Umberto Spadaro
1904 - 1981He appeared in around 95 films between 1940 and 1979. His brother Peppino Spadaro was also an actor.
Patto col diavolo
Luigi Chiarini
Annibale Betrone, Guido Celano
The title of this Italian melodrama translates to Pact with the Devil. However, His Satanic Majesty does not appear in the film. Rather, this expensively produced period piece is more along the lines of Romeo and Juliet, with young love threatened by warring families. In his first Italian film, Hollywood veteran Eduardo Cianelli goes through his usual villainous paces as the scheming father of the male lead (Jacques Francois). The most fascinating performance is rendered by Umberto Spadaro, as the village idiot, or is he? Patto col Diavolo makes the most of the visual dynamics of Italy's mountainous Calabrian region.
Pact with the Devil
Ladri di biciclette
Vittorio De Sica
Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola
Unemployed Antonio is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. However on his first day, his bicycle—essential to his work—gets stolen. His job is doomed unless he can find the thief. With the help of his son, Antonio combs the city, becoming desperate for justice.
Bicycle Thieves
A Fistful of Dollars
Sergio Leone
Clint Eastwood, Marianne Koch
The Man With No Name enters the Mexican village of San Miguel in the midst of a power struggle among the three Rojo brothers and sheriff John Baxter. When a regiment of Mexican soldiers bearing gold intended to pay for new weapons is waylaid by the Rojo brothers, the stranger inserts himself into the middle of the long-simmering battle, selling false information to both sides for his own benefit.
A Fistful of Dollars
Seduced and Abandoned
Pietro Germi
Stefania Sandrelli, Saro Urzì
The film presents the tale of Agnese Ascalone, daughter of prominent miner Vincenzo Ascalone, and takes place in a small town in Sicily. Agnese is seduced by her sister Matilde's fiance, and has a tryst with him for which she confesses and tries to repent, only to be discovered by her mother and father. The film is a dark satire of Sicilian social customs and honor laws, and is very similar to Divorce, Italian Style.
Seduced and Abandoned
Anni difficili
Luigi Zampa
Massimo Girotti, Umberto Spadaro
Aldo Piscitello, a minor government clerk, is forced in 1934 to join the Fascist party. When the war comes, he finds himself able only to talk ineffectually in secret against Mussolini, even as his own son Giovanni is sent into battle. By the end of the war, Aldo has found the courage to stand up for his beliefs, but by then it is too late.
Difficult Years
Il brigante Musolino
Mario Camerini
Amedeo Nazzari, Silvana Mangano
Beppe Musolino is falsely accused of murder. He is tried and once found guilty is imprisoned. Unexpectedly he escape from prison and to survive he start living like an outlaw brigand. He falls in love for Mara, a village girl, and with her help he hunts down all of the witnesses who lied about him at the trial.
Outlaw Girl
Don Camillo e l'onorevole Peppone
Carmine Gallone
Fernandel, Gino Cervi
Bewildered, Don Camillo learns that Peppone intends to stand for parliament. Determined to thwart his ambitions, the good priest, ignoring the recommendations of the Lord, decides to campaign against him.
Don Camillo's Last Round
Hell in the City
Renato Castellani
Anna Magnani, Giulietta Masina
A young girl comes to prison and experiences the entire prison subculture. The inmates she befriends vary from big tough dangerous dames to smaller submissive ladies who are totally lost in prison life.
Hell in the City
Manos sucias
José Antonio de la Loma, Marcello Baldi
Amedeo Nazzari, Katia Loritz
Miguel is a truck driver who dreams of owning a service station. To raise money he agrees to sabotage a truck of his boss' rival, which results in the death of its driver. Miguel gets his station but is haunted by what he did to obtain it.
Manos sucias
La grande strada azzurra
Gillo Pontecorvo
Yves Montand, Alida Valli
Squarciò, a fisherman, lives with his family on a small island off the Dalmatian coast of Italy. Like his fellow villagers, Squarciò struggles against harsh living conditions, a scarcity of fish in nearby waters and exploitation by the local wholesaler. But while the other fishermen continue to use nets, he goes out to the open sea to fish illegally with bombs. But Squarciò borrows money, loses his boat, and in a moment of supreme desperation, has to bomb directly off-shore, causing the hatred and rejection of his fellow fishermen. Trying to save his family, Squarciò and his young sons sail their new boat out beyond the local waters and bomb-fish again. But this time, the sea exacts a terrible toll…
The Wide Blue Road
