Sergio Tòfano was an Italian actor, theatre director, playwright, scene designer and illustrator.
Luigi Cervi, better known as Gino Cervi, was an Italian actor. He was best known for portraying Peppone in a series of comedies based on the character Don Camillo (1952–1965), and police detective Jules Maigret on the television series Le inchieste del commissario Maigret (1964–1972).
Alessandro Blasetti was an Italian film director and screenwriter who influenced Italian neorealism with the film Quattro passi fra le nuvole. Blasetti was one of the leading figures in Italian cinema during the Fascist era. He is sometimes known as the "father of Italian cinema" because of his role in reviving the struggling industry in the late 1920s.
Telefoni Bianchi films, also called deco films, were made by the Italian film industry in the 1930s and the 1940s in imitation of American comedies of the time in a sharp contrast to the other important style of the era, calligrafismo, which was highly artistic. The cinema of Telefoni Bianchi was born from the success of the Italian film comedy of the early 1930s; it was a lighter version, cleansed of any intellectualism or veiled social criticism.
The Iron Crown is a 1941 Italian adventure film written and directed by Alessandro Blasetti, starring Massimo Girotti and Gino Cervi. The narrative revolves a sacred iron crown and a king who is prophesied to lose his kingdom to his nephew. It blends motifs from several European myths, legends and modern works of popular fiction. The film won a Coppa Mussolini award, which is the ancestor to the Golden Lion.
Un giorno nella vita is a 1946 Italian war film directed by Alessandro Blasetti. It was entered into the 1946 Cannes Film Festival. American title: "A Day In the Life". This film was screened in 2009 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's retrospective "Life Lessons" Italian Neorealism and the birth of modern cinema.
The Flame is a 1952 Italian historical melodrama film directed by Alessandro Blasetti and starring Amedeo Nazzari, Eleonora Rossi Drago and Elisa Cegani. It was shot at the Cinecittà Studios in Rome. The film's sets were designed by the art director Mario Chiari.
La monaca di Monza is a 1962 Italian film directed by Carmine Gallone. It stars Gabriele Ferzetti, Giovanna Ralli and Mario Feliciani. The film is about a young nobleman who seduces a nun, leading to the death of the man and the internment of the woman. The film is a drama but is laced with satire.
The Countess of Parma is a 1937 Italian "white-telephones" comedy film directed by Alessandro Blasetti and starring Elisa Cegani, Antonio Centa and María Denis. Marcella, a mannequin working in a fashion store in Turin, falls in love with an Italian International football player whose aunt has just acquired the store intending to replace its reliance on French fashions with Italian designs. Blasetti later described it as his only "white telephone" film, although his 1939 comedy Backstage has also been noted for its similar characteristics.
Evi Maltagliati was an Italian stage, television and film actress.
Ettore Fieramosca is a 1938 Italian historical film directed by Alessandro Blasetti and starring Gino Cervi, Mario Ferrari and Elisa Cegani. It is adapted from the 1833 novel of the same title by Massimo D'Azeglio, based on the life of the 16th century condottiero Ettore Fieramosca.
The Old Guard is a 1934 Italian drama film directed by Alessandro Blasetti and starring Gianfranco Giachetti, Mino Doro, and Franco Brambilla. It was one of several pro-Fascist films made by Blasetti during the era. The film is set in a small Italian town in 1922, where a local group of Fascist blackshirts battle against rival socialists who have called a strike at the hospital. Mario, the young son of Doctor Cardini, is killed in the fighting. The film ends with the March on Rome that brought Benito Mussolini to power.
Gianfranco Giachetti was an Italian stage and film actor. He played the role of Father Costanzo in Alessandro Blasetti's historical film 1860. The same year he appeared in The Old Guard as Doctor Cardini, the father of a young blackshirt who is killed in a street fight.
The Jester's Supper is a 1942 Italian historical film directed by Alessandro Blasetti and starring Amedeo Nazzari, Osvaldo Valenti and Clara Calamai. It was based on a play of the same title by Sem Benelli, which had later been turned into an opera by Umberto Giordano. Like the play, the film is set in the 15th century Florence of Lorenzo the Magnificent and portrays a rivalry that leads to a series of increasingly violent practical jokes.
The Daughter of the Green Pirate is a 1940 Italian adventure film directed by Enrico Guazzoni and starring Doris Duranti, Fosco Giachetti and Camillo Pilotto. It was shot partly at the Pisorno Studios in Tirrenia with sets designed by the art director Piero Filippone. The film was based on a novel by Emilio Salgari.
Wealth Without a Future is a 1939 Italian drama film directed by Ferdinando Maria Poggioli and starring Lamberto Picasso, Paola Borboni and Doris Duranti. A wealthy industrialist retires to live in the countryside.
The Two Sergeants is a 1936 Italian historical drama film directed by Enrico Guazzoni and starring Evi Maltagliati, Gino Cervi and Mino Doro. It was based on the play The Two Sergeants by Theodore d'Aubigny, which has been made into films several times. It is set in the Napoleonic Wars. The film marked the debut of Alida Valli who had until recently been a student of the Centro sperimentale di cinematografia. Valli went on to be a leading star of Italian cinema.
Buried Alive is a 1949 Italian historical melodrama film directed by Guido Brignone and starring Milly Vitale, Paul Muller and Evi Maltagliati. It is based on the novel of the same title by Francesco Mastriani, set during the campaign for Italian unification.
