Italian Cinema

1911 silent film and Italy's first full-length feature film, loosely adapted from "Inferno", the first canticle of Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy". It chronicles Dante's travel through the Circles of Hell, guided by the poet Virgil.

The old carpenter Geppeto manufactures in his workshop a wooden puppet that will soon come alive. For an hour the doll will live a thousand and one adventures: he will be judged, hanged, swallowed by a whale, taken prisoner by the Indians, saved by Canadian soldiers and, even, returned home mounted on a cannonball that flies through the sky.

Cabiria is a Roman child when her home is destroyed by a volcano. Sold in Carthage to be sacrificed in a temple, she is saved by Fulvio, a Roman spy. But danger lurks, and hatred between Rome and Carthage can only lead to war.

Assunta Spina is a tragedy set in Naples at the beginning of the twentieth century. Assunta and Michele are in love but others come between them and there is much jealousy. They fight and Michele is sent to prison for two years for assault. Nevertheless, because Assunta still loves Michele she is vulnerable when Federigo offers to help Michele but only if Assunta becomes his mistress. Michele is released early from prison, finds Assunta and Federigo together and kills Federigo. When the police arrive, Assunta takes the blame for Michele's crime.

A Faustian tale about an old woman who makes a pact with Mephisto to regain her youth, in return she must stay away from love. After the deal she meets two brothers who fall in love with her.

Paphnutius, a wealthy Alexandrian, is about to embrace the new faith of Christianity, but is persuaded by a friend to first see Thais, the most notable courtesan of her time. He falls in love with her, but is forced to kill a rival and conscience again urges him toward the new faith. He becomes a monk, but leaves the cloister to return to Alexandria to seek to convert Thais. In this he succeeds and she joins a nunnery. He saves her soul but loses his own peace of mind.

Epic, melodramatic and rather risque adaptation of the British novel about ancient Roman decadence, culminates in the eruption of a nearby volcano.

Depictions of the Emperor Nero and the Great Fire of Rome (64). Anachronisms are used for comedy, such as Nero telephoning the fire brigade.

A young honeymooning couple are lured away to a seaside resort by a high-society sleazeball, who has plans to seduce the girl, while at the same time her hubby in desperation stakes all his money on the roulette wheels.

A famous composer, distraught after his lover leaves him, contemplates suicide. He meets a young woman who restores his will to live.

In the huge steel factories in Terni (Umbria, Italy), two friends (Mario and Pietro) fight for the love of the same girl (Gina). Pietro dies because of a work accident at the factory. The other workers think Mario is responsible for the death of his friend. Mario, who is innocent, is forced to quit, but his love for Gina and his dedication to his job help him out of his crisis.

A story about the comic adventures of a group of summertime travelers.

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.

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.

Gold is a millionaire tired of the hypocrisy that surrounds him. After saving a homeless man's life, he gets hold of his clothes by wandering around town in search of someone who appreciates him for who he really is, not for his money.

Vittorio De Sica, heir to a large sum of money and owner of a newspaper vending stall, makes enough money out of his business to take a vacation at a fashionable resort. He is given a cruise ticket by an aristocrat who is an old school friend, and is mistaken for the aristocrat when he uses a camera that has his friends name on it. Assia Noris plays a maid who falls in love with him because of who he is and not who others think he is. Happy ending comes when De Sica marries Noris, who is more real than the pampered society belles he has been partying with. Shown in the USA with Italian dialogue and no English titles.

In a fit of jealousy, store clerk Assia Norris walks out on her boyfriend and heads for a vacation in the Alps, but not before "borrowing" a high-priced ski wardrobe.

Set during the Spanish civil war, the story of a commander of a fort Alcazar in Toledo, faithful to general Franco.

A crown, supposedly made from a nail out of the Cross of Christ and the metal of Roman swords, becomes a legend and a symbol of justice.

A woman of humble origins who marries a nobleman in the mid-19th century. Unfortunately, the unstoppable force of their love hits an immovable object: his grandmother.

This is an opera in four acts composed by Umberto Giordano . The story is set in Florence at the time of Lorenzo de'Medici recounts the rivalry between Gianneto Malespini and Neri Chiaramantesi for the affections of the beautiful Ginerva and Gianneto's thirst for revenge over a "cruel joke" played on him by Neri and his brother Gabreillo. The joke ultimately takes Neri to murder Ginerva and by mistake his brother. The opera ends with Neri descent into madness.

A family man travelling for work, Paolo Bianchi, meets on a train a lonely girl, Maria. He sees her again on a bus and she reveals him that she's in troubles: she's pregnant, her baby's father has left her and she doesn't know how to tell to her parents that she's not married. She asks Paolo to play the role of her husband and he accepts....

Count Anikoff, a Russian officer, challenges his best friend, Sergei, to a duel when he finds him courting the young woman he, too, is in love with. Sergei can't bring himself to kill his friend. He fires only after taking the bullet out of his pistol. Now, it is the Count's turn to fire...

Gino, a drifter, begins an affair with inn-owner Giovanna, and they plan to get rid of her older husband.