1661: Cardinal Mazarin dies. In the power vacuum, the young Louis asserts his intention to govern as well as rule. Read More »
Tag Archives: Roberto Rossellini
Joan at the Stake (1954) Roberto Rossellini, Ingrid Bergman, Tullio Carminati, Giacinto Prandelli, Biography, Drama, History, Musical
The film takes place mostly in a surrealistic fantasy around the time of the execution of Joan of Arc. Joan of Arc, played by Ingrid Bergman, is being burned alive for heresy. Read More »
Fear (1954) Roberto Rossellini, Ingrid Bergman, Mathias Wieman, Renate Mannhardt, Drama
Irene Wagner, the wife of prominent scientist Albert Wagner, finds herself blackmailed about her affair by her lover’s jealous ex-girlfriend. Read More »
Beaubourg (1977) Roberto Rossellini, Renzo Rossellini, Documentary
An exploration of the Centre Georges Pompidou and its surroundings on its opening day in 1977. Read More »
Un pilota ritorna / A Pilot Returns (1942) Roberto Rossellini, Massimo Girotti, Michela Belmonte, Gaetano Masier, Drama, War
A young Italian pilot is interned in a British prison camp after his plane is shot down during the war against Greece. Read More »
Desiderio (1946) Marcello Pagliero, Roberto Rossellini, Massimo Girotti, Carlo Ninchi, Elli Parvo, Drama
Paola, a Milan call girl, returns home to her village in an attempt to go straight. Read More »
Anima nera (1962) Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio Gassman, Nadja Tiller, Annette Stroyberg, Drama
A man with a past gets married and it seems that he will be able to start a new life, but an unexpected inheritance gets in the way and deteriorates the relationship with his wife. Read More »
L’uomo dalla croce / Man with a Cross (1943) Roberto Rossellini, Alberto Tavazzi, Roswita Schmidt, Attilio Dottesio, War, Drama
An extremely rare film by Roberto Rossellini, his third feature, made under the Fascist control of Italy. Read More »
La macchina ammazzacattivi / The Machine That Kills Bad People (1952) Roberto Rossellini, Gennaro Pisano, Marilyn Buferd, William Tubbs, Comedy, Fantasy
A demon bestows on a self-righteous working photographer’s camera the power to smite from the Earth “evil-doers”. Naturally, the indignant photographer turns his new weapon on, one by one, his entire village, beginning with the wealthy or illustrious. Soon, the poor he is so supposedly so enamored of become his victims too, so rife with impatience and contempt is he, that the slightest flaw is cause for smiting. Inevitably, he embarks on a task to destroy everyone.
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Era notte a Roma / It Was Night in Rome (1960) Roberto Rossellini, Leo Genn, Giovanna Ralli, Sergey Bondarchuk, Drama, War
During WW2, in Rome , a trio of escaped Allied POWs find themselves in limbo as they try to avoid re-capture and reach their dispersed units. Michael Pemberton is a British Major, Fyodor Aleksandrovic Nazukov is a Soviet Sergeant and Peter Bradley is an American Lieutenant. A beautiful young Italian woman, Esperia Belli, agrees to give them shelter. She knows that despite Italy’s efforts to break with Nazi Germany and join the Allies there are some Italians who are Fascist sympathizers and would gladly denounce Esperia to the German authorities. Hiding enemy soldiers or escaped POWs is punishable by death. Esperia hopes to get in contact with the Italian anti-Fascist resistance which could help the three escaped Allied POWs rejoin their respective armies. Until then, the fugitives are stuck in Esperia’s attic.
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Il generale della Rovere / General Della Rovere (1959) Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Hannes Messemer, Sandra Milo, Drama, War
Genoa, 1943. Grimaldi is a swindler, pretending to be a colonel in the Italian army to get money from the family of people put into jail by the Nazis. Once caught, the Gestapo makes a deal with him : he will stay alive if he impersonates the General Della Rovere, a leader of the Resistance who has just been shot by the Nazis, to be put into a political jail where he is supposed to identify another Resistance leader.
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Il Messia / The Messiah (1975) Roberto Rossellini, Pier Maria Rossi, Mita Ungaro, Carlos de Carvalho, Biography, History
Rossellini’s final film relates the story of Christ in the director’s unsentimental, realistic style.
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