Tag Archives: italian

Il generale della Rovere / General Della Rovere (1959) Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Hannes Messemer, Sandra Milo, Drama, War

Il generale della Rovere (Roberto Rossellini, 1959)
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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La città si difende / Four Ways Out (1951) Pietro Germi, Gina Lollobrigida, Renato Baldini, Cosetta Greco, Crime, Drama

La citta si difende (Pietro Germi, 1951)
As a soccer match is in progress, a group of four criminals robs the stadium office. Before they can make their getaway, a chase begins, and they must split up before they can divide the money. The police have little to go on, since it appears that none of the robbers were experienced criminals. Meanwhile, the thieves have to arrange for dividing the money while trying to avoid being captured.
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Cielo sulla palude / Heaven Over the Marshes (1949) Augusto Genina, Rubi D’Alma, Michele Malaspina, Domenico Viglione Borghese, Drama

Cielo sulla palude (1949)
The scene is the Pontine Marshes, a disease-ridden region. The year is 1902. Maria Goretti, a twelve-year-old girl, lives with her parents, poor farm hands, in the house of Serenelli, a heavy drinker who has offered them board and lodging. The farmer has a son, Alessandro, aged eighteen, who is sexually attracted to the pious girl. Maria resists his advances. One day the young man can’t help it anymore: he rapes Maria before murdering her. Before she dies, Maria forgives her assailant. After her death she is canonized as a saint.
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Dove vai in vacanza? / Where Are You Going on Holiday? (1978) Mauro Bolognini, Luciano Salce, Ugo Tognazzi, Stefania Sandrelli, Pietro Brambilla, Comedy

Dove vai in vacanza (1978)
Three shorter comedies: In “Saro Tutta Per Te” (I Will Be All Yours), Tognazzi is Enrico, a dentist who has agreed to vacation with his ex-wife at her lover’s villa. In “Si Buana” (Yes, Buana), Villaggio is Wilson, a man in charge of a group of tourists in Kenya. In the final episode, “La Vacanze Intelligenti” (Intelligent Vacation), Alberto Sordi is Remo, a greengrocer who, along with his wife, gets sent on a vacation by their well-meaning children who want to “improve” their parents’ minds by sending them off to see Etruscan tombs, hear performances of atonal modern music, and appreciate the wonders of avant-garde modern art.
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