Italian Language Resources
See Also: Audiocassettes | Films and Documentaries | Instructional Videos | Internet Resources
Feature Films & Documentaries
(**indicates does not circulate)
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8 1/2
Federico Fellini. 1 VHS cassette (138 mins.) : BW. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy, Actors: Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimée, Sandra Milo, Rosella Falk, Barbara Steele.
"Federico Fellini's great comic fantasy is the most influential picture of the last quarter of a century. No other film has been more closely associated with a director and his style or with the genre of autobiographical filmmaking. Fellini casts Marcello Mastroianni as Guido, a movie director, who is unable to find inspiration to begin a new production, even though he is at the peak of his career. Hounded by his wife, mistress, relatives and even his own crew, Guido escapes from the pressures of reality and retreats to the safety of his personal fantasies. It is here, in these fantasies, that Guido finds himself and the true meaning of life." (from the video jacket)
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Albero degli zoccoli, L'(The tree of Wooden Clogs)
Ermanno Olmi. 2 VHS cassettes (185 mins.) : color. English subtitles, Feature film. Italy, 1978. Actors: Luigi Ornaghi, Francesca Moriggi, Omar Brignoll and Antonio Ferrari.
"The Tree of Wooden Clogs is the gouching and beautiful story of a small community of peasants in Italy near the turn of the century. follows four families through the seasons and lovingly portrays the events of their lives, from the momentous -- marriage and birth -- to the minor -- a small but pivotal incident where a young boy breaks one of his clogs on the way home from school. In order for his son to continue his education, the boy's father must risk punishment by cutting down one of his landlord's trees to make a new pair of clogs. Though the punishment is severe, the feeling we are left with is that this united family will not be shaken and that life goes on in spite of hardship. There is, amongst these people, an acceptance of what life has to offer, an appreciation of the simple daily majesty of nature. Their love of life and land is inspiring ad their strength leaves a lasting imnpression." (from the video jacket)
Amarcord
Federico Fellini. 1 VHS cassette (127 mins.) : color. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy, 1974.
"One of Federico Fellini's most accessible and popular works, Amarcod also ranks as one of the most honored foreign films of the '70s. Through the story of Titta, a boy on the brink of manhood, Fellini looks back on his own youth with affection and humor. This ode to the past recalls the time, the place, and especially the people: Titta's bickering parents, the egotistical theater owner, and the town's sexy beautician. Brilliant cinematography and Nono Rota's wonderful score make their lives appear as a dreamlike memory. Intertwining scenes of stunning beauty with hilarious vulgarity, Fellini portrays the tender and silly diversions of a small Italian coastal village of the 1930's." (from the video jacket)
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Bell'Antonio, Il
Mauro Bolognini. 1 VHS cassette (101 mins.):BW. Italian with English subtitles. Feature Film. Italy, 1962. Actors: Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale.
"To every red-blooded woman in Sicily, there is no man so virile, so desierable, so sensually inviting as Antonio Magnano. At the urging of his family, he relinquishes his bachelorhood to the alluring Barbara Puglisi, 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." (from the video jacket)
Bellissimo: Images of the Italian Cinema, a History of the Italian Cinema
Gianfranco Mingozzi. 1 VHS cassette (110 mins.) : color. Italian with English subtitles and English narration, Feature film. Italy, 1987.
"This is an unprecedented reconstruction of the Italian Cinema, not just as an industry, but as an extremely sophisticated art form. This unique film contains clips from world-famous films from the 1940's to the present such as Open City, Divorce Italian Style, 8 1/2 and Seven Beauties. Bellissimo: Images of the Italian Cinema, is dedicated to Visconti's early masterpiece entitled Bellissima and features every great personality in Italian filmmaking over the past 40 years; among them are Dino de Laurentis, Sophia Loren, Bertolucci, Marcello Mastroianni, Marco Ferreri, Roberto Rossellini, Vitytorio De Sica, Perpaolo Pasolini, Franco Zeffirelli, Federico Fellini, Lina Wertmuller, Monica Vitti, Giancarlo Ciannini, Tot" and Sergio Leone. This film anthology offers the most up to date overview of Italian film production." (from the video jacket)
Bidone, Il (The Swindle)
Federico Fellini. 1 VHS cassette (92 mins.) : B&W. Italian with English subtitles. Italy, 1955.
"Academy Award winner Broderick Crawford has the best role of his career as Agusto, 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, Agusto suffers a crisis of conscience that only leads him to disaster in a shattering climax. Il Bidone begins as an Itlaian comedy of criminal errors but ends as the tragedy of an aging wiseguy who realizes that his lifetime of selfishness has only made his existence meaningless. While its delightful swindles recall the gentle nostalgia of The Sting, there is real sting in its harsh portrayal of greed and squalor. Perhaps the Fellini film that has most in common with literary realists like Gogol or Zola, Il Bidone magically mixes the director's charming satire and insightful character observations with his capacity fr deeply moving pathos." (from the video jacket)
Bitter Rice see Riso amaro.
Bread and Chocolate (Pane e Cioccolato)
Franco Brusati.1 VHS cassette (109 mins) : color. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy, 1974. Actors: Nino Manfredi, Anna Karina.
"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 refected, yet ever-hopeful. Bread and Chocolate is a comic but poignant portrait of a man caught between two worlds. Not suited for the society he aspires to, he's also unable to return to the world from which he came." (from the video jacket)
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Caro diario (Dear Diary)
Nanni Moretti. 1 VHS cassette (100 mins.) : color. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy, 1994. Winner - Best Director Cannes Film Festival 1994. Actors: Nanni Moretti, Renato Carpentieri, Antonio Neiwiller.
"Award-winning Italian director Nanni Moretti stars as himself in this 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...or is it both?" (from the video jacket)
Ciao, Professore!
Lina Wertmuller.1 VHS cassette (91 mins.) : color. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy, 1976.
"From Academy Award - nominated director Lina Wertmuller (Best Director - Seven Beauties; Swept Away) comes this spirited comedy, hailed by critics coast-to-coast for its vitality ad raunchy good humor. Ciao, Professore! is the story of an upper- class teacher from a conservative Northern Italy who, due to a computer error, finds himself teaching third grade truants at a ramshackle school to the south. Yet along the way, the earnest "professore" learns some valuable lessons, when he begins to see life through the fresh, vibrant eyes of his scrappy young students! Don't miss this rambunctious comedy - a film absolutely brimming with life!" (from the video jacket)
Cinema Paradiso
Giuseppe Tornatore. 1 VHS cassette (121 mins.) : color. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy-France, 1989. Actors: Philippe Noiret, Jacques Perrin, Salvatore Cascio.
"The story of a lifelong love affair with the movies, CINEMA PARADISO tells of a young boy in a small Italian village, where the only pastime is a visit to the movies at the Cinema Paradiso. Enchanted by the flickering images, Salvatore yearns for the secret of the cinema's magic and is overjoyed when Alfredo, the projectionist, agrees to reveal the mysteries of moviemaking to him. As their friendship grows, so does Salvatore, growing older with his good friend and the movies he adores, learning from both of them how to court his first love, and dreaming of one day making movies of his own. When the day comes for Salvatore to leave the village and pursue his dream, Alfredo makes the young man promise to never look back, to keep moving forward. And so he does, for thirty years, until the day a message arrives that beckons him back home to a secret, beautiful discovery that awaits him there." (from the video jacket)
Ciociara, La see Two women.
Città della donne, La (City of Women)
Federico Fellini. 1 VHS cassette (138 mins.) : color. Italian with English subtitles. Feature Film. Actors: Marcello Mastroianni, Ettore Manni, Anna Prucnal. Italy, 1981.
"In City of Women Fellini makes no secret of his obsession with women. Cast again as Fellini's favorite alter-ego, Marcello Mastroianni is brilliant as the Don Juan in a world of modern women. The film opens with a train entering a leaf-framed tunnel -- Fellini's first homage to the erotic metaphors of American movies that have become landmarks of our rimantic fantasies. This is the first of many allusions, from Dante to Fred Astaire, which mark this as another great work from the master." (from the video jacket)
City of Women see Cittá della donne, La.
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Dear Diary see Caro diario.
Deserto rosso, Il (Red Desert,The)
Michelangelo Antonioni. 1 VHS cassette (120 mins.):color. Italian with English subtitles. Feature Film. Actors: Monica Vitti, Richard Harris. Italy, 1964.
"Guiliana has become neutotically sensitive to her environment since anervous breakdown culminating in a near-fatal auto accident. Alienated from modern existence, she seeks some emotional basis for hope: in family, in group sex, and in a vulnerable affair with her husband's colleague." (from the video jacket)
Divorce Italian Style
Pietro Germi. 1 VHS cassette (104 mins.) : color. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy, 1962.
"From director Pietro Germi comes the adult comedy sensation that started it all. Often imitated but never equaled for laughs, this academy award winner takes a hilarious look at love, sex and marriage. Marcello Mastroianni stars as Baron Pepe Cefalù, a man approaching middle age who is tired of his fatuous and fawning wife and begins directing his amorous attentions toward his teenage cousin. In Italy a divorce is out of the question, so his figures his only way out is murder. By law, Pepe can kill her with impunity if he can catch her cheating with her lover...but first he must find her one!" (from the video jacket)
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Eclisse, L
Michelangelo Antonio. 1 VHS cassette (123 mins.) : B&W. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy, 1962. Actors: Monica Vitti, Alain Delon.
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Forever Mary see Mery per sempre.
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Garden the Finzi-Continis, The
Vittorio De Sica. 1 VHS cassette (94 mins.) : color. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy/West Germany, 1970. Actors: Dominique Sanda, Helmut Berger.
"Amid the ravages of WWII, the Finzi-Continis, a cultured Jewish family, languish in aristocratic splendor on their Eden-like estate in Ferrara, Italy. As the political atmosphere becomes increasingly hostile to its Jewish citizens, the handsome and care- free Finzi-Contini children, Micol (Dominique Sanda) and Alberto (Helmut Berger), turn their well-appointed home into a refuge for their young friends. In an atmosphere of emotional instability, they play out a series of heartbreaking romantic rituals which spiral into tragedy as Fascism gradually descends upon their world." (from the video jacket)
Giulietta degli spiriti
Federico Fellini. 1 VHS cassettes (115 mins.) : color. Italian with English subtitles. Feature Film. Italy, 1965. Actors: Guilietta Masina, Sylvia Koscina, Fred Williams.
"When she suspects her husband of infidility, a naive yet clairvoyant housewife unleashes an unconscious ripe with erotic fantasies. Desperately seeking solace, she consults spirits at a seance, doctors and detectives, even [a] flamboyant nymphomaniac neighbor who organizes orgies, all to no avail. As her life falls apart, her colorful dreams and visions become increasingly bizarre and surrealistic, both more disturbing and more liberating. In a final epiphany, she achieves a kind of psychic independence by plunging so deeply into her memories and passions she discovers the child within herself and with it, a sense of Giulietta's true relationship with her world. Fellini's most hypnotic phantasmagoria seduces the sense with its kaleidoscope of color and choreography, an intoxicating fresco of Freud, Dante, Dalì and Lewis Carroll. Set to Nino Rota's most beguiling score, Juliet offers the spectacle and splendor of a rousing musical while challenging the intellect with its investigation into the expressive inner life of its heroine, played with exemplary empathy by Fellini's wife, the great Giulietta Masina... So teeming with delightful revelatory details that it gets better onb each successive viewing." (from the video jacket)
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Johnny Stecchino
Roberto Benigni. 1 VHS cassette (100 mins.) : color. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy, 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 naive bus driver who's a dead ringer for Johnny 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!' -ABC Radio Network." (from the video jacket)
Juliet of the Spirits
Federico Fellini. 2 VHS cassettes (115 mins.) : color. Italian with English subtitles. Feature Film. Actors: Guilietta Masina, Sylvia Koscina, Fred Williams. Italy, 1965.
"In a departure from his famous neo-classical style, Fellini's surrealistic masterpiece is full of passion and adventure. Juliet takes us into a world where sex and fantasy have no boundaries. This is a story of a woman who redefines the "double standard" while becoming a free spirit in the process." (from the video jacket)
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Kaos
Paolo and Vittorio Taviani. 2 VHS cassettes (368 mins.) : color. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy, 1984. Actors: Omero Muti, Ciccio Ingrassia. "Freely adapted from Novelle per un anno the fifteen volume collection of stories by Luigi Pirandello."
"Kaos, based on five stories by author-playwright Luigi Pirandello, deals with peasant life in Sicily at the turn of the century, with every-day people in mystical situations. 'Part fairy tale, part pagan romp' (Peter Rainer, L.A. Herald Examiner), the scenarios range from the gothic ('The Other Son') to the comedic ('The Jar') to the sublimely nostalgic ('A Talk With Mother'). Like the best of folktales, they magically transcend time and place to represent the fears, joys and sorrow in us all. The Tavianis accomplish this with a storytelling style that is unadorned yet grand. Blending remembrance within remembrance, like Chinese boxes of memory, they have given us a warm and embracing celebration of life." (from the video jacket)
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Malèna
Giuseppe Tornatore. 1 DVD (92 mins.) : color. Italian with English subtitles. Also includes Spanish subtitles and French language track. Italy, 1999. Actors: Monica Bellucci, Giuseppe Sulfaro.
"The latest triumph from Giuseppe Tornatore, the writer and director of the Academy Award-winning Cinema Paradiso, Malèna is an utterly unforgettable story of a boy's journey into manhood amid the chaos and intolerance of World War II! In a sleepy Italian village, the most beautiful woman in town, Malèna (Monica Bellucci), becomes the subject of increasingly malicious gossip among the lustful townsmen and their fealous wives. But only her most ardent admirer, young Renato Amoroso (Giuseppe Sulfaro), will learn the untold true story of the mysterious and elusive Malèna! In a captiavating motion picture nominated for two Academy Awards, the eventual struggles and hardships that Malèna must bravely endure serve to inspire Renato to new heights of compassion, courage and independence." (from the DVD jacket)
Mamma Roma
Pier Paolo Pasolini. 1 VHS cassette (110 mins) : B&W. Italian with English subtitles. Italy, 1962. actors: Anna Magnani, Ettore Garofolo, Franco Citti.
"The second feature by master director Pier Paolo Pasolini..., Mamma Roma stars the legendary screen icon Anna Magnani...in the title performance, which she claimed to be 'the most important role I have played so far.' As an ex-prostitute who struggles to begin a new life for herself and her teenage son, Mamma Roma wages a heartbreaking and, ultimately tragic fight to stay out of the clutches of her vicious pimp and to save her son from a life of petty crime." from the video jacket)
Mediterraneo
Gabriele Salvatores. 1 VHS cassette (90 mins.) : color. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy, 1991. 1991 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Actors: Diego Abatantuono, Claudio Biogagli, Giuseppe Cederna, Claudio Bisio, Irene Grazioli, Antonio Catania, Vanna Barba.
". . . After a group of misfit Italian sailors invade a remote enemy 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!" (from the video jacket)
Mery per sempre
Marco Risi. 1 VHS cassette (100 mins.):color. Italian with English subtitles. Feature Film. Actors: Michelle Placido, Claudio Amandola. Italy, 1989.
"Forever Mary tells the story of an idealistic school teacher trying to make a difference in a reform school in such a traditional, straightforward style that it's easy to overlook its freshness and imagination. Directed by Marco Risi with apassion and grace, the film has warmth and easy vitality that make Italian films so beguiling, and it affords its durable star Michele Placido one of his richest roles." (from the video jacket)
Mi manda Picone
Nanni Loy. 1 VHS cassette (110 mins.) : color. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy, 1984. Actors: Giancarlo Giannini, Lina Sastri, Clelia Rondinella, Carlo Croccolo, Carlo Taranto, Aldo Giuffré.
"A love story of suspense and action in the best tradition of Italian comedy. The search is on for Pasquale Picone, who inexplicably vanishes in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. His wife (Lina Sastri) and small time hustler Salvatore (Giancarlo Giannini) team up to unravel this mystery and together discover that this seemingly respectable man has led a double life. They are drawn together as they delve into the colorful irony and comedy of Neapolitan underworld and discover Picone for who he really is." (from the video jacket)
Miracle in Milan see Miracolo a Milano.
Miracolo a Milano
Vittorio De Sica. 1 VHS cassette (96 mins.) : BW. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy, 1951. Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix; New York Film Critics Best Foreign Language Film. Actors: Francesco Golisano, Paolo Stoppa.
"Vittorio De Sica's award-winning masterpiece Miracle in Milan is one of the watershed films of the Italian cinema renaissance. De Sica uses fantasy, satire, and biting humor to condemn the degrading conditions that existed for millions of displaced Europeans following World War II. The story of Toto, an abandoned newborn who is raised by a kindly old lady to be a paragon of goodness illustrates the frustration of innocence in the face of life's harsh realities." (from the video jacket)
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Notte di San Lorenzo, La
Paolo and Vittorio Taviani. 1 VHS cassette (107 mins.) : color. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy, 1982. Actors: Omero Antonutti, Margarita Lozano.
"Voted 'Best Fim of theYear' tional Society of Film Critics, The Night of the Shooting Stars depicts the final days of World War II in Italy, seen mostly through the eyes of a six-year-old girl. It is a mythic recollection of life intensely lived -- fixed forever in the mind of the protagonist, and stamped indelibly on the film's legion of admirers. In the summer of 1944, a group of villagers flee from brutal Nazi occupiers, risking their lives to reach advancing GIs. To the saucer-eyed little heroine, life on the run is a succession of wondrous moments, both meaningful and horrifying: a young couple wed; a crowded church is blown up; a wealthy widow falls in love; Fascists and Resistance Fighters stalk each other in a dense filed of wheat. The epic journey (distilled from the wartime experiences of filmmakers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani) is both a tragedy of desolation and a celebration of life. It preserves, for all of us, a period of recent history that should never be forgotten." (from the video jacket)
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Open city see Roma città aperta.
Open doors see Porte aperte.
Ossessione
Luchino Visconti. 1 VHS cassette (140 mins.):color, BW. Italian with English subtitles, Feature Film. Italy, 1942. Actors:Clara Calamai, Massimo Girottilanda.
"Ossessione, made in 1942 and banned in Italy by Mussolini, is a powerful delineation of the ill-fated love between Gino, a virile young drifter who arrives by chance at a roadside restaurant and filling station, and Giovanna, the beautiful young wife of the fat old man who owns the place. Giovanna's husband disgusts he; every time he touches her she wants to scream. Gino leaves, only to return because he can't get her out of his blood. They kill her husband, but his death haunts the guilt-ridden Gino. This is the first release of the 35mm version." (from the video jacket)
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Palombella rossa
Nanni Moretti. 1 VHS cassette (87 mins.) : color. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy, 1989. Actors: Nanni Moretti, Marella Valentini, Silvio Orlando, Alfonso Santagata, Claudio Morganti, Asia Argento.
"When Michele, a water-polo playing politician, is struck with amnesia, a swimming pool becomes the stage for a hilarious attack on contemporary politics, culture, media, and language. Characters from Michele's life appear and disappear as he frenetically attempts to reconstruct his identity, and to understand the volatile condition of Italian Communism, all during his participation in a surrealistic game of water-polo. Rendered in the style of the Italian classic 8 1/2 by Federico Fellini, this is a film of sharp, insightful social commentary couched in an absurdist comedy that knows no bounds." (from the video jacket)
Pane e cioccolato see Bread and Chocolate.
Pasqualino Settebellezze
Lina Wertmüller. 1 VHS cassette (115 mins.) : color. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy, 1976. Actors: Giancarlo Giannini, Fernando Rey.
"Nominated for 7 Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Film Best Actor and Best Director, Seven Beauties tells the story of pasqualino Frafusco (Giancarlo Giannini), a small-time crook and lady-killer, who lives in Naples with his mother and seven sisters during World War II. Director Lina Wertmüller (Swept Away and The Seduction of Mimi) was the first woman director nominated for an Academy Award for htis slapstick -tragedy investigation of an Italian common man's soul."
Porte aperte
Gianni Amelio. 1 VHS cassette (109 mins.) : color. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy, 1990.
"A brutal triple murder puts justice on trial in Fascist Italy. Palermo, 1937. The Fascists promise that their campaign of harsh capital punishment laws - and climate of fear - will let citizens sleep with "open doors." One morning an embezzler calmly murders the boss who fired him, the clerk who replaced him, and then rapes and murders his wife. The town cries for execution under the Fascist law, and the murderer himself demands death. But one judge an done juror are determined to see justice, not vengeance served. Before the trial is over they may risk their own futures and perhaps their lives in an unflinching examination of the law. Propelled by riveting performances by Italy's top stars and set against a gripping trial, "Open Doors" is the winner of over a half dozen major film awards including 1990's European Film of the Year." (from the video jacket)
Il Postino
Michael Radford. 1 VHS cassette (108 mins.):color. Italian with English subtitles, Feature Film. Actors: Phillipe Noiret, Massimo Troisi, Maria Grazia Cucinota.
"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 to 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." (from the video jacket)
The Postman see Il Postino.
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Red Desert see Deserto rosso, Il.
Riso amaro
Giuseppe De Santis. 1 VHS cassette (108 mins.) : B&W. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy, 1948. Actors: Salvana Mangano, Vittorio Gassman, Raf Vallone, Doris Dowling, Lia Corelli.
"One of Italy's most commercially successful films, Bitter Rice packed theaters around the world -- despite being banned by the Legion of Decency in the United States. Though intended as a scathing indictment of harsh conditions endured by women laboring in Italy's rice fields, the film's enormous popularity was largely attributed to the erotic appeal of young Silvana Mangano. The former Miss Rome became a star overnight for her sultry debut as an impoverished yet voluptuous laborer who turns down the chance to emigrate to a better life in South America in favor of a steamy affair with her best friend's lover. Ironically, Marxist writer and director Giuseppe De Santis, one of the founders of Italy's post-World War II neorealist movement, virtually brought the genre to an end with Bitter Rice by demonstrating that sex was a far greater draw than social criticism." (from the video jacket)
Roma città aperta
Roberto Rossellini. 1 VHS cassette (101 mins.) : B&W. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy, 1945. Actors: Anna Magnani, Aldo Fabrizi, Marcel Pagliero, Maria Michi.
"In the final hours of Nazi tyranny, Italian resistance leader Pagliero is hidden from the Gestapo by a friend's pregnant girl, Magnani. Whe she is shot, he finds shelter with Michi, a drug-addicted showgirl. Fascism's stranglehold on Itlaian society is brutally exposed when he and sympathetic priest Fabrizi are betrayed and executed, protecting the identity of their comrades to the bitter end. The courage of ordinary people caught in devastating political events is captured by Rossellini's 1945 Neo-Realist classic, shot documentary-style int he streets and apartements of Rome under the threat of actual gunfire. Given these conditions, he was still able to summon unaffected, sensitive performances from his actors; a gritty, passionate Anna Magnani became an international star."
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Seven Beauties see Pasqualino Settebellezze.
Storia di ragazzi e di ragazze
Pupi Avati. 1 VHS cassette (92 mins.) : color. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy, 1991. Actors: Davide Benchini, Lucrezia Lante della Rovere.
The story of boys and girls is a sumptuous feast of wine, food, sex and celebration. An intoxicating mix of friends and families meet to celebrate an engagement over a banquet that fondly recalls the endless meal in Babette's Feast. Between the twenty delicious courses and flowing wine, the guests loosen their belts as well as their tongues spilling family secrets and revealing romantic intrigues. Even the maid gets caught between courses in a lusty tryst that leaves her flushed and rumpled when she serves the next dish. The Story of Boys and Girls is a feast for lovers that will whet your appetite." (from the video jacket)
Star Maker see Uomo delle stelle, L'.
Story of Boys and Girls, The see Storia di ragazzi e di ragazze.
Swept away see Travolti da un insolito.
Swindle, The see Il Bidone.
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Two women
Vittorio de Sica. 1 VHS cassette (93 mins.) : B&W. Italian with English subtitles. Feature film. Italy, 1960. Actors: Sophia Loren, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Eleanora Brown.
"Realistic heart-wrenching story of an Italian widow who along with her young 13 year old daughter are raped by Allied Moroccan soliders during W.W.II. Intensely moving performance by Loren deservedly won her an Oscar for Best Actress." (from the video jacket)
Travolti da un insolito destino (nell'azzuro mare d'agosto)
Lina Wertmuller. 1 VHS cassette (116 mins) : color. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy, 1974. Actors: Giancarlo Giannini, Mariangela Melato.
"Set against the backdrop of the beautiful Mediterranean, Swept Away is Lina Wertmüller's (Seven Beauties) 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 desterted island, Gennarino reverses roles and become[s] 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." (from the video jacket)
Tree of wooden clogs The see Albero degli Zoccoli, L.
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Umberto D
Vittorio De Sica. 1 VHS cassette (90 mins.) : B&W. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy, 1955. Actors: Carlo Battisti, Maria Pia Casilio, Lina Gennari.
"Hailed as a masterpiece, Vittorio De Sica's Umberto D. is a beloved favorite among viewers worldwide. Even De Sica, who wrote the film with longtime collaborator Cesare Zavattini, regarded it as his greatest. The heart-wrenching yet unsentimental tale features Carlo Battisti -- not an actor but a university professor -- as a retired civil servant who struggles to live on a meager pension. Evicted from his boarding house, Umberto maintains his dignity in isolation except for the priceless companionship of his dog. Shot on location, this classic unfolds in eloquent, documentary-like vignettes that epitomize Itlaian neorealism. As timely and moving as ever, Umberto D. depicts society's ultimate indifference to old age and poverty.
Uomo delle stelle, L'
Giuseppe Tornatore. 1 VHS cassette (107 mins.):color. Italian with English subtitles, Feature Film. USA, 1989. Actors: Sergio Castellito, Tiziana Lodato.
"This critically acclaimed motion picture from the creator of the Academy Award winning sfavorite, Cinema Paradiso, was heralded as a masterpiece by critics from coast to coast. Joe Morelli is the 'star maker'-- a con man who travels from one small town to the next, claiming to be a talent scout for a top movie studio. And wherever Joe goes, people turn out in droves for a chance at being seen and becoming the world's next big-screen sensation! A lively and entertaining story about the magic of movies and the extraordinary dreams of everyday people, The Star Maker earned a 1995 Academy Award nomination as Best Foreign Language Film." (from the video jacket)
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Venice: Queen of the Adriatic
Museum City Video. 1 VHS cassette (30 mins.): color. English. Documentary. New York, 1992.
Vitelloni, I
Federico Fellini. 1 VHS cassette (105 mins): B&W. Feature film. Italian with English subtitles, Feature film. Italy/France, 1953. Alberto Sordi, Franco Interlenghi.
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Where's Picone see Mi manda Picone.