Toni Ucci
1922 - 2014
The Voyage of Captain Fracassa
Ettore Scola
Massimo Troisi, Ornella Muti
Serafina, Pulcinella and Isabella are three lusty, beautiful members of a traveling theatrical troupe touring the French countryside in the 17th century, leaving in their wake a crop of broken hearts. This picaresque romantic comedy is based on the 1863 novel Le Capitaine Fracasse by Theophile Gauthier. In the story, the company stops at a castle owned by the scruffy young Baron de Sigognac, who is deeply smitten with the charms of the middle-aged (and somewhat morose) beauty Serafina. He decides to travel with the company, and Serafina perversely tries to get him to woo the youngest of the company, the newly bereaved Isabella.
The Voyage of Captain Fracassa
The Assassin
Elio Petri
Marcello Mastroianni, Micheline Presle
Suave antiques dealer Alfredo Martelli is picked up by the police with no justification. At the precinct, Martelli realizes what the investigation is all about-- that he is the main suspect in the killing of his wealthy ex-lover. Is he guilty, or is he just a sleaze?
The Assassin
The Messiah
Roberto Rossellini
Pier Maria Rossi, Mita Ungaro
Rossellini takes numerous liberties with the original source material, rearranging and omitting events at will, presenting everything in a highly undramatic fashion. The film begins in the time of the Old Testament, allowing Rossellini to present the story of Jesus in its ancient, historic context.
The Messiah
La Cambiale
Camillo Mastrocinque
Vittorio Gassman, Sylva Koscina
The Posalaquaglia cousins are two small scammers and make a living of expedients: Dante receives as recognition for Tommaso a bill of one hundred thousand lire from the famous financier Bruscatelli, who ends up in prison immediately afterwards.
La cambiale
The Last Desperate Hours
Giorgio Stegani
Antonio Sabàto, Silvia Monti
Paolo Mancuso is a gang boss whose rivals want dead. During a failed assassination attempt, he is bitten by an infected lab rat. In the short time he has left to live, he tracks down his enemies and kills them one by one.
The Last Desperate Hours
Italia a mano armata
Marino Girolami
Maurizio Merli, John Saxon
A school bus with young children being kidnapped. Commissario Betti will solve the case. High action is promised, including hostage, bank robberies, car chases, prison scenes and mafia bosses!
A Special Cop in Action
Gli innamorati
Mauro Bolognini
Antonella Lualdi, Franco Interlenghi
Despite of (or perhaps because of ) its sparse production values and unpretentiousness, the Italian Gli Innamorati was feted at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. The bulk of the story takes place in a single Roman neighborhood. In the manner of the 1925 German classic A Joyless Street, director Mauro Bolognini studies the hopes, dreams, successes and failures of the neighborhood's various and sundry denizens. No one subplot dominates the proceedings, though a bit of extra time is afforded the story of a fickle seamstress and her seemingly meek-and-mild boyfriend. The cast is dotted with such reassuringly familiar faces as Nino Manfredi and Gino Cervi. Released in the US as Wild Love, Gli Innamorati was instrumental in bringing international fame to director Bolognini, whose career soon shifted into high drive.
Wild Love
L'imperatore di Capri
Luigi Comencini
Totò, Gianni Appelius
Beautiful gold-digger Sonia mistakes Antonio, a waiter in a Neapolitan hotel, for Arab Prince Bey of Agapur and makes an appointment with him for the following day in Capri, and Antonio goes there behind the backs of his wife and mother-in-law. A lucky series of circumstances actually does transform him into the prince of the island.
The Emperor of Capri
