During the Nazi occupation of 1944 Rome, Resistance leader Giorgio Manfredi is pursued by the Nazis as he seeks refuge and a means of escape.
A tour guide wins a large sum of money at a casino and a beautiful woman schemes at have it, but love complicates her plans.
When Passaguai family patriarch Giuseppe (Fabrizi) decides to take advantage of a corporate discount to bring his wife (Ninchi) and children to spend a Sunday at the beach of Fiumicino, a series of troubles begins for everyone, in the form of a comic nightmare.
Esposito is a thief who cons tourists in Rome. Officer Bottoni manages to catch him and starts persecuting him. When Esposito manages to flee, Bottoni's superiors inform him that he'll lose his job if he can't catch Esposito.
An ex-American GI returns to Italy to find some money he stashed before doing a prison term. He discovers his cash is now gone and quickly sets off on a manhunt to find out who stole his buried fortune.
A clown named Tottons of the Togni circus, obliged to never take off his clown makeup or reveal his identity, is continually persecuted by the jealousy of three women and even by a policeman.
A group of Italians take a flight to Sweden: among them there are the tourists, and the immigrants.
The day of Chief Constable Saracino begins badly when his new car is stolen. Then, in his office, he meets Alfredo Fiori who believes that his wife and her lover, a veterinary, are trying to murder him.
A number of different segments taken from 19th century Italian stories.
Mr. Pezzella owns and operates a well-established luxury-clothing store. He does not like and does not consider it right to pay taxes and therefore uses a tax consultant to be able to evade more taxes.
This is the (funny) story of four agents of Roma traffic police in the '50s. Their life are crossed in affairs that often retire from mere job relationships. 'Guardia scelta' (special agent) Giuseppe tries to be a composer, he wants to write the anthem for the roman traffic police. 'Guardia'(agent) Alberto Randolfi has a too strong inclination to fine everyone and is dreaming about learning French. 'Brigadiere' (sergeant) Pietro Spaziali is busy looking at his little son Tonino and daughter Maria who is going to marry a boxer. The 'Maresciallo' (Marshal) tries to manage and solve all the troubles they often do.
A film made up of four episodes: a jar repairer gets trapped in a vat because of his hunch; a young unmarried mother is forced to beg to buy herself a fan; Rosario Chiarchiaro appears before a law court for casting spells; the discomfort of an overtight jacket gives a wedding witness the strength to persuade the bridegroom's reluctant parents to bless his union.
A boy and a girl fall in love but their fathers take a strong dislike to each other, clashing repeatedly during the preparations for the upcoming marriage.
To get ahead after he answers a newspaper ad for a business proposition, Passaguai borrows the more impressive apartment of a retired actor and arranges an elaborate luncheon there.
In a series of simple and joyous vignettes, director Roberto Rossellini and co-writer Federico Fellini lovingly convey the universal teachings of the People’s Saint: humility, compassion, faith, and sacrifice. Gorgeously photographed to evoke the medieval paintings of Saint Francis’s time, and cast with monks from the Nocera Inferiore Monastery, The Flowers of St. Francis is a timeless and moving portrait of the search for spiritual enlightenment.
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...
While Rodolfo tries to become a lyric singer, his lifestyle deeply annoys his father-in-law.
On this beautiful May 1st, Thérèse is about to give birth. Their presence at home is undesirable, so Jean, her husband, decides to take François, their little boy, to a soccer match. Their plans change when they meet a former factory mate who seems to have made a success of his life. This man, Blanchot, decides to return to Jean a sum of money he had once borrowed. Trusted, Jean is drawn into a clandestine circle, where his apparent luck delivers him without ulterior motive to Blanchot, who is one of the ringleaders. The police interrupt the dangerous game, putting Jean, who has no identity papers, in an awkward situation.
Don Juan, a widowed teacher, asks to be transferred to the capital to create a painting school and improve his son's future.
Now in bankruptcy, the industrialist Merletti seeks the help of Mr. Frioppi, a rich ex-fascist with a real mania for ancient castles.
Peppino, a fishmonger on Campo de' Fiori, a famous Roman marketplace, works alongside Elide, a greengrocer, who has a soft spot for him, despite the fact they argue all day long... But neither Peppino, nor his friend Aurelio, the barber, are interested in getting married. Until he meets the beautiful Elsa...
Two jerks are enlisted in the Italian army during W.W.1 and by pure luck manage to help win an important battle.
The Passaguai family is living peacefully, but then they go to see the magician Bhorman, starting a series of problem for them.
A hilarious anthology of scenes from some of the most famous films starring the great Totò, the prince of Italian comedy.
Giovanni used to be a humble, mild-mannered government clerk whose life was turned upside down when he met Giulio, a notorious forger who at once set about manipulating the over-confident man. Giovanni did what he should never have done: he associated himself with the crook. Giulio soon laid hands on Giovanni's money, ruined his career and manhandled him into marrying his own mistress, the beautiful Ginevra. It was of course an unhappy marriage but Giovanni found a little solace when his son Ciro was born. Seven years later though, Wanzer resurfaced...
The daughter of Signor Carloni is about to take her first communion. A problem arises when the dressmaker spends too much time working on the girl's communion frock.
A clergyman travels to Spain to join the Loyalist side during the Spanish Civil War and finds himself attracted to a beautiful entertainer.
Giovanni peddles useless pens in the streets of Rome with his sidekick Francesco, but his college-student daughter thinks he is a rich industrialist. She falls in love with a rich guy and when her father tells her the trust about their financial situation she drops her fiance and refuses food. Luckily, the guy's parents give their consent to the marriage anyway.
During Fascism and after WWII, a school porter sacrifices himself so his son, who is slightly ashamed of a lowly background, can become a respected professor.The film also takes a few jabs at Italy's rapid governmental reshuffles.
Toto (Aldo Fabrizi), a Roman coachman with an old fashioned horse-drawn carriage who objects to the competition from motorised taxis, doesn't want his daughter Nannarella to go out with Roberto, a young taxi driver. But it is Roberto who helps him when he gets into trouble with a former client, Mary Dunchetti (Anna Magnani), an arrogant singer.
Parody of real life events of the Roman emperor Nero.
Rome, 1800. Napoleon threatens the power of the Church and executions of Jacobins are constant. Angelotti, the most famous of them all has escaped from prison and the chief of police is on his tail. Angelotti is being helped by a painter, lover of "La Tosca", a famous singer. The police chief suspects the truth and tries to arouse the jealousy of "La Tosca" to catch the escapee.
4 con men take the place of the real musketeers and manage to steal the Queen's necklace but then give it back to her, moved by her tears.
Cesare Mancini is a tram driver who lives in Bologna. One day he accidentally hits a woman on a bicycle, the accident costs Cesare the relegation to a ticket seller.
Vincenzo, a railwayman who works on the Rome-to-Paris line, has a wife in Italy and a mistress in France: Ginette, a widow with a four-year-old daughter. When he's offered a job in Paris he decides to move, but unfortunately his wife and petulant brother-in-law insist on accompanying him to Paris, and he must decide between the two women in his life.
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.
Returning from his honeymoon, Marcella finds out she is pregnant. The to-be grandparents fight on where the baby will be born and on his name. The parents of the baby, tired of those fights, run away to Milan.
Cesare, from Rome, and Mimì, from Naples, don't agree with their children marriage, so the young couple runs away from their home.
Father Pacifico is a genuine friar with a brisk manner, for this reason he is nicknamed Father Manisco. The religious finds himself grappling with a thorny case, as Don Liborio, a Neapolitan lord, dominates all local events, including the love choices of his young daughter. Father Pacifico manages to restore harmony and order despite a thousand difficulties.
A witty tram driver helps out a jobless girl in wartime Rome.
Four petty criminals pretend to be friars escaped from communist Hungary and go and live in a Sicilian convent
Anthology comedy/romance film
A young man unwantedly gets caught up in an international gang war in this humorous crime farce!
Television documentary about the making of Roberto Rossellini's 1945 film "Rome, Open City".
Dr. Lo Bianco, debt load, flees abroad and the headquarters avviatissimo study gynecological colleague Giovannaldi. These are adept at gaining the trust of high society and, thanks to the relationship established with the wife of a wealthy manufacturer (enough to get her pregnant), she becomes finance, own the cuckolded husband, a luxury clinic. And there will be a prize for Lobianco.
A short that follows the legend of Wilhelm Gorkeit of Tellikon (William Tell), the legendary archer and hero from Switzerland.
Tragicomedy telling of the trials and tribulations of a troupe of variety show artists.
Roberto Maldi, a young scientist, is trying to find a serum capable of giving courage but he unwittingly invents a serum which transforms any man in a womanizer. His boss scents a good business and wants to produce the serum on industrial basis, but Roberto does not agree.
Count Raimondo and his girlfriend Veronique return to Italy from Switzerland carrying with them a load of contraband cigarettes but, using the pretense of a kidnapping to cheat their supplier, they hide out in the convent run by his uncle Friar Hugh. In the same convent without anyone's knowledge, the bandit Lucky Marciano is also hiding out with a significant quantity of gold ingots stolen from the Swiss Federal Bank.
A painter gives his daughter a television set for her 18th birthday. On the evening of the party, the family sits in the living room and watches a series of variety shows taken from the sets of theatrical performances and various films recited by the famous Totò,
A group of Italian soccer fans arrive in Paris for a match, but most of them go their separate ways to explore the sights, have a bit of an adventure, and maybe even find some romance.
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?
Three partisans bound by a strong friendship return home after the war, but the clash with everyday reality puts a strain on their bond.
The film follows men from all walks of life, seeking to give meaning to their lives and rediscover their inner peace during a retreat in the “House of Silence”. For three days, they meditate on their lives.
Biography of the famous saint of Portuguese origin recalled from the readings of a young boy who one day goes to church with his mother to pray for the return of his father, who is missing in action.
Second World War . Field 119 in California (USA ) . War is long over , but the Italian Prisoners Still waiting to return home , preparing to celebrate , away from families , another sad Christmas. To dare a little rein to Their longing , they tell Episodes of Their Life . A Roman tells the USA difficult married life . A Neapolitan soldier tells of His lieutenant, a Neapolitan duke penniless . Meanwhile , the camp commander gave : Prisoners and a gramophone , So , Ai stories intertwine songs . Another soldier recalls the parties and the songs of the Sicilian spring , WHILE a Venetian gondolier evokes A HIS love affair . Sometimes , From Radio shabby listening news from abroad and Italy . Finally , one day , comes the ' pending release and All They return home .
In this entertaining drama, "Carefree Giovanni" (Sergio Castellitto) is the beleaguered last heir to a dukedom closely associated with the great artist Leonardo da Vinci. As the curtain opens, one of Giovanni's ancestors drops dead when he hears that Leonardo has died. Cut to the present, and the last duke in this line, Giovanni, is miserable in a home shared by two older women who browbeat and badger him without mercy. Giovanni's one solace is to go up on the rooftop and gaze out at the world around him as he daydreams. He has a special passion for the lovely Claire (Eleonora Girogi) who lives next door. To show his sincerity, he zooms off paper airplanes in her direction. However, these missiles are made from actual letters written by the great Leonardo himself. Could this man be last link in the lineage that started 400 years earlier?
A group of vignettes about men, mostly married, scheming to get women and the funny ways the schemes play out.
Sor Clemente escapes the surveillance of his wife and goes to attend a variety show.
Nicola Carletti is a middle age 50-year old man who return to Italy with his family but he is drafted to go to the mandatory military service in Italy.
An American prisoner, hidden by some Umbrian farmers, meets, drunk, with a German soldier who is also drunk. The two believe that the war is over and embrace each other emotionally. But it is not so and soon the cannon will thunder. Uncle Tigna, who was hiding the prisoner and two of his companions, will fall victim to the Nazis.
In a small provincial Italian town, a fifteen-year-old boy meets and falls in love with a girl.
When young Dalia is mistakenly admitted to a mental institution, she is declared sane - but by a truly mad person pretending to be a doctor. The real doctor thinks she is insane - how can she escape this madness?
A disguised thief talks himself into a countryside class fight immediately after WWII.
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.
Anna was the maid of a lady who inherited an apartment in a building in the center of Rome.
Donatella is a simple and honest roman girl, daughter of a bookbinder and girlfriend of Guido, a gas station owner. One day she finds a woman's handbag containing valuables and documents, and decides to return it to her owner, a wealthy American lady, who offers Donatella a job as a secretary as a reward: she has to manage the lady's villa during her absences. There, Donatella casually meets Maurizio, a rich, elegant and well-educated young man, and ends up falling in love.
Four comedic episodes follows different taxi drivers.
Leopoldo Lalumera, grandson of a wealthy eighty-four-year-old baron, infuriated during a galactic convention with a prosaic maid, discovers, on the eve of the wedding with his cousin Mariantonia, that he has become impotent.
Young Aladdin has a series of wild adventures after he discovers a magic lamp containing a genie.
A prison warden keeps a diary in which he writes about the convicts he meets and their lives.
Rocco and his brother Martino are two rich country-estate owners who descend upon the city in search of adventure.
Sunday is the only day off that house maids use to date the young men who cross their paths: doormen, soldiers, sailors, timid virgins and lurid husbands, or even a doctor.
In a theatre in Rome, Aldo Fabrizi entertains an audience with a series of anti-English anecdotes and jokes based on an unpleasant experience with two British tourists when he was a poor cabman. This small propaganda film by Cines is part of a triptych commissioned by the Fascist government on the eve of its declaration of war with England and was never distributed. It is an extraordinary document because it was Fabrizi’s first screen appearance – although 1942 is the year associated with his debut in Avanti c’è posto… by Mario Bonnard, also produced by Giuseppe Amato for Cines – and was a precursor of his unforgettable cabman role three years later in L’ultima carrozzella (The Last Wagon) by Mario Mattòli, which Fabrizi himself wrote with Federico Fellini.
After an introduction consisting of a series of close-ups of Totò, the anthology presents clips from films performed by the late comedian actor, collected in chapters.
Mark Shiel is the author of “Italian Neorealism: Rebuilding the Cinematic City.” In this 2009 video essay, he discusses Roberto Rossellini’s depiction of the urban settings in Rome Open City, Paisan and Germany Year Zero.
Much-censored documentary encompassing thirty years of Italian politics under the governance of the Christian Democracy (DC), entirely composed of — occasionally dubbed — archival footage.