Cesare Zavattini — Playwright (46)

Movie

The Witches (1967)
Le streghe WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
★ 7.0 5 ratings
莫洛·鲍罗尼尼 / 维托里奥·德西卡 … actor: 西尔瓦娜·曼加诺 / 安妮·吉拉尔多 …
other title: 女巫 / Le streghe …
"The Witch Burnt Alive" After a very long, but visually arresting animated opening credits sequence, Luchino Visconti (Death in Venice) directs the first story, which is the longest of the five, taking approximately a third of the film's running length. Mangano plays a superstar actress and model who travels to a mountain resort, only to find the well-to-do inhabitants have prejudices and preconceived notions about her based on her public persona. The women are all jealous and the men all want to sleep with her, but all Mangano wants is to be left alone. It's a mostly somber satirical piece, but story-wise, it languishes in its modest idea a bit long, becoming inconsequential to all but those fascinated by the realities of being famous. "Community Spirit" Bolognini's piece isn't really a story. It's more of a visual gag, in a short segment that features Mangano offering to take an injured man to a hospital, driving him at breakneck speed throughout the city, but not stopping at locations where he might find aid. I won't give away the punchline here, but it succeeds in being amusing, even if it's the kind of thing that only is interesting the first time through. "The Earth Seen from the Moon" The esteemed writer/director, Pier Paolo Pasolini (Salo), crafts the middle segment, which is the most artistic and memorable of the five. Reminiscent in style to "Don Quixote", a recently widowed father and his son travel around the country in search of a new wife and mother, and after a long period, they discover the literally speechless Mangano. She brings joy into their lives, but they are poor, and in order to find a better life for themselves, they concoct a scheme to try to make some quick cash. The story is contrived, and not completely interesting, but the outlandish performances, artwork, and costumes does evoke great charm and likeability. Although mute, it's probably the most appealing of Mangano's five performances, and Toto is terrific. "The Sicilian" Franco Rossi directs the fourth an shortest piece, a straight-forward revenge story that comes and goes before it ever has a chance of becoming interesting. It's violent, but easily the least satisfying of the five stories. "A Night Like Any Other" Eastwood's appearance is clearly the biggest attraction here, which was filmed in between the Sergio Leone "Dollars" trilogy. It's an enjoyable departure from his normal roles, playing a comedic romantic lead, and he is affably fun to watch. Famed Italian director, Vittorio de Sica (The Bicycle Thief, Umberto D.) does a masterful job with the story, which perfectly blends the mundane and the fantasy in a visually satisfying way. The story is about a bored housewife (Mangano, of course), who tries in vain to get her husband to realize that he is not as romantic as he used to be. The scene is interspersed with comedic romance sequences revolving around the couple's past romantic interludes, and dreams of how their lives should be.

Movie

The Roof (1956)
Il tetto WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
★ 8.3 14 ratings
维托里奥·德西卡 actor: 加布里埃拉·帕洛塔 / 乔治·利斯图齐 …
other title: 屋顶 / Il tetto …
Under provincial Italian law at the time, once a roof is erected, the occupants cannot be evicted from a building. This comedy follows the efforts of a family to erect the roof on a house overnight so that a newlywed couple can have their own home.

Movie

The Walls of Malapaga (1949)
Le mura di Malapaga WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
雷内·克莱芒 actor: Marcel Barnault / Jean Clarieux …
other title: 玛拉帕加之墙 / Le mura di Malapaga …
Pierre, wanted by the French police for the murder of his young lover, heads for Genova. Cheated at the money exchange, he will not be able to pay for his meal, but a waitress called Maria, whom he had defended from a violent ex-husband, will help him out. The two become intimate friends, but the Italian police, notified of his arrival, is on his track. Even Maria's daughter tries to save him, but Pierre, fallen into the trap the police had prepared for him, is arrested.

Movie

The Boom (1963)
Il boom WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
维托里奥·德西卡 actor: 阿尔贝托·索尔迪 / 吉安娜·玛丽娅·卡纳勒 …
other title: 繁荣 / Il boom …
Sweet-sour comedy on Italy's 1950s rage to get rich as fast as possible! The businessman wants to satisfy his wife's craving for luxury and a "respectable life" so he becomes heavily indebted. In desperation he agrees to sell a precious part of his body for a large sum of money. But just before the crucial operation he panics...

Movie

After the Fox (1966)
Caccia alla volpe Douban
维托里奥·德西卡 actor: 彼得·塞勒斯 / 维克多·迈彻 …
other title: 怪贼飞天狐 / Caccia alla volpe
喜剧大师彼得·塞勒斯有千面笑匠之誉,能在各种不同类型的影片中扮演各种差异性甚大的角色,本片就是一例。塞勒斯饰演一个意大利骗子,为了寻找一批黄金,假扮电影导演来到意大利的小村镇,一方面游说村民参加拍片,另一方面则假装成各种身份寻找真正的目标。

Movie

Boccaccio '70 (1962)
Boccaccio '70 WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
★ 8.2 31 ratings
维托里奥·德西卡 / 费德里科·费里尼 … actor: 玛丽莎·苏尼纳斯 / Germano Gilioli …
other title: 三艳嬉春 / 博迦丘70年 …
An anthology of four comic moral tales about the hypocrisies surrounding sex in 1960s Italy: frothy young love and office politics in the big city; milk advertisements that begin to haunt an aging prude; a trophy wife enduring her husband's very public affairs; a lucky ticket-holder at a small town fair.

Movie

The Gold of Naples (1954)
L'Oro di Napoli WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
other title: 那不勒斯的黄金 / L'Oro di Napoli …
Tribute to Naples, where director De Sica spent his first years, this is a collection of 6 Napolitean episodes : a clown exploited by a gangster ; an inconstant pizza seller (Sofia) loosing her husband's ring ; the funeral of a dead child ; the gambler Count Prospero B. defeated by a kid ; the unexpected and unusual wedding of Teresa, a prostitute ; the "professor" Ersilio Micci, a "wisdom seller".

Movie

Indiscretion of an American Wife (1953)
Stazione Termini WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
★ 6.3 7 ratings
维托里奥·德西卡 actor: 珍妮弗·琼斯 / 蒙哥马利·克利夫特 …
other title: 终站 / Stazione Termini …
While on vacation in Rome, married American Mary Forbes becomes entangled in an affair with an Italian man, Giovanni Doria. As she prepares to leave Italy, Giovanni confesses his love for her; he doesn't want her to go. Together they wander the railroad station where Mary is to take the train to Paris, then ultimately reunite with her husband and daughter in Philadelphia. Will she throw away her old life for this passionate new romance?

Movie

The Children Are Watching Us (1944)
I bambini ci guardano WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
★ 7.9 17 ratings
维托里奥·德西卡 actor: 埃米利奥齐戈里 / 卢恰诺·德·安布罗西 …
other title: 孩子在看着我们 / I bambini ci guardano …
In his first collaboration with renowned screenwriter and longtime partner Cesare Zavattini, Vittorio De Sica examines the cataclysmic consequences of adult folly on an innocent child. Heralding the pair’s subsequent work on some of the masterpieces of Italian neorealism, The Children Are Watching Us is a vivid, deeply humane portrait of a family’s disintegration.

Movie

Bellissima (1951)
Bellissima WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
★ 7.9 15 ratings
卢基诺·维斯康蒂 actor: 安娜·马尼亚尼 / 沃特·奇亚里 …
other title: 小美人 / 아름다운 여인 …
Film director Blasetti is looking for a little girl for his new movie. Along with other mothers, Maddelena takes her daughter to Cinecittà, hoping she’ll be selected and become a star. She is ready to sacrifice anything for little Maria.