Italian comedy shows the gradual enlightenment of an innocent and unsuspecting priest (Alberto Sordi) as he discovers that his extremely generous brother (Richard Conte) is in fact a major American crime lord. It is based on the novel by the Rev. Salvatore Anastasia, brother of ganglord Alberto Anastasia. In the story, set in New York City in the 1940s, the mobster is not only a gangster, but is a sort of Robin Hood figure, protecting the poor Italian immigrants he has taken under his care. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Revolutionaries in papal-dominated Rome are hunted down by the minions of Cardinale Rivarola (Ugo Tognazzi) for daring to rise up against the Pope. Cornacchia (Nino Manfredi) is the politician who helps the rebel outlaws Montanari (Robert Hossein) and Targhini (Renaud Verley). Martial law is imposed as the dragnet surrounds the rebels. Giuditta (Claudia Cardenale) tries to help the rebels, but all are arrested and sentenced to hang for crimes against the civilian and papal authorities. Britt Eklund plays Princess Spada and Alberto Sordi plays the priest who tries to console the captives in their last hours. The story is taken from actual incidents in Rome just after the turn of the 19th century. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

An elderly Roman cabbie bids adieu to his beloved horse in this tearful drama. Gaetano and Nestor, his horse, have always enjoyed squiring the tourists around Rome. But then the owner of the cab tells Gaetano that he is fired. The poor old man is ordered to return the cab in Cinecitta and to take Nestor to the slaughterhouse. He is then to get to an old-folks home. Gaetano goes along initially, but then suddenly rebels. He and Nestor go out looking for a better ending. Unfortunately they are doomed before they start. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

During World War II, American USO tours gave new life to Italy's native music-hall performers, as it gave them a livelier venue for entertaining both the local population and the incoming soldiers. This Italian film, starring Alberto Sordi and Monica Vitti, tells the story of two such performers, their ambitions and their struggles. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Five romantic and funny vignettes comprise this Italian anthology that is set amidst the beauty and fun of the famed French coastline. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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, Rovi

Filmed in Italy in 1948 as Sotte il Sole de Roma, this Renato Castellani-directed effort reached American screens the following year through the good graces of United Artists. Adhering to the then-fashionable "neorealist" school, the film is gritty and uncompromising for the most part, though it manages to exude a sense of optimism by film's end. Told in episodic fashion, the story concentrates on the various ramifications of Italy's post-fascist reconstruction, as seen through the eyes of an orphan (Oscar Blando) who comes of age during WW II. Some of the best scenes concern the boy's tempestuous courtship of his long-suffering girlfriend (Liliana Mancini). Dismissed as "mediocre" in the American trade paper Variety, Under the Sun of Rome nevertheless won the "Best Italian Film" award at the 1948 Venice Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This Italian anthology is comprised of five separate episodes. In the first tale, two impoverished parents must leave their baby because they cannot afford to feed it. The second concerns two aristocrats who have fallen into poverty and end up reunited when they both are cast as extras in a movie. The third tale centers upon a priest as he attempts to counsel a suicidal woman. The next tale looks at a happy cabby. Finally, a beautiful woman tries to evade an obsessed stalker with a video camera. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi