Marcello, a shy tenor, is afraid of singing in public. Two friends of his think of having an elegant youth on the stage pretending to be singing while Marcello dubs him behind the scenes. The scam is successful but after a while Marcello summons the courage to go on stage himself.
A combination of a satire on war and a comedy with war as the background. It tells of the ordinary people living on a Naples sidestreet, from 1940 to 1950 under the dominance of the Fascists, the Nazis and then the Allies occupation forces. Primary among the citizens is Gennaro Iovine (Eduard De Filippo)who has a penchant for innocently getting into trouble, and his friend Pasquale (Toto.) The latter is a rail-sweeper who becomes a professional stand-in...a corpse used to conceal contraband...serving jail time for those who don't care to spend the time to do the time...a substitute at a political rally when violence threatens the scheduled speaker
An old prince lives in his ancient palace in Rome together with the ghosts of his ancestors. For years he has proudly rejected huge offers by a real estate group seeking to buy the palace and build a department store in its place, but when he suddenly dies his nephew signs the deal. The palace seems lost, but the ghosts forge a plan to save it from destruction.
Nine episodes about life in Italy in the period just before its economic boom.
Two wise guysmanage a messed up underground casino and brothel. A "hunting club" as a cover up. The place is frequented by all kind of characters, from the Neapolitan upper class to the petty criminals, who use it as a base and such is the turmoil that it will not take much to blow the cover up.
The comedy, centered on five characters (Rita, Rodolfo, Agostino, Bettina, and Don Attilio - "o viecchio pazzo"-), has as background the Italy of the 60s between the economic boom and the perennial unemployment crisis. The cylinder, well explained by "Agostino-Eduardo" in the comedy, is a representation of power, designed to intimidate the ignorant for its only evocative "power". It can also be seen as a sort of "Pirandellian mask", where the character of Augustine wears it to defend himself and represent something that he is not.
Marquis Eduardo Parascandolo, after having squandered all his possessions for not having cared about his finances, spends his time professing to some young people his philosophy of life.
Carlo Rutelli falls in love with the beautiful variety singer Yvonne la Nuit, but his father opposes the wedding. World War I breaks out and Carlo is killed while Yvonne has a son, but on orders from Carlo's father, she is told he is dead. Her career descends and only Nino, an art partner, remains close to her and helps her earn her living by singing in taverns.
When Italy surrenders to the Allies, part of the Italian army is dispersed and soldiers begin to return to their homes.
An engineer has a romance with the mistress of a rich banker but she sacrifices herself,returning to the rich man, for the best interests of the lover and his family.
Enrico breaks up his marriage to Renata because he discovers that in the registry office she is already married to a certain Giulio, an inhabitant of a country town. The couple leaves in search of the mysterious Giulio who is about to marry Marcella, but her wedding also ends.
A tribute to Naples, this film presents six episodes: a clown exploited by a gangster, a pizza seller losing her husband’s ring, a child's funeral, a gambler beaten by a kid, a prostitute's unusual wedding, and a "wisdom seller" offering advice.
Three gorgeous seamstresses meet on the historic steps of the Piazza de Spagna in Rome to discuss one another's love lives.
Maria is a housmaid and she is being engaged to Berto for fifteen years. Berto has not a lasting job so he is waiting for the death of his uncle Matteo to come into an inheritance. In the meantime Maria goes on with her work, first in the house of an unfaithful wife; then for an actor and his wife on the verge of leaving each other and last for Raffaele who wants to marry her. At last uncle Matteo dies...
The story of "King Lazzarone" Ferdinand I of Bourbon whose pastime was to neglect the government and disguise himself as a poor man and turn to the infamous city premises in search of love adventures. With the De Filippo brothers to complete.
A country braggart bets that he can spend a night with a local beauty. When he is surprised by her husband, he is not only forced to pay his friends money but also challenged to come up with a new identity other than Casanova or Don Juan.
Two jerks are enlisted in the Italian army during W.W.1 and by pure luck manage to help win an important battle.
Antonio Barracano is an old Camorra member who administers justice according to his own unique criteria. Magnanimous and tough, severe and affectionate, he is recognized as the 'mayor' by all the dispossessed of the Sanità district. His particular brand of justice towards the poor leads him to sacrifice his own life in order to solve the financial problems of Rafiluccio and Rita, a couple expecting a child and overwhelmed by debt.
Luca Cupiello lives with the wife Concetta, the son Tommasino, and a brother, Pasquale. The son is wild, living by gimmicks and stealing from his uncle; the daughter Ninuccia does not get along with her husband Nicolino and plans to run away with her lover Vittorio; the wife tries to hide her family's troubles from her husband. Luca, who silently suffers the family situation, takes refuge in setting up the Nativity scene.
Lorenzo, a restorer, and Chiarina, his unmarried and God-fearing sister, live in their deceased parents' house. When Lorenzo returns from America, where he has been on a business trip, he finds Chiarina pregnant and intending to marry Filuccio, the child's father. The couple asks Lorenzo for four rooms and a warehouse as a wedding gift so they can start a fruit shop. Soon, however, the restorer realizes that the two are driven by greed and acts accordingly.
Assunta, a commoner of Naples, is scarred by her lover Michele for jealousy.
Afterfive people die in crumbling Naples housing run by Northerners, the Southern relatives trek to Milan to sue for damages.
A comedy about a governor who wants a miller's wife and tries to fix a night with her by putting the miller in jail.
Pasquale Grifone, who lives in Naples with his family, receives in a dream the visit of Dante Alighieri. The poet suggests to the man, clouded by the fumes of alcohol, four numbers to play.
Former batsman Carlo Mezzetti, who has been left homeless with his daughter Annuccia, takes advantage of favorable situations and legal loopholes to find temporary accommodation, illegally occupying vacant houses.
Exasperated by her husband Matteo, who lives with the nightmare of an imminent third world war, Virginia asks her brother Arturo for help. He decides to indulge the man's phobia by creating a fake newspaper announcing the outbreak of the conflict. The ploy works and Matteo seems to calm down, but the fear of the return of war reawakens fears and concerns in those around him that were thought to be buried.
Television adaptation of the three-act play of the same name written in 1955.
Vincenzo De Pretore explains to his girlfriend Ninuccia, who threatens to commit suicide if they don't get married, that he wants to wait until he can give her a comfortable life, and tells her that he is the son of a rich man, raised by a poor couple. But to make a living, he is forced to steal and ends up in prison. On Ninuccia's advice, he chooses St. Joseph as his patron saint, and from then on his "work" goes from strength to strength.
A husband is persuaded to move his new bride into an old palace that is supposedly haunted. But the so called ghost is really the bride's former lover, who is stalking her on the premises.
Amongst the guests of the Metropole Hotel there is Calogero Di Spelta ridiculed for his unnecessary jealousy towards Marta, his beautiful wife. The illusionist Otto Marvuglia during his show pretends to make her disappear, and this allows her to meet her lover Mariano D'Albino. But Marta definitively escapes while the magician makes Calogero believe that his wife's in a box, and that she could reappear only if he blindly believed in her loyalty.
Having withdrawn his complaint from the police station, Alberto now finds himself in trouble: the public prosecutor, suspicious, believes that he acted in this way out of fear or something else.
Michele, recently released from the asylum, returns home where his sister Teresa, the only one who knows about his past madness, is waiting for him.
Six episodes (adapted from as many short stories: Gozzano, D'Annunzio, Guido Rocca, Marino Moretti, Alba de Céspedes and Oreste Biancoli), six love stories set in different moments in italian recent history.
Two episode about the married life. In the first one a paralyzed man is forced by her wife to brood eggs while the mother hen is gone. In the second episode a good-willed man tries to escpape from the grey of the world that surround him
A teenager escapes from a reformatory and is accused of theft.
The owner of a lottery store refuses to pay a large sum won by one of his workers that he hates, because that man received the winning numbers in a dream.
Enrico, a traveling salesman who lives in a room in Amalia's house, returns from a long trip to find that his room has been turned into a funeral chamber for the death of Gennaro, the woman's husband. Shocked, the man confides his fears to a doctor, who replies that the only real fear is that of the living, not the dead.
Attilio and Emilia are two newlyweds who love each other madly despite the extreme poverty in which they live. Their relationship is contrasted by that of Domenico and Sofia, the owners of their house, who live in constant conflict. When Christmas arrives, despite their poverty, the two young people decide to give each other gifts: Emilia agrees to cut and sell her long hair to buy a chain for her husband's watch, while Attilio sells his watch to buy a hair clip for his wife.
The story of a certain Alberto Califano who has not visited his friend Bartolomeo Ciaccia for several years. When he meets him, he learns that the man is now at the end of his life. Bartolomeo has a sister, Carolina, who takes care of him and tries to fulfill all his wishes. The sick man makes himself hateful with his behavior, and his friend finds himself having to play different roles to meet the needs of the sick man. In the end, it is Alberto himself who is struck by a confidence that Bartolomeo reveals to him, deceived by his friend's disguise. In fact, he learns that his eldest son was born from his wife's relationship with Bartolomeo.
Filumena, an ex-prostitute and for decades Domenico Soriano's lover, discovers that he intends to get married and so pretends to be on the verge of death in order to get him to marry her instead.
Two local toughs run a ramshackle gambling and dating den under the cover of a "hunting club." The place is frequented by all sorts of characters, from the upper crust of Naples to petty criminals who use it as a base of operations, and the noise is such that it won't take much to blow their cover.
On his way home, Don Simone meets his friend Ciccillo, who asks him for a favor: to entertain the husband of a woman, his lover, until they find the keys to her house. Simone accepts the task and his friend points out a man sitting in a pizzeria as the lover's husband. After a series of mishaps, however, poor Simone discovers that the man had nothing to do with it and that the person Ciccillo wanted to entertain was actually him.
Oreste is known for his deliberation and caution in handling license forms at his office.But when he needs money to send his 3 girls off to Capri to find rich suitors, he is tempted to take bribes to put a license through more quickly.
A comedy about an unemployed fellow who goes to live with his brother and runs into trouble with his brother's overbearing wife.
Four poor fellows win a luxurious car in a lottery but they have not the money to keep it. Therefore they decide to have it a day each and sell it afterwards. Everyone will spend his own day with the car and get some gratification. Some will get it, others will not. And the fifth poor fellow?
Paolo Bianchi, an average young man, picks up an underground newspaper on the street: he lives in northern Italy during the Nazi occupation and is mistaken for a communist, searched and beaten by the police. An influential friend manages to get him released, but now Paolo has a positive reputation among the partisans. To save him from further trouble, his friend gives him a document that corroborates his strong loyalty to the current regime: the safe passage he thus obtains helps, albeit inadvertently, the partisans on several occasions. Then the Allies arrive, accuse him of being a collaborator, and arrest him. His friend comes to his rescue.
An unscrupulous theatrical agent introduces his latest "discovery" to an elderly baron who becomes infatuated with her.
A compelling portrayal of postwar Rome
An American starlet inflames two Italian peasants who forget about their respective fiance's. One of them even thinks of marrying her and begins to plan for the engagement banquet. When the girl decides to live the countryside harmony reigns again.
In Naples, during World War II, Amalia Jovine, in order to survive, smuggles food and coffee in her crowded and dilapidated basement, in partnership with Settebellizze. Her husband Gennaro disapproves, but does not prevent Amalia from continuing her trafficking...
Adventures of two provincial actors looking for anyway done with something to eat. They are joined by a girl, Lili. They represent a magic number, but all I get are miscues and boos.
A compilation of segments covers the seven deadly sins of greed, wrath, envy, pride, lust, sloth, and gluttony.
Salvatore, known as "bread loaf", escapes from Caltanissetta's brewery to find his mother he never met. Before arriving in Venice, he stays in a small sea village where he meets people of various kinds.
Don Felice Sciosciammocca, a poor and simple man, goes to the day, hoping that sooner or later will come the right opportunity to change his life. A nice day at Don Felice comes a parcel from a dear cousin, which contains three pairs of old trousers. Apparently only common value objects, but they will create great surprises.
Happy Sciosciammocca has a double life: he plays sacred music in the convent of Rondinelle and teaches music to the educators, at night he goes to Naples where he is known as the actor.
Guests of the wealthy young Don Alberto De Simone, the ramshackle troupe of actors known as "L'eclettica," led by Gennaro De Sia, rehearse a new play in an attempt to redeem themselves after the fiascos of their previous performances. The "rehearsals" are interrupted by the arrival of Salvatore, brother of Viola, an actress who is expecting Gennaro's child and who wants to force the man to act like a gentleman and marry her.
A poor girl is convinced she is the daughter of a prince.
Luca Cupiello, like every Christmas, prepares the crib, amid the disinterest of his wife Concetta and his son Tommasino. Ninuccia, the other daughter, writes a letter to her husband in which she communicates that she leaves him for her lover. The letter happens in the hands of Luca who hands it over to his son-in-law, who thus learns of his wife's betrayal. During lunch on Christmas Eve, the two rivals, who were confronted by Luca's carelessness, clash violently.
Traces the life of Anna Magnani, her creations, her successes, her triumphs, her boycotted career, her nonconformism, her anxieties, her generosity ... Punctuated with photos that tell her career in theater and cinema, Extracts of films, this documentary portrait also gives the floor to his friends and relatives, from Roberto Rossellini to Marcello Mastroianni, through Federico Fellini.
Agostina is a maid turned prostitute during World War II. She sends all the money she makes to the local priest in her home village for safekeeping. After the war is over Agostina and her friend Australia plan to open a clothing store so they return to her home island to collect the money from the priest. But after arriving there Agostina learns in shock that the priest has been dead for more than a year and that his eccentric successor mistook the received money for donations and spent all of it on building a new orphanage for war orphans. To make matters even worse, other islanders think that Agostina is now a millionaire and beg her to help them financially.
Passengers struggle to survive after their plane crashes on a remote island. Director Richard Wilson's 1958 drama stars Esther Williams, Jeff Chandler and Rosanna Podesta.
Stuck in a dream world of his own, Italian sculptor Albert Saporito, sometimes has difficulty separating truth from fiction. When he dreams that his gangster neighbor has been murdered, he reports the crime to the police, only to involve himself in a complicated situation.
Sofia, Don Saverio's sister, confesses to her brother that she was the victim of a fateful event: while she accompanied her brother to Rome, while he was resting at a hotel, a terrible storm broke out during the night, accompanied by thunder and lightning. Frightened, she left her room to seek refuge in her brother's, when, after the lights went out, she accidentally entered a stranger's room in the darkness and fainted from fear of a violent clap of thunder. The unknown individual seized the opportunity and took advantage of her. From that turbulent encounter, Don Felice Sciosciammocca was born, Sofia's illegitimate son, now engaged to Marietta, Don Saverio's daughter.
In Naples, where the modest clerk Michele Crispucci lives with his daughter Assuntina, his ex-wife arrives with her circus. The young Concettino confides to a friend that he wants to give up his marriage to Assuntina, because twenty years earlier the girl's mother had abandoned the family and become rich by giving herself to wealthy lovers.
Oreste Campese is the leader of a traveling troupe of actors—made up of his family—who find themselves in the middle of winter in an unspecified town in central Italy. During the prologue, Campese recounts the events leading up to the present: the troupe has suffered the misfortune of losing their "shed," a mobile theater structure that was destroyed by an accidental fire. The flames spared only the boxes of props and costumes, which were opportunely saved.
Geronta Sebezio is revered by his fellow villagers for his miraculous ability to bring the dead back to life. However, anyone who wishes to benefit from this gift must sign a contract.
Donna Beatrice is determined to expose her husband's alleged affair with the beautiful wife of the scribe Ciampa. The woman, heedless of her own family peace and the reputation of the scribe, who tries in vain to stop her, carries out a plan that does not confirm the adultery but, on the contrary, causes a huge scandal. Ciampa finds himself "forced," finding no other solution, to kill the two alleged lovers, driven by Beatrice's "madness." It is precisely from this "madness," however, that Ciampa will find a way to free himself from dishonor and a crime committed lightly.
Guglielmo Speranza is a young man who, having just graduated from university, decides to ask his beloved to marry him, convinced that the most challenging period of his life is now behind him. This is how we meet the protagonist, who repeatedly addresses the audience directly to explain what is happening on stage. He always wears the same suit and, during the play, changes three beards, black, gray, and white (one for each act), symbolizing the transition from youth to old age.
Antonio Barracano is a man who enforces his own law in the Sanità district, which is why he is recognized as the neighborhood's "mayor." He dispenses advice and opinions and solves the problems of poor people.
In a miserable, freezing two-room apartment on the first floor of a building, the Ruòppolo family lives in complete poverty. Giovanni, a clerk, struggles against a thousand difficulties to make ends meet, while his wife, Cristina, takes care of the housework.
Gennareniello, a crazy inventor, is married to Concettina and lives at home with his son Tommasino, full of tics, his spinster sister and with Matteo, a drawing master who makes plans for his inventions. Driven by his friends, the man courts the young teacher Anna and when his wife notices it, he is forced to run away from home, overwhelmed by the scorn of derision of friends and acquaintances who come to disguise him as a dandy, thus offending his dignity.
Thanks to the legacy of an English lord, the cobbler Andrea has become a baron and now has delusions of nobility: he wants a high-ranking marriage for his stepdaughter Virginia and does not recognize the brothers of his wife, Rosina and Michele, even after the latter has saved the his house from a fire. Virginia does not like her promised Marchese Alberto, but Felice Sciosciammocca, a shy and poor master of calligraphy, who reciprocates her. But when Felice learns that the girl will soon marry another, out of spite he accepts the court of the late Marquise Zoccola, Alberto's mother.
Villa Borghese, Rome's biggest urban park, is the place where everyday laughs and dramas are consumed. The movie is made of six vignettes set there.
Filumena Marturano is a former prostitute who has been living for years with Domenico Soriano, a wealthy Neapolitan pastry chef who was once her client. To force Soriano into marriage, the woman pretends to be dying in order to invoke a "deathbed" wedding, but the charade fails and Don Domenico tries everything he can to annul the sacrament. Filumena is forced to come clean.
De Filippo agreed to teach a series of drama classes to the students of the Università di Roma Sapienza, with whom he would continue to collaborate until his death in 1984. The lessons were all recorded and today are preserved in the Archivio Audiovisivo dello Spettacolo, at the Labs (Laboratorio Audiovisivo dello Spettacolo) run by Professor Stefano Locatelli.
The renowned director Franco Zeffirelli interviews Eduardo De Filippo to discuss the famous Neapolitan mask Pulcinella.