Italian Cinema

Father’s Day Top 5 Movies: From Compassionate Gregory Peck to Sociopath John Gielgud in addition to other kind and demented film daddies.

Sophia Loren ca. 1950s. Screen legend & Best Actress Oscar winner Sophia Loren to receive Academy honor Sophia Loren will be honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and…

Sandro Panseri in Ermanno Olmi’s Il Posto. In the next few hours, Turner Classic Movies will present one of MGM’s last silent films (with synchronized score), one of the best…

Marcello Mastroianni, Renato Salvatori, Vittorio Gassman in Mauro Monicelli’s Big Deal on Madonna Street. Mario Monicelli, the (co)writer-director of Italian cinema classics such as I soliti ignoti / Big Deal on…

Some will remember Dino De Laurentiis, who died in Los Angeles at age 91, as the producer of Serpico (1973), King Kong (1976), and Dune (1984). The Sidney Lumet-directed Serpico,…

Veteran Stefania Sandrelli (Divorce Italian Style, The Conformist) and Valerio Mastandrea in Paolo Virzi’s The First Beautiful Thing (top); Giuseppe Tornatore’s Baaria (bottom). Here’s a belated report on the 2010 David di…

Rosanna Schiaffino, Vince Edwards in Carl Foreman’s The Victors (1963) Rosanna Schiaffino, the sensual leading lady of dozens of Italian (and a few international) productions of the ’60s and early…

Oscar Best Picture Nominees Major Rules Change: Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Edward Arnold in Frank Capra’s You Can’t Take It with You, the Best Picture winner of 1938.…

Silvio Orlando and Alba Rohrwacher in Giovanna’s Father. Matteo Garrone’s organized crime drama Gomorrah (above, top photo), based on Roberto Saviano’s polemical book, took top honors at the 2009 David…

Salvatore Samperi sex tale Malizia with Laura Antonelli and Alessandro Momo. Director Salvatore Samperi, the maestro dell’erotismo all’italiana best known for the 1973 social/sex comedy Malicious / Malizia, died at…

‘The Shifting Fog’ a.k.a. ‘The House at Riverton’ book cover featuring 1930s and 1940s Hollywood actress Miriam Hopkins. Kate Morton ‘The Shifting Fog’ book cover featuring (unbilled) Hollywood star Miriam…

Cannes Grand Prix winner out: Best Foreign Language Film Oscar semifinalists + DGA Awards animated surprise and Critics’ Choice Best Actress tie.

Gina Lollobrigida hot & full of fire. Movie legend Gina Lollobrigida – La Lollo for short – turned 81 last July 4. She’ll be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award…

Pietro Germi. Though not as well remembered as several of his contemporaries such as Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti, Pietro Germi was a respected director of Italian dramas and –…

Dino Risi, best known for his 1974 comedy-drama Profumo di donna / Scent of a Woman, has died in Rome. Risi, who was 91, had been suffering from ill health…

Francesco Rosi political drama Salvatore Giuliano. This year’s Berlin Film Festival will present the Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement to the unabashedly political Italian filmmaker Francesco Rosi, 85, on Feb.…

Michelangelo Antonioni’s acclaimed 1957 neorealist drama Il Grido stars an outstanding Steve Cochran. Also in the cast: Alida Valli and Betsy Blair.

Michelangelo Antonioni, the film master of modern alienation, despair, and ennui, was the third important personage of world cinema to die in the last three days – Ingmar Bergman and…

No particular entry dominated the Italian Film Academy’s 51st David di Donatello Awards, presented this evening at the Gran Teatro di Tor di Quinto in Rome, though Giuseppe Tornatore’s La…

Monica Bleibtrau is this year’s German Oscar winner. German Oscar winners The 2007 German Film Academy’s Lola Award nominees were announced on March 16. The 57th German Film Academy’s Lola…

Ennio Morricone began his prolific film scoring career when he was in his early 30s. Among his best-known compositions are those for Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the…

Luchino Visconti’s White Nights has the look – but not the feel – of a Hollywood production. Great cast: Marcello Mastroianni, Maria Schell and Jean Marais.

Alida Valli - Part I Valli looked considerably older, her features hardened, when she resumed her career in 1957. That year, she appeared in three productions: Glauco Pellegrini’s Spanish-Italian L’Amore…

Alida Valli possessed a stern, aristocratic beauty: A wide face covered with dark, voluptuous hair, and featuring large, profoundly expressive green eyes that could convey with equal intensity either soulfulness…