A number of different segments taken from 19th century Italian stories.
In a Latin American country, a rebel frees the prisoners of the local tyrant. Some traitors cause the death of many of his companions and he births the upcoming revolution.
1943. The affair between Anna, unhappily married to wheelchair-bound Pino, and deserter Franco unfolds in foggy Ferrara, intertwining with the power struggle taking place within local Fascist ranks that culminates in a massacre of civilians, including Franco's father – Pino sees it all from his window, but will he tell anyone?
Treacherous Roman senator Lucius Quintilius plans a secret journey into Thrace to recover a legendary treasure. He is accompanied by his daughter Livia posing as a Christian slave girl, his cruel henchman Commodio, and Terenzius, an ex-gladiator and Nero look-alike who fools the local Thracians into believing he is the real Emperor. But Lucius's plans are thwarted by Spartacus and his band of rebels who succeed in capturing the treasure for Thrace. When news arrives from Rome that the real Nero has died, local Roman governor Consul Metellus joins forces with Spartacus to defeat the traitors.
The story is the harried attempt of a Sicilian partisan, as part of the risorgimento, to reach Garibaldi's headquarters in Northern Italy, and to petition the revered revolutionary to rescue part of his besieged land. Along the way, the peasant hero encounters many colorful Italians, differing in class and age, and holding political opinions of every type. There is a key train scene, and the film ends on the battlefield, Italian unification a success, despite brutal losses.
A young widow flees from Rome during WWII and takes her lonely twelve-year-old-daughter to her rural hometown but the horrors of war soon catch up with them.
A vengeful witch, Asa Vajda, and her fiendish servant, Igor Jauvitch, return from the grave and begin a bloody campaign to possess the body of the witch's beautiful look-alike descendant: Katia. Only a handsome doctor with the help of family members stand in her way.
Manon escapes with the young nobleman Des Grieux, then becomes a high-class courtesan and finally forced to exile to America.
Nine episodes about life in Italy in the period just before its economic boom.
A French fugitive arrives in Genoa, where he becomes entangled with an Italian woman and her daughter.
A reporter is murdered while driving to his job. The Police are contacted by a clairvoyant who saw the death in a vision, but some dark force is preventing him from seeing the man behind the crime...
A man is hospitalized in a neurological clinic, suffering from amnesia. After seeing his photo in the newspaper, Mrs. Ballerini realizes that he is her husband and brings him home; then Mrs. Polacich recognizes him as her husband.
During the winter of 1944, the partisans stationed in the Ligurian Apennines must go to a factory in Genoa, in order to pick up a delivery of weapons. Meanwhile, there's a strike in the city and the Nazis are trying to suppress it violently. The factory becomes the scene of fighting between the Germans and the partisans but the latter, aided by the workers, will be able to get the better.
A Milanese shop assistant becomes an overnight film sensation when fate lands her the leading role in a prominent producer's romantic drama.
Anthology of tragic love. A noblewoman falls for a commoner. A doctor keeps quiet about his patients' infidelities. Expectant father is sent to fight in WWI. A 1920s fascist enjoys Rome's nightlife. WWII airman falls for a girl in Naples.
A lawyer, married but temporarily alone at home, finds himself in the house a beautiful lady who tries to escape from her jealous husband. Fascinated by the beauty of the unexpected guest, the lawyer is determined to conquer her, in vain. But when the woman leaves, she discovers that she has been stolen some money.
In the 9th Century, two Viking children, separated since their early childhood with one raised by the British and the other by Vikings, meet after nearly 20 years as rivals as war breaks out between Britian and the Vikings for control of England.
Orazio Menicotti is a night policeman in Rome. One night he is present at a quarrel between husband and wife and he volunteers to take the wife to the Police Station. While he goes around Rome with the blonde and beautiful woman, a bank is robbed.
Rome 1943. The German Commandant of the city causes a turmoil in the Jewish community by offering them what seems to be an expensive way out of imprisonment and death.
A doctor saves a girl from suicide and marries her out of pity. Soon the evil man who had pushed her to the limit taking advantage of her re-enters her life. The ensuing crisis will help the newlyweds overcome their differences and start a fresh, better new life.
The young Alberto Ruotolo leave the country cottage to go for the sharpshooter. But the command does not pull good air, three riflemen arrogant and unruly bear much disorder as anger Marshal Nero.
The adventures of Roberto, an heroic Italian soldier from Trieste during World War One.
When her sweetheart Bruno joins the Italian army, Gina, bored by her lack of social life, weds Tullio. She comes to regret her decision when Tullio proves to be a Nazi collaborationist. Casting her lot with the Resistance movement, Gina is forced into a difficult decision when the safety of ex-lover Bruno is endangered by the treachery of Tullio.
In a girls' school, Maria, a student, is accused of having an affair with the young professor Marini. The main accuser is her classmate Anna, played by Alida Valli.
A nineteenth-century Italian noblewoman, imprisoned in a foreboding lakeside palazzo by her uncle, comes to believe she's possessed by a long ago mistress of the manor.
Chronicle of the unheralded and unsuccessful invasion of the Soviet Union by the Italian army during World War II.
A cinematographic account of the reprisal ordered by the ruthless Austrian colonel Kappler in 1944 in Rome. In Via Rasella (Rasella Street) ten Italian civilians were sentenced to death for each German soldier killed in a partisan attempt.
The mighty Gladiator is captured after freeing the misguided emperor's daughter. The girl surrenders herself for his freedom but is again freed by the Gladiator.
A team of highly trained Italian seamen are taken to the island of Stampalia where there are to take their torpedo-laden attack craft on a daring attack on the port of Suda.
An American journalist, Barbara, goes to Italy to interview Roi, the country's most notorious outlaw when she imagines to be some kind of modern-day Robin Hood. Through local contacts and friends, she arranges a meeting and finds that her "robin-hood'" is just a hood, hoodlum and ruthless criminal. The police are about to capture him but he uses her as an hostage to make his escape but they are marooned for a night in a country farm house. It becomes a harrowing night for her and the poor farmers.
The quaint life of Ottavia, a widow living in Rome, is turned upside down when a young and pretty Japanese girl knocks at her door, claiming to be the daughter of her late husband, an Italian military officer who went to Japan on a secret mission during WWII and reportedly killed in action there.
Don Camillo (now bishop) and Peppone (now senator) return to the town of Brescello and rekindle their friendly rivalry.
Set during the Spanish civil war, the story of a commander of a fort Alcazar in Toledo, faithful to general Franco.
An industrial overpowered by debts decides to kill his creditor. Not having the courage to do it in person, he hired his former employee who needs money.
A witty tram driver helps out a jobless girl in wartime Rome.
A luckless young teacher it's suspected of committing two murders. When his lover begins to have doubt about his innocence, he seems to be doomed.
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?
Florence, early 1960s. Bruno aspires to be hired at a prestigious factory, but his Communist ideals — instilled by Millo, a father figure and family friend in love with Bruno's widowed mother Ivana — are an obstacle. His relationship with Lori, a beautiful and tormented young woman who has just returned from Milan, reshapes his convictions. Freely adapted from a minor novel by Vasco Pratolini.
It is only the prospect of having a child that eventually draws otherwise strictly urban new wife Suzette to the farm of an Italian working class family. She really doesn't like the country or her in laws.
This film is the moving story of Edda Ciano, the daughter of Italian dictator Mussolini, who was unable to prevent the atrocious assassination of her husband by fanatics of her father.
The tragic love story, already narrated by Dante in his Inferno, of Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da Polenta. Francesca is married to Paolo's brother, Gianciotto an old and crippled man and secretly Paolo's mistress. When Gianciotto finds out tragedy ensues.
Released from jail, Nanni punches prison guard Stefano who has denounced him. In order to take revenge, Stefano suggests the suspicion that, during his absence, his wife has had business with the Count Paolo. A few days later, at night, a deadly ambush will be prepared. Based on the novel The Trap (1928) by Toscan Delfino Cinelli.
A young music teacher, after her house is burned down by a raid, has to go to a refugee camp with her old and sick mother. She is forced to sell everything she owns, while she is looking for a job as a singer. One night, tired and frustrated, she meets a man who invites her out for a drink. She accepts the invitation, stunned by the bunch of banknotes in his wallet. The man takes her to his room at the hotel Luna and seduces her. Before leaving, she robs him of his money and then walks hastily home, but in the meantime her mother has died. She meets a young maestro, who wants her to sing his songs. She seems to begin a happy, though hard, life together with the young maestro who wishes to marry her. The wicked man suddenly reappears and menaces to reveal their old encounter and that she is a thief, but he is later killed. The unfortunate lady is suspected of the crime, but at the end she is cleared of it and she can happily marry her maestro
The story of Che Guevara's desperate attempt to escape the mountains of Bolivia. Pursued by an elite ranger unit of the army led by a determined CIA agent, Che is eventually trapped and his men are killed.
Successful WWI pilot Luciano Serra has problems adjusting to an ordinary life in peace, so he leaves his family and becomes a pilot in America. In the 30s, his son in Italy wants also to become a pilot, and Luciano accepts an offer of a double dealing agent for a flight from Rio to Rome, but his plane crashes in the Atlantic. For the world Luciano Serra is missing, but he has entered the Italian army under a new name to fight in Ethiopia. The train in which his unit travels is attacked by Ethiopian soldiers, his son flying a reconasaince mission is shot down and wounded by the same attacking enemies. Will Luciano be able to fly the plane back, to get close air support for the outnumbered Italian troups?
A mob boss seeks refuge from the police at the home of an ordinary family.
Marco and Luciana are married and in love, but the passion of Marco for football distract him, and make him impossible to keep a job for a long time: that's why the young couple keeps arguing.
An Italian drama directed by Leopoldo Savona.
Carlo Savelli, gone missing after the war, returns to Italia after many years. His wife Anna, believing him dead, has established a romance with Andrea, and in order to keep him happy, she follows him to Venice.
"Elena" cannot marry the man she loves, so enters into a loveless marriage with the wealthy "Andrea". Gradually she falls in love with him, but he never reciprocates. Things become further complicated when a letter from her first love "Carlo" is discovered.
The underworld of Cairo is alerted to certain moves of various people in the search for Rommel's treasure. Some are intent on the valuables, while others seek only the documents. The searchers, each working for individual reasons, are: von Brunner, an ex-officer of Rommel's staff who seeks the treasure to aid families of the fallen; Wells, a famous American news photographer out for a scoop; Mrs. Fischer, owner of a luxury riverboat nightclub, who seeks the documents for a foreign power, and Krikorian, pretending to be helping Mrs. Fischer but is really interested in making what he can for himself. Sofia, a cabaret star for Mrs. Fischer, is in love with von Brmmer and unwittingly endangers her life when Mrs. Fischer discovers she is helping von Brunner in his quest.
Desiderio is a gentleman thief who steals jewelry. Without him knowing, he is hired as a manager in the jewelry store of Gabriele Bertinori, and with this position he plans to rob the place.
In a massive department store the driver romances the shopgirl. The problem is that the manager also has his eye on her, and some employees seem to be pilfering goods from the place.
Gaby is expelled from school after a married teacher commits suicide after telling her he can't live without her. Though she has done nothing, she is punished for his act.
When barbarians invade his village and kill his father, a local man wages a one-man war against them.
In a village, rumours spread that a treasure is hidden nearby. To finance the search, a farmer sells a 14th-century painting of the Madonna, leaving it with a master restorer. The farmer's daughter, who felt a particular veneration for the sacred image, goes to the restorer's workshop to see the painting of the Madonna again and falls asleep in front of it. While the girl is asleep, the restorer begins to paint her portrait, which he will title "Sleeping Girl." In the end, the girl and the painter will marry and be able to keep the painting with them.
Immediately after the war, bandits attack a truck that is transporting newlyweds Michele and Giovanna and the accountant of an agricultural cooperative charged with bringing four million lire into office.
A blacksmith from Montevergine, accused of murder, flees to Argentina. Years later, a mute witness testifies to his innocence, leading to his acquittal. Just before returning home, an Argentine woman plants opium in his luggage, resulting in a ten-year prison sentence. After his release, he finds his daughter engaged to a wealthy landowner who had falsely accused him. Enraged, he plans to kill the man but is moved by grace at the Marian Shrine, lays down his weapon, and makes peace with his enemy.
There were very few commercial feature films made during the Italian fascist era that were as openly propagandistic as this famous (notorious?) dramatic paean to the Blackshirts. The story takes place in a small village in Italy in October of 1922, on the eve of the fascist "March on Rome", in which King Victor Emanuel III was persuaded to consign power to Benito Mussolini. Gianfranco Giachetti is Dr. Cardini, a doctor at the local psychiatric hospital, where a strike has been called by the local socialists. Cardini turns to the fascists to help avert the strike. His son Roberto (Mino Doro) rounds up fascist friends to fight those aligned with the strikers and the town's socialists.
On the theme "money is the driving force that drives man to commit follies to conquer them", this film presents a series of episodes.
In a sea port, where he has landed after a long voyage, a sailor meets a girl. To overcome her reluctance, he gives up on leaving again and works as a barker in a fair booth where she works and takes her with him.
In post-war Italy, some pilots of the Air Force, despite the difficulties in which they are forced to operate, manage to form an acrobatic squadron. From the dedication of these men will be born the "Frecce Tricolori", the Italian Air Force's acrobatic squadron.
El Chuncho's bandits rob arms from a train, intending to sell the weapons to Elias' revolutionaries. They are helped by one of the passengers, Bill Tate, and allow him to join them, unware of his true intentions.
Two middle-aged bachelors use the same apartment for their romantic meetings.
A clerk has had a picture taken during W.W.I with the future Italian dictator Mussolini and tries to exploit the situation pretending he is a dear friend of his. When he finds out who Mussolini really is he changes his mind and goes back to his bleak life.
Two Jews and their former British comrade land on opposite sides of the Palestine issue following World War II.
An Italian submarine captain tries to navigate his sub through enemy waters while being stalked by a British warship. They both make it to the neutral port of Tangiers where they agree a truce.
A thriller with Jack Palance as a nazi doctor hiding after the war. While riding on a train, he is recognized by former prisoners.
A crippled loner's car breaks down near an isolated town inhabitated by several killers.
Ten episodes, one for each of the Ten Commandments. Lost film.
Coming of age, a girl is told the truth about her dead father: he is alive, but imprisoned for several crimes he did not commit... With the help of an old noble lady and a young count (who doubles as a daring sea captain), she will fight for the truth, and justice. Her opponent is the State Town's Inquisitor himself, who set her father's up to escape his own crimes.
The story of the Cervi family. Rural farmers brought up to be idealogically opposed to fascism during the era of Mussolini's rule of Italy and World War 2.
Nando is dissatisfied with his repetitive and mortifying work. He manages to escape from daily mediocrity only at night, when he enters his fantasy world.
A group of Italians take a flight to Sweden: among them there are the tourists, and the immigrants.
Sandro is a well-known journalist and he is conducting a survey on human selfishness. Every man and every woman he meets turns into a theme for his inquiry. Even his own wife, Titta.
After scoring big in a high-profile bank robbery, a gang of Milanese criminals has to hide in a monastery.
A fantastic yarn about a plot to conquer the world with an army of zombies!
Two teenagers are late for school so they decide to spend the day together.
Stefano, son of the Mafia Don Angelino Ferrante, is killed by Gaspare Ardizzone (John Saxon) for refusing to sell some valuable land. The old don sends for Ferrante Santino Billeci from America, in the hope that he'll be able to help in getting revenge. But Gaspar, meanwhile, is becoming the most powerful and ruthless boss of the area...
In a post-war Rome (1946) a cat burglar inadvertently saves the life of a would-be suicide man who returns from the war to find that he has been betrayed by his fiancée while fighting in the war. From that moment the thief takes the ex-soldier under his wing. They leave house together for a night full of misadventures. In a streets of Rome they meet the struggling typist who can’t pay her rent and opts to street life; a wandering amnesiac who lost his memory and keeps asking everyone “Do you recognize me?”. Thieves, gamblers, hookers, policemen, soldiers and endless chain of cigarette-smoking and alcohol/espresso-drinking.
This early docudrama uses dramatic reenactment, working models of early flying machines, and archival footage to trace man's attempts to fly from ancient times through the 1930s.
Emma, who is married to lawyer Giulio Scarli, is secretly in love with Fabrizio Arcieri, who works with her husband.
Two partners return from the war to find their coffee plantation in the hands of an unscrupulous overseer. One is attracted to an exotic native girl that the overseer has at the plantation.
Amore e sangue (released in the U.S. as "City of Violence"), the 1951 Marino Girolami (billed as "John Wolff") West German/Italian romantic action adventure war thriller.
Six sketches with as many ways of murdering someone, and getting away with it.
Gabriella, a maid, wears a jewel at a dancing party which belongs to her mistress, and when it is stolen she is accused of the theft and sent to jail. Some other maids organize a search party for the real thief who seems to be a moustached youth who continually sings a popular song.
A love story along the lines of Romeo and Juliet, set in Calabria: two young lovers belong to two families who have always been enemies of each other.
The young lawyer Vincenzo, Lucetta's new husband, daughter of a building speculator, discovers, on the night of the wedding, that he can not fulfill his duty as husband.
An unemployed young man has a relationship with the mistress of a rich industrialist. In order to escape her protector, he decides to commit a robbery in the company of a friend...
The events in Naples of a few ‘figli della Madonna’ (Madonna’s sons), young people born between 1945 and 1946 from the relationship between the local women and Afro-American soldiers.
Five different episodes unfold against the backdrop of Italian historical and political events in 1922. In the first, in the aftermath of the March on Rome, two scoundrels speculate on the event. In the second, a punitive expedition enters the home of a socialist deputy. In the third, the fascists rob a countess. In the fourth, a disgraced marshal incriminates a fascist Camorra member. In the fifth, there is the story of an encounter at the seaside.
A crime novel writer is experiencing writer's block while writing his latest book. Then a woman is murdered in his home, and this crime gives him inspiration to finish his novel. Without noticing, he even founds the real culprit.
An actor fails to find success in the film world but falls in love with a theatre manager's daughter.
When a tragedy strikes father Fyodor Karamazov, the wretched relation with his three sons reveals itself surrounded by intrigue, envy and deceit.
A playwright, a troop of actors, a director, and the playwright's uncle scheme against each other for their own interests regarding the success or failure of the play
The wife of a conductor with a stormy past agrees to meet a blackmailer in a small hotel.
ETTORE FIERAMOSCA was based on a widely-read literary action epic by Massimo D'Azeglio, published in 1833. Translated to the screen in 1938 by the most important director of the Italian fascist period, Alessandro Blasetti, it was intended to boost current patriotic fervor and pride in the Italian nation, and it contributed to a revival of Italian nationalism.
Birdaghin is a dancer at La Scala in Milan whose rapid success also quickly goes to her head. Fortunately, everything will be fine.
A sweeping, cinematic pseudo-documentary history of human flight, starting with the failed attempt of Icarus, and ending with the aviation triumphs of the fascist regime.
Fascist Italy's prime-minister Mussolini is arrested following the Allies landing in Sicily. Meanwhile, Soviet troops plan their offense towards Kyiv. Lt. Col. Lukin's regiment crosses the Dnieper river as the division's vanguard. Unbeknownst to them, they're merely a ploy to mislead the Germans so the rest of the army can catch them off guard.