93% (3) The Leopard 186 min, PG, [Drama, History] [Luchino Visconti] [29 Mar 1963]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 81%, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, Metacritic: 100%, External Reviews
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 10 wins & 5 nominations.
Actors: Alain Delon, Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, Paolo Stoppa
Writer: Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (novel), Suso Cecchi D'Amico (screenplay and adaptation), Pasquale Festa Campanile (screenplay and adaptation), Enrico Medioli (screenplay and adaptation), Massimo Franciosa (screenplay and adaptation), Luchino Visconti (screenplay and adaptation)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Italian, Latin, French Country: Italy, France
Plot: In the 1860s, a dying aristocracy struggles to maintain itself against a harsh Sicilian landscape. The film traces with a slow and deliberate rhythm the waning of the noble home of Fabrizio Corbero, Prince of Salina (the Leopard) and the corresponding rise to eminence of the enormously wealthy ex-peasant Don Calogero Sedara. The prince himself refuses to take active steps to halt the decline of his personal fortunes or to help build a new Sicily but his nephew Tancredi, Prince of Falconeri swims with the tide and assures his own position by marrying Don Calogero's beautiful daughter Angelica. The climatic scene is the sumptuous forty-minute ball, where Tancredi introduces Angelica to society.
Rotten Tomatoes: A young man finishes school and heads for Milan, takes his employment tests, and gets a job as a messenger in a large industrial firm, where the promise of stability gives him hope for a future.
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89% (2) Miracle in Milan 100 min, Not Rated, [Comedy, Drama, Fantasy] [Vittorio De Sica] [17 Dec 1951]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 77%, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, External Reviews
Awards: Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 4 wins.
Actors: Emma Gramatica, Francesco Golisano, Guglielmo Barnabò, Paolo Stoppa
Writer: Cesare Zavattini (novel), Cesare Zavattini (screenplay), Vittorio De Sica (screenplay), Suso Cecchi D'Amico (screenplay), Mario Chiari (screenplay), Adolfo Franci (screenplay)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Italian, English Country: Italy
Plot: An old woman finds a baby among the cauliflowers in her garden. She takes care of the orphan, and calls him Totò. When she dies, he is sent to an orphanage, which he leaves as a teenager. When Totò goes out in the world, he expects everyone to be open-hearted as himself, but it isn't so. Without belongings and a place to live, he soon turns up among other homeless people, living scattered in boxes and cement pipes on a vast, barren field outside Milano. With his energy and enthusiasm Totò quickly engages the outcasts in transforming the place into a small shanty town. The eccentric misfits are turned into a warm-hearted community. But among them is an egoist, a traitor. When squirts of oil suddenly springs up from the ground, he sneaks away and informs the wealthy Mr. Mobbi about it, who buys the land and tries to get rid of the outcasts. At this crucial moment, the spirit of Totò's dead mother appears, and gives him a magic dove. With its magic power he fulfills all wishes of the poor, and holds off the evil forces of Mr. Mobbi through amazing tricks. But two other spirits from heaven try to get hold of the dove, causing problems for Totò and his friends.
Rotten Tomatoes: Vittorio DeSica's follow-up to The Bicycle Thief documents the lives of the poverty-stricken in post-war Italy. Francesco Golisano is Good Toto, an orphan boy who begins living with a cluster of beggars. His organizational efforts bring structure to the colony and engenders a sense of faint happiness among its dwellers.
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77% (1) The Visit 100 min, [Drama] [Bernhard Wicki] [11 Sep 1964]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 77%, External Reviews
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 nomination.
Actors: Anthony Quinn, Ingrid Bergman, Irina Demick, Paolo Stoppa
Writer: Ben Barzman (screenplay), Friedrich Dürrenmatt (play), Maurice Valency (adaptation)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, French Country: USA, West Germany, France, Italy
Plot: Carla Zachanassian had a child by Serge Miller as a teenager. When Serge refused to marry her, she was driven out of town. By her own wit and cunning, she has returned as a multi-millionaire for a visit. The town lays out the red carpet expecting big things from Carla, only to learn that her sole purpose is to see Serge Miller killed...
Rotten Tomatoes: Friedrich Durrenmatt's misanthropic theatrical piece The Visit has never been totally successful in any production, not even in the original Broadway presentation starring Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. The film version keeps this failure record consistent. Ingrid Bergman plays a fabulously wealthy woman who returns to her impoverished home town. Years earlier, she had been driven from town in disgrace after sleeping with solid citizen Anthony Quinn. She now offers a deal to the city elders: Bergman will alleviate the city's financial difficulties--in exchange for Quinn's life. The original play ended with the lynching of the seducer; the film ends with Bergman halting the execution, proclaiming that by allowing Quinn to live, the townsfolk will be forced to feel the pangs of guilt over what they might have done for the rest of their lives. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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75% (1) The City Stands Trial 103 min, [Crime, Drama, Mystery] [Luigi Zampa] [01 Jan 1952]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 75%, External Reviews
Awards: 3 wins.
Actors: Amedeo Nazzari, Dante Maggio, Paolo Stoppa, Silvana Pampanini
Writer: Suso Cecchi D'Amico (screenplay), Diego Fabbri (screenplay), Ettore Giannini (screenplay), Ettore Giannini (story), Francesco Rosi (story), Turi Vasile (screenplay), Luigi Zampa (screenplay)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Italian Country: Italy
Plot: Turn-of-the-century Naples. Salvatore Ruotolo and his wife are murdered and their bodies are found in different locations. Since the evidence points to a crime by the Neapolitan crime organization, the Camorra, fear and corruption cause serious hindrances to the investigation by police authorities. In charge is a young and courageous judge who, using evidence discovered by chance, tries to reconstruct the story of the double murder. The plot that the judge must unravel is very complicated. Many people are questioned, even those apparently above suspicion. Deciding to get to the bottom of the matter, the judge keeps all the suspects under arrest, causing a backlash of public opinion. But in the face of passive resistance which he finds everywhere, even from his own colleagues and family, he begins to feel discouraged and is about to give up the investigation when a new piece of evidence comes to light. The information causes the death of an innocent man, but it revives in the judge the conscience of his own responsibility. He carries on with the case regardless, even if it means placing under house arrest the entire city.
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74% (1) Miracles of Thursday 84 min, [Comedy, Fantasy] [Luis García Berlanga] [22 Aug 1957]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 74%, External Reviews
Awards: 2 wins.
Actors: José Isbert, Juan Calvo, Paolo Stoppa, Richard Basehart
Writer: Luis García Berlanga (story), Luis García Berlanga (screenplay), José Luis Colina (screenplay), Sandro Continenza (italian version)
External Links: Wikipedia IMDb Language: Spanish Country: Spain, Italy
Plot: In the village of Fuentecilla, there is a medicinal spa which was very popular in the past but that now has been forgotten by the public. In order to bring back the tourists, the "prominent men" of the village organize a fake miracle: the apparition of San Dimas, the local patron saint, which will take place every Thursday night. At first it works, but trouble begins when a stranger appears, claiming that he knows what's going on and making peculiar demands in exchange for his silence.
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74% (1) The Gold of Naples 138 min, [Comedy, Drama] [Vittorio De Sica] [11 Feb 1957]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 74%, External Reviews
Awards: 3 wins & 1 nomination.
Actors: Eduardo De Filippo, Paolo Stoppa, Silvana Mangano, Sophia Loren
Writer: Giuseppe Marotta (story), Cesare Zavattini (adapted for the screen by), Cesare Zavattini (screenplay), Vittorio De Sica (screenplay), Giuseppe Marotta (screenplay)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Italian Country: Italy
Plot: Tribute to Naples, where director De Sica spent his first years, this is a collection of 6 Napolitean episodes : a clown exploited by a gangster ; an inconstant pizza seller (Sofia) loosing her husband's ring ; the funeral of a dead child ; the gambler Count Prospero B. defeated by a kid ; the unexpected and unusual wedding of Teresa, a prostitute ; the "professor" Ersilio Micci, a "wisdom seller".
Rotten Tomatoes: Vittorio De Sica, Cesare Zavattini, and Giuseppe Marotta wrote this anthology of tales depicting various aspects of Neapolitan life, with the emphasis of poignancy and comedy: "The Racketeer" features Toto with a gangster as his unwanted house guest; "Pizza On Credit" gave Sophia Loren one of her first starring roles, as a wayward wife who loses her wedding ring; "The Gambler" stars De Sica in a hilarious performance as a compulsive gambler whose rich family won't give him money, so he's reduced to playing cards with the young son of his servant; "Theresa" features Silvana Mangano as a prostitute who discovers that a man really does have to be crazy to marry her. (Two other episodes were cut for the film's U.S. release.)
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