The Naked Maja | |
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Directed by | Henry Koster |
Written by | Norman Corwin Giorgio Prosperi Albert Lewin Oscar Saul (story) Talbot Jennings (story) |
Produced by | Silvio Clementelli Goffredo Lombardo |
Starring | Ava Gardner Anthony Franciosa Amedeo Nazzari Gino Cervi Lea Padovani |
Cinematography | Giuseppe Rotunno |
Edited by | Mario Serandrei |
Music by | Angelo Lavagnino |
Distributed by | United Artists Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release dates |
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Running time | 111 minutes |
Countries | United States Italy |
Language | English |
Budget | $913,000 [1] |
Box office | $1 million (outside US/Canada) [1] |
The Naked Maja is a 1958 Italian-American co-production made by S.G.C., Titanus, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and United Artists. [2] [3] This historical film recounting of the romance between the painter Francisco Goya and the Duchess of Alba was directed by Henry Koster, and produced by Silvio Clementelli and Goffredo Lombardo. The screenplay was by Norman Corwin, Giorgio Prosperi and Albert Lewin based on a story by Oscar Saul and Talbot Jennings. The music score was by Angelo Lavagnino and the cinematography by Giuseppe Rotunno.
The film stars Ava Gardner and Anthony Franciosa with Amedeo Nazzari, Gino Cervi, Lea Padovani, Massimo Serato, and a largely Italian cast. It is based on a novel by Noel Gerson.
In Spain at the end of the 18th century, the painter Francisco de Goya met the Duchess of Alba. She became his patron, model and mistress...
According to MGM records the film earned $1 million at the box office outside the US and Canada resulting in a loss to the studio of $513,000. [1]
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and engravings reflected contemporary historical upheavals and influenced important 19th- and 20th-century painters. Goya is often referred to as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns.
Anthony George Franciosa was an American actor most often billed as Tony Franciosa at the height of his career. He began his career on stage and made a breakthrough portraying the brother of the drug addict in the play A Hatful of Rain, which earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. He reprised his role in its subsequent film adaptation, for which he won the 1957 Venice Film Festival Award for Best Actor, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
The Naked Maja or The Nude Maja is an oil-on-canvas painting made around 1797–1800 by the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya, and is now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. It portrays a nude woman reclining on a bed of pillows, and was probably commissioned by Manuel de Godoy, to hang in his private collection in a separate cabinet reserved for nude paintings. Goya created a pendant of the same woman identically posed, but clothed, known today as La maja vestida, also in the Prado, and usually hung next to La maja desnuda. The subject is identified as a maja or fashionable lower-class Madrid woman, based on her costume in La maja vestida.
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).
María del Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva y Silva-Bazán, 13th Duchess of Alba, GE, was a Spanish aristocrat and a popular subject of the painter Francisco de Goya.
La maja vestida is an oil painting on canvas created between 1800 and 1807 by the Spanish Romantic painter and printmaker Francisco Goya. It is a clothed version of the earlier La maja desnuda, which was created between 1795 and 1800. The identity of the model and that of the commissioner have not been confirmed. However, art historians and scholars have suggested she is María Cayetana de Silva or Godoy's mistress Pepita Tudó.
Goya en Burdeos is a 1999 Spanish historical drama film written and directed by Carlos Saura about the life of Francisco Goya, the Spanish painter.
Amedeo Nazzari was an Italian actor. Nazzari was one of the leading figures of Italian classic cinema, often considered a local variant of the Australian–American star Errol Flynn. Although he emerged as a star during the Fascist era, Nazzari's popularity continued well into the post-war years.
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.
Lea Padovani was an Italian film actress. She appeared in 60 films between 1945 and 1990. She starred in the film Black Dossier which was entered into the 1955 Cannes Film Festival.
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.
The Black Duchess is a 1797 oil-on-canvas painting by Spanish painter Francisco Goya. The subject of the painting is María Cayetana de Silva, 13th Duchess of Alba, then 35 years old. It is a companion piece to the more chaste The White Duchess, completed two years earlier.
The Sun Still Rises also known as Outcry is a 1946 Italian neorealist war-drama film directed by Aldo Vergano and starring Elli Parvo, Massimo Serato and Lea Padovani.
Melancholic Autumn is a 1958 Italian-Spanish melodrama film directed by Raffaello Matarazzo and starring Amedeo Nazzari, Yvonne Sanson and Mercedes Monterrey. It was part of a popular series of romantic dramas pairing Nazzari and Sanson. The film's sets were designed by the art director Sigfrido Burmann.
The Intruder is a 1956 Italian melodrama film written and directed by Raffaello Matarazzo and starring Amedeo Nazzari and Lea Padovani. It is loosely based on the stage drama La moglie del dottore by Silvio Zambaldi.
Pietà per chi cade is a 1954 Italian melodrama film written and directed by Mario Costa and starring Amedeo Nazzari, Antonella Lualdi and Nadia Gray.
I cavalieri dalle maschere nere (I Beati Paoli) (also known as The Knights of the Black Masks and The Sect of the Hooded) is a 1948 Italian adventure film directed by Pino Mercanti and starring Otello Toso and Lea Padovani. It is loosely based on the novel I Beati Paoli written by Luigi Natoli.
Captain Falcon is a 1958 French-Italian adventure film directed by Carlo Campogalliani and starring Lex Barker, Rossana Rory, and Massimo Serato. It has also been called a costume drama. The film is set in thirteenth century Italy where a tyrannical baron is confronted by a Robin Hood-style outlaw.
The Night of Tricks is a 1939 Italian "white-telephones" comedy film directed by Carlo Campogalliani and starring Amedeo Nazzari, Dria Paola and Maurizio D'Ancora.