Vittorio Gassman, popularly known as Il Mattatore, was an Italian actor, director and screenwriter.
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).
Commedia all'italiana or Italian-style comedy is an Italian film genre born in Italy in the 1950s and developed in the 1960s and 1970s. It is widely considered to have started with Mario Monicelli's Big Deal on Madonna Street in 1958, and derives its name from the title of Pietro Germi's Divorce Italian Style (1961). According to most of the critics, La Terrazza (1980) by Ettore Scola is the last work considered part of the Commedia all'italiana.
The Nastro d'Argento is a film award assigned each year, since 1946, by Sindacato Nazionale dei Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani, the association of Italian film critics.
The Love Specialist is an Italian-French movie filmed in 1958, and released in the U.S. in 1959 with the title The Love Specialist.
Les Miserables is a 1948 Italian drama film directed by Riccardo Freda. It is based on the Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables and stars Gino Cervi as Jean Valjean, Valentina Cortese as Fantine and Cosette, and Hans Hinrich as Javert. After the financial success of Freda's previous film The Black Eagle, Freda worked a deal with Lux Film and began developing an adaptation of Les Misérables with Mario Monicelli, Vittorio Nino Novarese and Stefano Vanzina. The film was shot entirely in Rome.
Ghosts of Rome is a 1961 Italian comedy film directed by Antonio Pietrangeli. It was released in the UK in 1964 as The Phantom Lovers.
The Shortest Day is a 1963 Italian comedy film. It is a parody of the war movie The Longest Day and stars the popular duo Franco and Ciccio in the leading roles. Dozens of other well-known actors, from both European and American cinema, agreed to appear in the movie in cameo roles for free to avert the bankruptcy of the production company, Titanus.
Villa Falconieri is a 1928 German-Italian silent drama film directed by Richard Oswald and starring Maria Jacobini, Hans Stüwe, and Eve Gray. It was based on the 1896 novel of the same title by Richard Voss.
Il turno is a 1981 Italian comedy film directed by Tonino Cervi.
The Eye of the Needle is a 1963 Italian comedy-drama film directed by Marcello Andrei.
Evi Maltagliati was an Italian stage, television and film actress.
Daniele Cortis is an 1885 novel by the Italian writer Antonio Fogazzaro. The plot follows the impossible love between Daniele Cortis, an idealistic Catholic politician, and his cousin Elena, married to a man who does not understand her.
Aldebaran is a 1935 Italian drama film directed by Alessandro Blasetti and starring Gino Cervi, Evi Maltagliati and Gianfranco Giachetti. The film was a naval melodrama, an attempt by Blasetti to make a more commercial film following the difficulties encountered with the propagandist The Old Guard (1934).
The Black Eagle is a 1946 Italian historical adventure drama film directed by Riccardo Freda and starring Rossano Brazzi, Irasema Dilián and Gino Cervi. It was released as Return of the Black Eagle in the United States. The film is based on the unfinished 1832 Russian novel Dubrovsky by Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837). It was followed by a 1951 sequel Revenge of the Black Eagle, also directed by Freda.
Salvo D'Angelo was an Italian film producer. He also worked as an art director and production designer.
Kean: Genius or Scoundrel is a 1956 Italian historical biographical film co-written, directed by and starring Vittorio Gassman. It also features Eleonora Rossi Drago, Gérard Landry and Valentina Cortese A dramatization of the life of nineteenth century actor Edmund Kean, it is based on the drama play Kean (1836) by Alexandre Dumas and its 1953 adaptation with the same name by Jean-Paul Sartre. It was Gassman's first film as director. It was screened at the Locarno Film Festival in 1957.
Variety Distribution is an Italian-based film distribution company.
