Italian Films/Themes by Title
| Title | Call ID # | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 8 1/2 | VIT 305 | Federico Fellini: Italian (English subtitles) B&W, 138 Mins. 1963. Fellini's great autobiographical masterpiece, the loose portrayal of a film director during the course of making a film and finding himself trapped by his fears and insecurities. With Marcello Mastroianni. |
| 1900 |
VENG 310 |
Bernardo Bertolucci: English 510 Mins. 1976. Bernardo Bertolucci's opus,a sweeping epic achievement which chronicles the rise of Fascismand Socialism in Italy through the interlocking stories of family generations. The stellar cast includes Robert De Niro and Gerard Depardieu as two friends torn apart by political upheavals in their country, Dominique Sanda, Stefania Sandrelli, Donald Sutherland and Alberto Grimaldi. A work of massive scope, brilliance and power, Pauline Kael said 'Bertolucci is trying to make a people's film by drawing on the mythology of the movies, as if it were a collective memory. 1900 is a romantic movie-goer's version of the class struggle- a love poem for the movies as well as for the life of those who live communally on the land'. |
| Accatone (The Scrounger) | DVIT 821 | Pier Paolo Pasolini:Italian ( English Subtitles) B&W, 116 Mins. Based on one of the filmmaker/poet's novels, this story of a pimp, his friends, his enemies and his girls is realism at her earliest. It is brutal, realistic, unsentimental and bustling with life. |
| Accatone (The Scrounger) | VIT 359 | Pier Paola Pasolini: Italian (English Subtitiles) B&W, 116 Mins. The first of Pier Paolo Pasolini's highly acclaimed films, and the winner of numerous film festival prizes, Accatone uses a talented cast to present a vivid picture of the Roman slums. Based on one of the filmmaker/poet's novels, this story of a pimp, his friends, his enemies and his girls is realism at its earthiest. It is brutal, realistic, unsentimental and bustling with life. Particularly effective the use of each Bach on the soundtrack which provides ironic counterpoint to the world of pimps, prostitutes and street fighters. |
| Alberto Expre$$ |
VIT 338 |
Arthur Joffe: Italian & French (English subtitles) 92 Mins. 1992. Every family has its own funny little traditions, but Alberto's takes quirkiness to the most hilarious extreme. In Alberto's family the children must pay their parents back every cent spent on their rearing; and the debt must be completely repaid before the children start a family of their own. Unfortunately, Alberto is 40 and flat broke. If he can't come up with a big chunk of change to repay his father in a hurry, he's going to have to figure out a way to return his about-to-be-born baby. Taking the train to his father's home to seek mercy, Alberto is struck with an idea. Why not beg, borrow, and, steal his way to financial fitness? A wickedly funny comedy about families, finances and the kindness of strangers. |
| Allonsanfan |
VIT 310 |
P&V Taviani: Italian (English subtitles) 115 Mins. 1984. One of the great films by the brothers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani (Night of Shooting Stars), Alonsanfan stars Marcello Mastroianni in a comic masterpiece, making use of bravura lightning and color schemes. Set after Napoleon has fallen in 1816, the film features Mastroianni as a disillusioned Jacobin aristocrat released from prison and torn between his revolutionary ideals and comfortable lifestyle. With Laura Betti, Lea Massari. |
| Amarcord |
VIT 330 |
Federico Fellini: Italian (English subtitles) 127 Mins. 1974. A film which breathes freedom -a nostalgic, fantastic and funny reminiscence of growing up in Fellini's home town of Rimini-made, Fellini said, to finish with youth and tenderness. Against the comic background are sets of indelible characters and an omnipresent Fascist state. Amarcord breathlessly shifts between the melodramatic, the intimate and the burlesque in what is a deeply personal, shared vision. The images -a peacock flying through the snow, a child on his way to school who encounters cows that the early-morning fog has transformed into monsters-are like icons; unforgettable. |
| Le Amiche (The Girlfriends) | DVIT 815 | Michelangelo Antonioni: Italian (English Subtitles) 99 Mins. Academy Award -winning director Michelangelo Antonioni explores women's evolving role in society and the conflict between love and career in this engrossing drama. Clelia, a beautiful young woman who lands her dream job in a glamorous Italian fashion house soon finds herself plunged into a cruel world of phony, shallow people. She joins a rich, snobbish circle of friends, but becomes increasingly disturbed by their spitefulness and insincerity. Clelia finds the only honesty in her life in the pure love offered by Carlo, a young, socially impoverished assistant architect. But is it enough? |
| Artemisia | DVFR 829 | Agnes Merlet: French (English Subtitles) 96 Mins. 1998. Artemisia is the higly provocative true story of a young woman whose bold pursuit of artistic freedom and physical desire threatened the elite powers of her time! Artemisia Gentileschi, the beautiful and talented daughter of one of Italy's greatest painters, is forbidden to fully pursue her own passion for painting. When she convinces a renowned and unconventional artist to tutor her, however, he not only liberates her in the world of art..but initiates her into the treacherous world of sex and love! |
| Artemisia |
VFR 380 |
Agnes Merlet: French (English subtitles) 96 Mins. 1998. A widely acclaimed critical favorite honored with a Golden Globe nomination as Best Foreign Film, Artemisia is the highly provocative true story of a young woman whose bold pursuit of artistic freedom and physical desire threatened the elite powers of her time. Artemisia Gentileschi, the beautiful and talented daughter of one of Italy's greatest painters, is forbidden to fully pursue her own passion for painting. When she convinces a renowned and unconventional artist to tutor her, however, he not only liberates her in the world of art... but initiates her into the treacherous world of sex and love! Following the controversy of a theatrical release that saw the original NC-17 rating overturned on appeal, Miramax Films is proud to present this important and powerful motion picture complete and unedited! |
| Before the Revolution | VIT 358 | Bernando Bertolucci: Italian ( English Subtitles)110 Mins. 1962. Bernando Bertolucci made Before The Revolution when he was only 22 years old. A volatile mixture of styles, romantic and anti-romantic at the same time, it has lost little of its power to exhilarate and surprise. The plot is loosely derived from Stendhal's 'The Charterhouse of Parma': a young man flirts intellectually with communism and incestuously with his young aunt. But eventually he realizes that, for him, life will always be " before the revolution." In defining his hero's "nostalgia for the present," Bertolucci produced a major statement on the state of mind of the sixties, as well as a timelessly lyrical affirmation of youth's rites of passage through love and politics. |
| Il Bell'Antonio |
VIT 339 | Mauro Bolognini: Italian (English subtitles) 101 mins. 1960. To every red-blooded woman in Sicily, there is no man so virile, so desirable so sensually inviting as Antonio Mangano (Marcelo Mastroianni). At the urging of his family, he relinquishes his bachelorhood to the alluring Barbara Puglisi (Claudia Cardinale), unloosing an ominous secret that threatens to spoil the young couple's wedded bliss: 'Il Bell' Antonio' is no Don Giovanni. The fires rumored to rage in his loins are but cooling embers. This revelation scandalizes the entire town of Catania and sends each set of in-laws into panicked crusades to defend their family's honor. |
| The Bicycle Thief (Ladri di Biciclette) | DVIT 806 |
Vittorio De Sica: Italian (English subtitles) B&W, 89 Mins. 1972. THE BICYCLE THIEF is about a man, a worker, who must have a bike in order to work at his job. He is desperate, pawns everything to regain his machine, goes to work, has the thing stolen from him while his back is turned, and then goes on a search through Rome to find it. |
| Il Bidone |
VIT 303 | Federico Fellini: Italian (English subtitles) B&W, 92 Mins. 1955. Academy Award winner Broderick Crawford has the best role of his career as Augusto, the ringleader of a trio of petty con men who impersonate priests and swindle peasants by appealing to their greed. Constantly humiliated by his life, Augusto suffers a crisis of conscience that only leads him to disaster in a shattering climax. Il Bidone forms the middle panel of his trilogy including La Strada and Nights of Cabiria. |
| Bread and Chocolate |
VIT 347 |
Franco Brusati's: Italian (English subtitles) 109 Mins. 1974. Nino Manfredi is marvelous in this uproarious comedy about an Italian immigrant working odd jobs in prosperous Switzerland and trying desperately to fit in. Though his work becomes increasingly degrading, he tenaciously refuses to give up and go home. Like Chaplin's beloved tramp, this hapless Everyman is eternally rejected, yet ever-hopeful. |
| Bread and Tulips | DVIT 807 |
Silvio Soldini: Italian (English subtitles) 116 Mins. 2000. Rosalba's life is about to change. When the busy housewife (Licia Maglietta) is accidentally left behind while on vacation with her family, she decides to take a holiday on her own in ravishing Venice. Charmed by the city and her new-found freedom, she extends her stay, finding a job in a flower shop, renting a room from a wistful waiter (Bruno Ganz) whom she befriends, and rediscovering her love playing the accordion. But her solo sojourn does not sit well with her tyrannical husband (Antonio Catania), who recruits an amateur detective (Giuseppe Battiston) to bring his wife back home. Will Rosalba return to her old life or embrace the exciting possibilities of a new one? |
| Bread and Tulips | VIT 357 |
Silvio Soldini: Italian (English subtitles) 116 Mins. 2000. Rosalba's life is about to change. When the busy housewife (Licia Maglietta) is accidentally left behind while on vacation with her family, she decides to take a holiday on her own in ravishing Venice. Charmed by the city and her newfound freedom, she extends her stay, finding a job in a flower shop, renting a room from a wistful waiter (Bruno Ganz) whom she befriends, and rediscovering her love playing the accordion. But her solo sojourn does not sit well with her tyrannical husband (Antonio Catania), who recruits an amateur detective (Giuseppe Battiston) to bring his wife back home. Will Rosalba return to her old life or embrace the exciting possibilities of a new one? |
| Caro Diario |
VIT 313 |
Nanni Moretti: Italian (English subtitles) 100 Mins. 1994. Award-winning Italian director Nanni Moretti stars as himself in his whimsical comedy about a man who takes off on his motorcycle across Italy in search of the true meaning of life. Packed with fascinating scenery, an eclectic soundtrack and a special appearance by Jennifer Beals, the story reveals telling insights into the lives of everyday people. Along with his TV addicted friend, Moretti hops on a boat that takes them to the mystical, secluded islands of the blue Mediterranean. Querying everyone they meet, they soon discover that the journey of life itself is the answer... or is it the question..? |
| The Children are Watching Us |
VIT 326 |
Vittorio De Sica: Italian (English subtitles) 85 Mins. 1944. With his fifth film, Vittorio de Sica surprised everyone by turning into a vicious critic of society. The film, set among the bourgeoisie, focuses on a marital triangle. The mother of a four-year old boy leaves her husband for another man. The husband, unable to stand the humiliation, commits suicide. The boy, lonely and unwanted, is sent to an orphanage. The script was written by six scenarists, including Cesare Zavattini, who, through the film, emerged as a driving force in Italian cinema for many years to come. |
| Christ Stopped at Eboli (Cristo Si E Fermato a Eboli) | DVIT 809 | Francesco Rosi: Italian (English subtitles) 145 Mins. 1979. This award winning adaption of Carlo Levi's classic, is the story of Carlo Levi, a political exile banished to a village in the south of Italy in 1935 for his anti fascist writings. It is the story of Levi's experiences in an alien world of poverty and quiet, where he discovers that human values are stronger than values of state. |
| Christ Stopped at Eboli (Cristo Si E Fermato a Eboli) |
VIT 308 |
Francesco Rosi: Italian (English subtitles) 119 Mins. 1979. This award winning adaption of Carlo Levi's classic, is the story of Carlo Levi, a political exile banished to a village in the south of Italy in 1935 for his anti fascist writings. It is the story of Levi's experiences in an alien world of poverty and quiet, where he discovers that human values are stronger than values of state. |
| Ciao, Proffesore | VIT 329 |
Cecchi Gori: Italian (English subtitles) 91 Mins. 1993. This brilliant comedy details the outrageous clash between a strict, no-nonsense teacher and his class of rambunctious, street-smart children. Ultimately it's the teacher who ends up learning more about life from his charges than the other way round. |
| Cinema Paradiso | VIT 300 |
Guiseppe Tornatore: Italian (English subtitles) 121 Mins. 1989. An affectionate salute to the magic of the movies and the individuals who spent their lives in the projection booth. This Italian film received an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Philippe Noiret stars as Alfredo, the projectionist for a small Sicilian movie palace, who opens up new worlds for one very inquisitive child. With Jacques Perrin, Salvatore Cascio, Pupella Maggio, and Marco Leonardi. |
| The Conformist |
VENG 346 |
Bernardo Bertolucci: English Dubbed Version 1970. Jean-Louis Trintignant plays a rising young follower of Mussolini who must assassinate his former professor, now in political exile, to demonstrate his loyalty to the Fascist state. Bertolucci's breakthrough film makes total use of the medium to seduce us with gilded images of a decadent society. He equates the rise of Italian fascism with the psychosexual life of his protagonist for whom conformity becomes an obsession after a traumatic homosexual experience in his youth. |
| The Decamerom |
DVIT 818 | Pier Paolo Pasolini:Italian (English Subtitles) 111 Mins. 1970. Legendary Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini delivers nine exuberant tales in this "earthly, genuinely ribald and spicy" (Variety) film. Based on Boccaccio's timeless classic - and the first in Pasolini's "Trilogy of Life" series - "The Decameron" is an uproariously "irreverent romp" (Variety) that's "positively jubilant in its naughtiness" (Films and Filming)! Lusty nuns who perform sexual "miracles," a cheating wife with a head for business, a dying con artist attempting a heavenly swindle, young lovers caught with their pants down, a servant who loses his head for love and a gullible farmer who tries to turn his wife into a mare. These are just some of the stories Pasolini vividly brings to life! |
| The Decamerom |
VIT 321 |
Pier Paolo Pasolini: Italian (English subtitles) 116 Mins. 1970. The first part of Pasolini's trilogy, based on the ribald tales of Boccaccio, which deal with human sensuality and artistic creation. Pasolini has refashioned the 100 tales into a collection of 11 sketches that is at the same time erotic, political, humorous and autobiographical. Pasolini himself appears in the role of the painter Giotto, and continues to use non-professional actors, because, he said, he was fed up with the traditional cinema's 'false language of realism'. |
| Divorce Italian Style |
VIT 331 |
Pietro Germi: Italian (English subtitles) 104 Mins. 1962. The adult comedy sensation that started it all. Marcello Mastroianni is a Sicilian nobleman who, tiring of his fatuous and fawning wife, begins directing his attentions toward his teenage cousin. In an attempt to end his problems once and for all, he devises a plan to catch his wife cheating so he can kill her...but first he must find her a lover! |
| La Dolce Vita |
VIT 314 | Federico Fellini: Italian (English subtitles) B&W, 178 Mins. 1961. A landmark of cinematic social comment', wrote one critic about Fellini's journey through a decadent Rome. Banned by the Church in many countries, the sensationalism of the film often obscured its serious intent. La Dolce Vita follows a society journalist (Mastroianni) through the nightmarish world in which emotions have been destroyed by surface realities, moral conventions and unresolved guilt. |
| Everybody's Fine | VIT 311 |
Guiseppe Tornatore: Italian (English subtitles) 115 Mins. 1990. The Oscar winning director of Cinema Paradiso teams up with Italy's greatest actor in a bitter sweet story of a father's quest to reunite his five grown children. Marcello Mastroianni plays an elderly widower whose happiness is restored each year with a reunion of the whole family at his seaside home in Naples. This year he decides to surprise his children by touring Italy and finding out how the younger half lives. |
| The Eyes, The Mouths | VIT 323 |
Marco Bellocchio: Italian (English subtitles) 100 Mins. 1982. A critically acclaimed tour de force; Lou Castel returns to his home to a family traumatized by suicide and unraveling at the seams in a film which re-established Bellochio as major world talent. With stunning performances from Castel, Angela Molina and Emanuelle Riva. |
| The Family |
VIT 302 |
Ettore Scola: Italian (English subtitles) 128 Mins. 1986. Nominated for Best Foreign Film, this Ettore Scola drama about 80 years in the life of a middle class family in Rome has absolutely nothing to do with the Charles Bronson movie of the same name. Vittorio Gassman heads an abundant cast of Italian actors that include Stefania Sandrelli and Ricki Tognazzi. Also non-Italian actors like Fanny Ardent and Philippe Noiret. A note of interest: the camera never leaves the house. |
| The Fiances (I Fidanzati) | VIT 341 |
Ermanno Olmi: Italian (English subtitles) B&W, 84 Mins. Ermanno Olmi's brilliant second feature is the simple story of a young man from Milan who takes a welding job in Sicily which takes him away from his fiancée, because he thinks the separation will be good for their relationship. But loneliness and the strange environment make him turn back to her. Olmi's deep humanism is evident in his moving depiction of the lives of simple people, played by non-professionals. One of the truly great Italian films of the 60's. |
| Fiorile | VIT 320 |
P & V Taviani: Italian (English subtitles) 118 Mins. 1993. From the creators of Night of the Shooting stars and Padre Padrone comes an extraordinary epic tale of intrigue, betrayal and murder. The Benedetti family has been haunted by a curse for generations. Now, on a long drive to visit their grandfather, Luigi Benedetti tells his children the mysterious and magical story of their ancestors - from a young French soldier who sacrifices his life for a beautiful Italian peasant girl, to a sister's ultimate act of vengeance. Breathtaking in scope and vision, Fiorile is a provocative tale of forbidden love, passion and deadly romance. |
| Fish Soup | VIT 340 |
Fiorella Infascelli: Italian (English subtitles) 107 Mins. 1992. A magical, funny and intimate view of a young girl's growing up, set against a tangled web of family relationships in Tuscany, Fish Soup is an endearing film and a brilliant accomplishment by director Fiorella Infascelli. Set between the 1950s and late '70s against the beauty of the Tuscan seaside, Fish Soup offers small sketches of family behavior and psychology, from gatherings to complicated relationships, with a light but indelible touch. Narrating with a rare balance of frankness, naturalness and tenderness, Fiorella Infascelli reveals a Chekhovian understanding of family relationships as we follow the development of Isabella (Chiara Caselli) and her relationship with her father (Philippe Noiret) and family. |
| The Garden of the Finzi-Continis |
VIT 301 |
Vittorio De Sica: Italian (English subtitles) 90 Mins. 1971. A haunting love story set amidst the beauty and turbulent political passions of prewar Italy. Academy Award winner in 1971 for Best Foreign Film. With Dominique Sanda and Lino Cappoliccio. |
| Il Gattopardo |
DVIT 812 A | Luchino Visconti: Italian (English Subtitles) 185 Mins. 1963. Luchino Visconti's The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) is an epic on the grandest possible scale. The film recreates, with nostalgia, drama, and opulence, the tumultuous years of Italy's Risorgimento-when the aristocracy lost its grip and the middle classes rose and formed a unified, democratic Italy. Burt Lancaster stars as the Asian prince watching his culture and fortune wane in the face of a new generation, represented by his upstart nephew (Alain Delon) and his beautiful fiancee (Claudia Cardinale). Awarded the Palme d'Or at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival, The Leopard translates Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's novel, and the history it recounts, into a truly cinematic masterpiece. |
| Il Gattopardo |
DVIT 812 B | Luchino Visconti: Italian. 190 Mins. Part II. Winner of the Palme d'Or in Cannes, Il Gattopardo is one of greatest masterpieces of Italian Cinema. |
| Il Gattopardo | VIT 324 A | Luchino Visconti: Italian. 190 Mins. Winnder of the Palme d'Or in Cannes, Ill Gattopardo is one of the greatest masterpieces of Italian Cinema. |
| Il Gattopardo |
VIT 324 B | Luchino Visconti: Italian. 190 Mins. Winnder of the Palme d'Or in Cannes, Ill Gattopardo is one of the greatest masterpieces of Italian Cinema. |
| Il Giorno Della Civetta |
VIT 344 | Il Meglio Del Cinema. Italian. Un omicidiomisterioso e Bellodi, il capitano dei Caradinieri, sa che i vicini di casa non dicono la verita. Le sue indagini provocano altre due omicidi. Bellodi sa che Don Mariano Arena ne e coinvolto, ma non riesce a provare la sua colpa... Un capolavoro cinematografico di Damiano Damiani dall'onomino libro di Leonardo Sciascia. |
| The Gospel According to St. Matthew |
VIT 312 |
Pier Paolo Pasolini: Italian (English subtitles) 142 Mins. 1964. Non-actors, rugged Italian landscapes and towns, cinema-verite techniques, expressive close-ups are some of the elements of Pasolini's moving sacred and mythic epic. His Christ is anguished, determined, a peripatetic preacher against the afflictions of social injustice, whose miracles are matter-of-fact. |
| Hawks and the Sparrows | VIT 322 |
Pier Paolo Pasolini: Italian (English subtitles) 88 Mins. 1964. A wildly comic fable, with great Italian stone-faced clown Toto playing Everyman and Ninetto Davoli, his good-natured but empty headed son. Pasolini uses a comic crow, which philosophizes amusingly and pointedly about the passing scene, as a counterpoint to the performers, representing humanity, as they progress down the road of life. The result is a major Pasolini film and a powerful tragic fable which shows two delightful innocents caught, like many Italians, between Church and Marxism. |
| Heaven Touches Brooklyn in July | VENG 401 | Tony de Nonno: English. 57 Mins. In HEAVEN TOUCHES BROOKLYN IN JULY, internationally acclaimed documentary filmmaker Tony de Nonno takes audiences on an enlightening 1,600 year old journey by interweaving film footage spanning the 20th century with warm and passionate interviews of Italian American men, women and children from five to ninety-five- who are transporting this awe-inspiring tradition into the 21st century. |
| Henry IV |
DVIT 808 |
Marco Bellocchio: Italian (English subtitles) 84 Mins. 1984. Marcello Mastroianni (8 1/2, LA DOLCE VITA) delivers one of his finest performances in HENRY IV, a breathtakingly powerful adaptation of the play by Luigi Pirandello. Claudia Cardinale co-stars in the film gorgeously directed by Marco Bellocchio. A playful musical score is provided by Astor Piazzola ("the single most important figure in the history of tango' -ALL MUSIC GUIDE") . Mastroianni stars as a modern aristocrat. After he falls off his horse, he believes himself to be Henry IV, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. For Years, everyone around him adapts to this fantasy. They create a separate world -a sort of unending Renaissance Fair where everyone dresses up and calls each other by names ripped from the history books. Then, one day, some old friends try to cure "Henry". |
| His Secret Life | DVIT 810 |
Ferzano Ozpetek: Italian & Turkish (English subtitles) 106 Mins. 2002. His Secret Life is a captivating, sexy drama about a married couple's extraordinary secret. Antonia and her husband Massimo have been happily married for the better part of 20 years when a sudden and tragic accident kills Massimo. While going through her husband's possessions, Antonia discovers that her beloved Massimo has had a "secret life" for the last seven years. Antonia begins to search for any information leading to the secret mistress of Massimo's only to discover that his secret lover was a man, a very handsome young man named Michele, played by Stefano Accorsi (of the highly acclaimed films, The Son's Room and The Last Kiss). This spiritual journey leads Antonia to a new world of love, friendship and sexuality. From the ashes of her old life, grows a new set of family and friends and Antonia develops into the "free"woman she has always dreamed of becoming. His Secret Life is the powerful conclusion to the erotic trilogy that Ferzan Ozpetek started with Steam: The Turkish Bath and Harem. |
| I'm Not Scared | DVIT 814 | Gabriele Salvatores: Italian (English and Spanish Subtitles) 101 Mins. No one can be trusted and everyone's a suspect when a shocking secret is revealed in this hypnotic suspense thriller from the acclaimed director of the Academy Award. For 10-years-old Michele, the familiar routines of childhood in his idyllic southern Italian village are about to be shattered by his chance discovery of an unspeakable crime! Soon beyond the point of no return, Michael will risk everything to expose the truth… only to learn that those he depends on the most may have the most to hide! This award-winning story of innocence and evil will have you riveted throughout culminating in its stunning conclusion! |
| The Innocent (L'Innocente) |
DVIT 819 | Luchino Visconti: Italian ( English Subtitles) 124 Mins. Visconti's last film is an elegant drama depicting a wealthy Italian aristocrat ( Giancarco Gianinni) who, becoming bored with his apparently timid wife ( Laura Antonelli) , neglects her for his more exciting mistress ( Jenniffer O'Neill) . On finding that his wife is having a torrid affair of her own, his unable to accept the situation and cannot accept the sexual double standards he portrays. |
| The Innocent (L'Innocente) |
VIT 315 |
Luchino Visconti: Italian (English subtitles) 125 Mins. 1976. An elegant, visually beautiful exploration of the constraints of marriage and its disintegration. Featuring a remarkably sensuous performance by Laura Antonelli, and an equally strong performance by Giancarlo Giannini. 'The Innocent is one of Visconti's most beautiful films' (Vincent Canby). |
| Johnny Stecchino | VIT 356 |
Cerami & Benigni: Italian (English subtitles) 100 Mins. 1992. The Marx Brothers meet the Godfather in this hilarious tale of mistaken identity that proves there's nothing organized about organized crime. Part Charlie Chaplin, part Peter Sellers, Roberto Benigni is Italy's number one box office sensation. Benigni (Night On Earth, Son Of The pink Panther) stars as Dante, a naïve bus driver who's a dead-ringer for Johnny's Toothpick, a notorious mafioso on the lam and under the gun. When the beautiful Maria, Johnny's drop-dead gorgeous wife accidentally discovers her husband's twin, she schemes to switch the two men. Outrageous and hysterical, Johnny Stecchino is "one of the best comedies in years!" |
| The Last Kiss |
DVIT 813 | Gabriele Muccino: Italian (English and other languages Subtitles) 118 Mins. With its breezy look at the battle of the sexes, this stylish comedy has generated critical acclaim everywhere! A wife, a child, a house… it all seems like too much responsibility for a guy who's afraid to grow up! But Carlo is not alone. All of his buddies are suffering with their own growing pains and none of them seem to be ready to settle down without a fight! As the romantic entanglements tighten, this amusingly self-centered group of guys will keep you entertained as they struggle to learn the complicated lessons of life and love! |
| The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) |
DVENG 802 |
Luchino Visconti: English. 185 Mins. 1963. Luchino Visconti's The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) is an epic on the grandest possible scale. The film recreates, with nostalgia, drama, and opulence, the tumultuous years of Italy's Risorgimento-when the aristocracy lost its grip and the middle classes rose and formed a unified, democratic Italy. Burt Lancaster stars as the Asian prince watching his culture and fortune wane in the face of a new generation, represented by his upstart nephew (Alain Delon) and his beautiful fiancee (Claudia Cardinale). Awarded the Palme d'Or at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival, The Leopard translates Giuseppe. |
| Life is Beautiful | VIT 354 |
Roberto Benigni: Italian (English subtitles) 116 Mins. 1998. An inspired motion picture, Life is Beautiful, was nominated for seven Academy Awards - winning five Oscars including one for Best Actor Roberto Benigni. In this extraordinary tale, Guido (Benigni) - a charming but bumbling waiter who's gifted with a colorful imagination and an irresistible sense of humor - has won the heart of the woman he loves and created a beautiful life for his young family. But then, that life is threatened by World War II ...and Guido must rely on those very same strengths to save his beloved wife and son from an unthinkable fate! Honored with an overwhelming level of critical acclaim, this truly exceptional, utterly unique achievement will lift your spirits and capture your heart. |
| Mamma Roma |
DVIT 811 A |
Pier Paolo Pasolini: Italian (English Subtitles) B&w, 110 Mins.1962. Anna Magnani gives a terrific performance in the title role of this key film. It was Pasolini's second feature but it is rarely seen. The story revolves around a former prostitute. Played by Magnani, who gets a new chance for a different life. She does her best to help her son, Ettore, get ahead. He is mesmerized, however, by the evils of the big city, so she makes one last attempt to get him a respectable job. |
| Mamma Roma | DVIT 811 B |
Documentary- Pier Paolo Pasolini: Italian (English Subtitles) 93 Mins.
|
| Mamma Roma | VIT 348 | Pier Paolo Pasolini: Italian ( English Subtitles) B&W, 110 Mins .1962. Anna Magnani gives a terrific performance in the title role of this key film. It was Pasolini's second feature but it is rarely seen. The story revolves around a former prostitute. Plared by Magnani, who gets a new chance for a different life. She does her best to help her son, Ettore, get ahead. He is mermerized, however, by the evils of the big city, so she makes one last attempt to get him a respectable job. Italian with English Subtitles. |
| A Man in Love |
VENG 349 | This "impassioned and complex" (The Hollywood Reporter) tale stars Peter Coyote (Jagged Edge) as a married actor with a roving eye whose desires, on and off screen, merge when he falls for his luminous leading lady (The Player's Greta Scacchi). Acclaimed European writer/director Diane Kurys (Oscar-nominated Entre Nous) creates (with co-writer Israel Horovitz) a work of "passion, courage and intelligence" (Los Angeles Times) that translates into Leonard Maltin calls a "sensual full-blooded romance." Steve Elliott (Coyote) is an actor who immerses himself in a part, both body and soul. This makes for great acting, but on occasion, the line separating reality and movie-making can get blurry -especially when it comes to love. When Steve meets Jane Steiner (Scacchi), his gorgeous young co-star on a film shoot in Italy, sparks instantly ignite as they "explore" their characters and surrender to unbridled passion. But the affair gets complicated when Steve's suspicious wife (True Lies' Jamie Lee Curtis) arrives on the scene, forcing him to make some difficult and heartfelt choices about the two women he loves. Set against the exquisite locations of Rome, Paris, and Tuscany, with a sweeping romantic score by Academy Award winner Georges Delerue, A Man in Love is "gloriously erotic and compelling" (Michael Medved, "Sneak Previews") |
| Mediterraneo | VIT 307 | Gabriele Salvatores: Italian (English subtitles) 90 Mins. 1991. Celebrated as one of the finest and most acclaimed films of the year 1991, Academy Award winner Mediterraneo is delightfully sexy comedy. After a group of misfit Italian sailors invade a remote Greek island they soon become stranded, and then ultimately forgotten, by the Italian navy. The sailors quickly learn they've invaded paradise, and that on this magical island, where enemies become friends, anything can happen. |
| The Miracle |
VIT 306 |
Roberto Rossellini: Italian (English subtitles) B&W, 45 Mins. 1948. Brief, sensual and controversial film from Rosselini (source for a 1952 Supreme Court case of censorship) starring Anna Magnani as a peasant woman who is convinced she is pregnant with a new Christ child. Based on a story by Frederico Fellini, who appears. |
| Miracle in Rome | VSP 305 |
Lisandro Duque Naranjo: Spanish (English subtitles) 76 Mins. 1988. Called 'a small miracle by itself' by The New York Times, it tells the story of Margarito Duarte, a man whose seven year old daughter dies suddenly. Upon visiting her grave twelve years later, Margarito finds his daughter's body just as he has left it. His fellow townspeople call it a miracle, but the town bishop wants the girl reburied. Based by an original story by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who also co-wrote the screenplay. |
| The Night of the Shooting Stars |
VIT 316 |
P & V Taviani: Italian (English subtitles) 107 Mins. 1982. Winner of the Cannes film festival and other awards, set on the night of the feast of San Lorenzo, during the last days of World War II, the film recalls the night from her childhood in a beautiful tapestry of fact, myth, and wartime memory that moves effortlessly in a universal story of human joy and sadness under duress at a particular moment in history. |
| La Noia |
VIT 345 | Damiano Damiani. Italian. Dino vive nell'ozio piu completo, a fianco della bella Cecilia. II tradimento di lei, dopo varie vicessitudini, lo portera persino a tentre il suicido. |
| Open City | VIT 317 |
Roberto Rossellini: Italian (English subtitles) B&W, 105 Mins. 1945. A beautiful video master, transferred from a new negative, of this key film of Italian Neo- Realism, shot largely during the Nazi occupation of Rome. Two resistance leaders, one a communist, the other a priest, work toward weakening the German occupation. The cumulative power of Rossellini's feeling for his subject was translated into a visual intensity that makes the picture sometimes almost impossible to watch. With a great performance by Anna Magnani. |
| Open Doors | VIT 332 |
Gianni Amelio: Italian (English subtitles) 109 Mins. 1989. Gian Maria Volonte starts as a conscientious judge assigned to a notorious murder case in Palermo during the reign of Mussolini. He believes there is more to the story than the self-confessed killer of three is willing to admit -and boy, is he right. Starring Ennio Fantastichini, Renzo Giovampietro and Renato Carpentieri. This rewarding, thoughtful drama was nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Language Film. |
| Orchestra Rehearsal | DVIT 802 |
Federico Fellini: Italian (English subtitles) 72 Mins. 1979. Orchestra Rehearsal a controversial, yet comical film directed by fivetime Academy Award winner Federico Fellini (La Strada, 8 1/2, La Dloce Vita) is available on video for the first time featuring music composed by Academy Award winner Nino Rota (The Godfather Trilogy). Fellini's film, which created sparks at its premiere in 1979, depicts the turmoil of Italian society through events that take place during a rehearsal gathering set in a 13th century. |
| Ossessione | DVIT 816 | Luchino Visconti: Italian (English Subtitles) 135 Mins. Passion turns deadly when beautiful but frustrated Giovanna ( Deep Red's Clara Calamai) find herself helplessly drawn to Gino (Last Tango in Paris 's Massino Girotti), a handsome drifter stay at her inn. Repose by her husband, Giovanni begs Gino to rid her of the unappreciative spouse and help her to collect his hefty insurance premium, the solution to all their problems. The course of cold-blooded murder never runs smoothly, however, and soon the lovers are trapped in a downward spiral of deception, jeaulosy and cruel fate. Internationally acclaimed director Luchino Visconti ignited a stormy religious and political scandal in Italy with the release of this film. |
| Padre Padrone | DVIT 803 |
Paolo and Vittorio Taviani: Italian (English subtitles) 117 Mins. 1997. This powerful true tale of one boy's struggle out of isolation and silence is perfectly captured on film by the renowned Taviani brother's, Paolo and Vittorio (Night Sun; Good Morning, Babylon). Based on the autobiography by Gavino Ledda, who at the age of six was taken from school into the mountains where his father enslaved him as a shepherd. Gavino eventually broke free discovering the outside world and his own identity within it. |
| Paisan | VIT 350 |
Roberto Rossellini: Italian (English subtitles) B&W 115 Mins. 1946. Roberto Rossellini continues his exploration of ultimate tragedies of war in this collection of six studies. The death of a woman who warns an American patrol, the theft of a soldier's boots and his understanding when he sees the squalid conditions of Naples, the death of resistance fighters, and the monastery with prayers for redemption. Another masterpiece from Italy's great film maker, Paisan was nominated for an academy award for best story and screenplay. |
| Picolo Mondo Antico |
VIT 325 |
Mario Soldati: Italian. 107 Mins. |
| Il Postino (The Postman) | DVIT 805 | Michael Radford. Italian (English subtitles) 108 Mins. 1995. Cheered by critics and audiences everywhere, Il Postino-The Postman is the record-breaking Academy Award-winning romantic comedy that delivers heartfelt laughs! Mario is a bumbling mailman who's madly in love with the most beautiful woman in town...and who's too shy to tell her how he feels. But when a world-famous poet - Pablo Neruda - unexpectedly moves into town, Mario is inspired. With Neruda's help, he finds the right words to win the woman's heart. This unforgettably funny comedy proves that passion...with some artful deception...can win the most improbable love! Original in Cliff's office |
| Red Desert | VIT 318 |
Michelangelo Antioni: Italian (English subtitles) 120 Mins. 1964. Antonioni's masterpiece, with the great Monica Vitti playing the neurotic young woman married to an engineer in the industrial wasteland of northern Italy, searching in vain for meaning in life. Antonioni's first film in color-and what color! One of the most important films of last half of the century. |
| The Seduction of Mimi |
DVIT 800 |
Fox Lorber: Italian (English subtitles) 89 Mins. 1972. This sexy political farce helped bring international fame to director Lina Wertmüller (Seven Beauties), Giancarlo Giannini (Swept Away, Love & Anarchy) stars as Mimi, a Sicilian laborer, whose decision not to vote for the Mafia's candidate in a local election results in him losing his job, his wife an d his home. The predicaments that arise throw Mimi's life into a pile of comical complexities as all his energies surge into defending his honor -an obsession that has horrendous but hilarious consequences. Due to its popularity, The Seduction of Mimi was Americanized into the 1977 Richard Pryor hit Which Way Is Up? |
| Sostiene Pereira | VIT 349 |
Roberto Fainza: Italian. 109 Mins. 1995 . Tratto dall'omonimo romanzo di Antonio Tabucchi il film e ambiantato nel 1938 a Lisbona, durante la violenta ascesa politica del dittatore Salazar. ereira, oscuro giornalista della pagina culturale del 'Lisboa', consuma pigramente le sue giornate tra la routine del lavoro e i ricordi del passate, disinteressandosi dei gravi eventi plotici che stanno scuotendo il Portogallo e l'Europa intera. L'incontro con due giovani sovversivi, Monteiro Rossi e Marta e con il dottor Cardoso, uno stravagante medico filosofo, costringono Pereira a mettere in discussione il suo modo di pensare e di vivere. L'assassinio di Monteiro da parte dei sicari di Salazar, spinge finalmente Pereira a trovare il coraggion di lasciare la sua vita tranquilla per iniziare a combattere per la liberta. Il personaio di Pereira, con il suo indolente e ironico fatalisom, e risultato a tal punto di identificazione che ha dato vita ad una interpretazione di rara intensita. |
| Sperduti Nel Buio | VIT 334 |
Camillo Mastrocinque: Italian. 1947. Interpreti : Vittorio De Sica, Fiorella Betti. In una Napoli affascinante di inizio secolo un guappo tiene inschiavitu' una povera ragazza e scoperto che questa e' figlia naturale di un nobile, tenta di ricattare il genitore. Il malvivente viene arestato e la ragazza , rimasta sola, viene aiutata da un suonatore ambulantecieco, che fatalmente s'innamora silenziosamente di lei. Dopo varie peripezie il suonatore ambulante dovra' rassegnarsi alla perdita della ragazza amata che andra' felicemente sposa ad un marinaio. |
| Station | VIT 337 |
Sergio Rubini: Italian (English subtitles) 92 Mins. 1990. In the romantic tradition of great European film, a man and a woman are mysteriously drawn together by a force greater than themselves. She is cool and sophisticated, yet vulnerable after leaving a fiancé who treated her only as an object. He is young and ordinary, and devoted to his mundane job as stationmaster. On a stormy night, she waits anxiously inside his station for the dawn train. At first he is only an object. Then little by little, the clockwork rhythms of his presence begin to seduce her. Within the tiny station, a sly intensity temporarily derails inhibitions and makes fantasy the first stop on the line. |
| La Strada |
DVIT 820 A | Federico Fellini: Italian ( English Subtitles) B&W, 108 Mins. 1954. Gesomina is sold by her mother into the employ of Zampano ( Anthony Quinn), a brutal traveling strongman. They join up with traveling circus where Zampano encounters his old rival, tightrope artist the Fool ( Richard Basehart). |
| La Strada |
DVIT 820 B | Federico Fellini: Italian (English Subtitles) B&W, 108 Mins. 1954. Documentary |
| La Strada |
VIT 309 | Federico Fellini: Italian (English subtitles) B&W, 107 Mins. 1954. One of Fellini's most poetic and powerful films, the story of a tragic wife, played by Giulietta Masina, who is sold to traveling show strongman Anthony Quinn. Her love for him is not returned until too late. |
| Swept Away | DVIT 801 |
Fox Lorber: Italian (English subtitles) 116 Mins. 1974. Set against the backdrop of the beautiful Mediterranean, Swept Away is Lina Wertmuller's controversial film about sex, love, politics and role reversals. Raffaella, a rich and stunning capitalist, particularly enjoys tormenting Gennarino, a Communist deckhand who works on her husband's yacht. Stranded on a deserted island, Gennarino reverses roles and become master over Raffaella. She finds herself submitting to her new role culminating in a dramatic climax when they are rescued and must determine if their love can survive the harsh realities of civilization. |
| Tempo di Uccidere (Time to Kill) |
VIT 346 |
Giuliano Montaldo: Italian. 110 Mins. 1990. E queata l'Africa per il tenente Enrico Silvesrti, inviato in Etiopia nel 1936. ma Silvestri scope anche il tascino piu outentico del continente, la sua natura inaspettatamente rigogaliosa, le sue donne fiere. Silvestri si trova ad affrontare condizioni imperviste, incontri la lebra. E que lo porta a una fuga disperata, ad uno smarrimento da animate braccato, ma alla fine tutto pare ricomporsi.... 'il soldato italiano sognava un'Africa convenzionale, con altri paimizi, banane,donne che danzano (...) invece trova una terra uguale alla sua, piu ingrata anzi...' |
| La Terra Trema |
DVIT 817 | Luchino Visconti: Italian & Sicilian ( English Subtitles). 154 Mins. This wrenching study of a family struggling to overcome poverty and find happiness against the backdrop of Sicily's fishing community remains one of the most powerful example of European filmmaking. Real-life Sicilian residents portray the villagers, whose lifes undergo dramatic changes when they plot to overthrow the tyranny of wholesalers depriving them of a decent living. Meanwhile, the parents and their children experience love, laughter, and friendship, finding a sense of community and optimism, even against the grimmest odds. Hailed as a " powerful, lyrical, neorealist classic", LA TERRA TREMA is the second haunting film from groundbreaking director Luchino Visconti, who earned the 1948 Special Prize at the Venice Film Festival for this gritty application of documentary techniques to a universal story of hopes and dreams. |
| Three Brothers | VIT 355 |
Francesco Rosi: Italian (English subtitles) 113 Mins. 1981. One of the most powerful Italian films, Francesco Rosi's riveting feature about the lives and dreams of three brothers re-united in their small home town was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The three brothers -Philippe Noriet, Michele Placido, and Vittorio Mezzogiorno, each in a masterful performance- are summoned home by their father. Here, in the sunlight of the Italina countryside, they face their connection to each other and to themselves, in a film that is at once beautiful, full of humanity, and emotionally shattering. |
| Time of Indifference | VENG 344 |
Francesco Maselli: English. B&W, 84 Mins. 1964. Rod Steiger, Claudia Cardinale, Shelley Winters, Paulette Goddard. Compelling drama from an Alberto Moravia story about the disintegration and decay in a wealthy Italian family during the 1920's. Fine performances particularly by Steiger and Cardinale. |
| Time to Kill (Tempo di Uccidere) | DVENG 808 | Giuliano Montaldo: English. 97 Mins. 1990. While stationed in Africa during 1935 Italo-Abyssinian War, Lieutenant Enrico Silvestri (Nicholas Cage), a soldier in Mussolini's army, leaves camp in search of a dentist to relieve his toothache pain. A shortcut through the jungle leads Silvestri to a hidden oasis and Mariam (Patrice-Flora Praxo), a beautiful Ethopian girl. Overcome by violent lust, Silvestri attacks the young woman, but in the aftermath of the assult, the two form an unexpected bond. Startled by hyenas during the night, Silvestri fires his pistol into the darkness, but a stray bullet ricochets off the wall of a cave, mortally wounding the sleeping Mariam. Driven by panic and fear, Silvestri attempts to cover up his crime, but tormented by guilt and the chilling discovery that he may have contracted leprosy from the dead woman, Silvestri begins a desperate journey in search of atonement and salvation. |
| Il Toro |
VIT 333 | Carlo Mazzacurati: Italian, 108 Mins. 1994. Con Diego Abatantuono 'Per rabbia, per bisogno e speranza, un inserviente ruba Corinto, prezioso toro da riproduzione artificiale.......... 1994 |
| Toto' Al Giro D'Italia | VIT 336 |
Mario Mattoli: Italian. B&W, 77 Mins. 1949. Comedy Toto' s'innamora perdutamente di una collega della giuria e la chiede in moglie...... Lo sposera' solo se sara' vincitore nel Giro d'Italia. |
| Tripoli (Bel Suol D'Amore) | VIT 335 |
Ferruccio Cerio: Italian. 67 Mins. 1954. Con: Alberto Sordi Flash back nella guerra di Libia, nell'eta' di Giolitti, per educarci all'amor di patria . |
| Truce | VENG 341 |
Francesco Rosi. English. 117 Mins. Award-winning director Martin Scorsese presents an epic, true story that was cheered by moviegoers and critics alike. Acclaimed actor John Turturro (He Got Game, Rounders) delivers a powerful performance as a man whose life is changed forever by World War II. His incredible adventure begins after the war ends and he embarks on a thousand-mile journey back home to Italy. Along the way, he faces great odds...but rediscovers the simple joys of life that the war threatened to destroy forever- friendship, love, laughter, and, most important of all, a sense of hope. This motion picture masterpiece promises to sit your soul and touch your heart -don't miss it! |
| Two Women | DVIT 804 |
Ponti & De Sica: Italian (English subtitles) B&W, 93 Mins. 1960. Realistic heart-wrenching story of an Italian widow who along with her young 13 year old daughter are raped by Allied Moroccan soldiers during W.W. II. Intensely moving performance by Sophia Loren deservedly won her an Oscar for Best Actress. |
| Two Women | VIT 304 |
Ponti & De Sica: Italian (English subtitles) B&W, 99 Mins. 1960. SophiaLoren won an Academy Award for her portrayal of a mother ravaged by war as she and her 13- year old daughter become the focus of attack by retreating German soldiers. A heartwrenching film- one of the best - by Vittorio de Sica. |
| Viaggio Del Nuovo Cinema Italiano | VIT 351 |
M. Continanza & P. Diadori: Italian. Movie consists of clips from various Italian Language Films in the followin order: 1.- IL LADRO DI BAMBINI. Di Gianni Amelio. 2.- L'AMORE MOLESTO. Di Mario Martone. 3.- IL PORTABORSE. Di Daniele Luchetti. 4.- UN'ANIMA DIVISA IN DUE. Di Silvio Soldini. 5.- IL GRANDE COCOMERO. Di Francesco Archibugi. 6.- IL TORO. Di Carlo Mazzacurati. 7.-JOHNNY STECCHINO. Di Roberto Benigni. 8.- NEL CONTINENTE NERO. Di Marco Risi. 9.- BELLE AL BAR. Di Alessandro Benvenuti. 10.- MEDITERRANEO. Di Gabriele Salvatores. 11.- NUOVO CINEMA PARADISO. Di Giuseppe Tornatore. 12.- LA SCORTE. Di Ricky Tognazzi. 13.- VERSO SUD. Di Pasquale Pozzessere. 14.- LADRI DI SAPONETTE. Di Maurizio Nichetti. |
| I Vitelloni (The Young and The Passionate) | VIT 328 | Federico Fellini: Italian (English subtitles) B&W, 104 Mins. 1953. The young and the restless men in a small town on the Adriatic are, each in his own way, discontent. They spend their time pursuing diversion and girls, vaguely dreaming impossible pipe dreams. This brilliant, acid-sharp look at a generation nevertheless reveals Fellini's affection for his characters. The film 'is the story of adolescents who cannot see anything more in life than satisfying their animal desires, sleeping, eating, fornication. I was trying to say there is something more, there is always more. Life must have meaning beyond the animal.' |
| The White Sheik |
VIT 327 |
Federico Fellini: Italian (English subtitles) 86 Mins. 1952. When a provincial couple go to Rome for their honeymoon, the bride sneaks off to the movie set where her idol, the White Sheik, is making a film. |
Woman of Rome |
VIT 353 |
Luigi Zampa: Italian (English subtitles) B&W, 95 Mins. 1956. Gina Lollabrigida plays a girl of easy virtue in this film which also stars Daniel Gelin, Franco Fabrizi and Raymond Pellegrin. |