Come Dio comanda (As God Commands, 2008)

Director: Gabriele Salvatores
Starring: Filippo Timi, Alvaro Caleca, Elio Germano, Fabio De Luigi
Label:  01 Distribution (2009)
Format: DVD / PAL / Region 2
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Audio: Italian (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Subtitles: English, Italian

Bonus:

* Photogallery (17 stills)

Available on Amazon.it.
Also available on Blu-ray disc.

What's the film about?

An intense relationship between a violent, immature father and his misfit, lonely son. A post-modernist noir? A dark rewriting of Red Riding Hood? A father/son love story? All these definitions apply to this disturbing, moving picture, whose key strength ultimately resides in its deeply humanist core. Outstanding performances, especially by Filippo Timi (Vincere), and impressive camerawork help creating an unsettling, nightmarish atmosphere.

Recommendations
...if you loved Salvatores' I'm Not Scared, you definitely need to watch this.

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Sansone (Samson, 1961)

Director: Gianfranco Parolini
Starring: Brad Harris, Mara Berni, Alan Steel, Serge Gainsbourg
Label: Ripley's Home Video (2006)
Format: DVD / PAL / Region 0
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Audio: Italian, English (Dolby Digital 1.0 mono)
Subtitles: None

Bonus:
* Interview with director Gianfranco Parolini (18 minutes, with English subtitles)

Available on Amazon.it

What's the film about?

Not strictly related to the Biblical story: mighty Samson and his pals fight against Warkalla, dictator of Sullan... Apart from its inherent silliness, this is a childish but rather competently made peplum, with a nice humorous touch. Not surprisingly, Parolini will later enjoy a second career in Spaghetti westerns. His tongue-in-cheek interview is a must-see for genre aficionados.

Recommendations
...if you are a sword-and-sandal enthusiast, you're going to want to see this.

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Amori di mezzo secolo (Mid-Century Loves, 1954)

Directors: Glauco Pellegrini, Pietro Germi, Mario Chiari, Roberto Rossellini, Antonio Pietrangeli
Starring: Franco Interlenghi, Maria Pia Casilio, Alberto Sordi, Antonella Lualdi, Lea Padovani
Label:  Minerva (2008)
Format: DVD / PAL / Region 2
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Audio: Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0 mono)
Subtitles: English

Bonus:

* Interview with Franco Interlenghi and Antonella Lualdi (12 minutes, with English subtitles)
* 16 page bilingual booklet

Available on Amazon.it

What's the film about?

In the early 1950s producer Carlo Infascelli specialized in omnibus films, a genre that had instantly proved to be an audience favourite. Made up of five episodes, each one set in a different historical moment, Mid-century Loves is particularly interesting because of the names involved (Germi, Rossellini, Pietrangeli) and because of the Ferraniacolor process, resulting in a soft "family album" look. Unfortunately the original 100 minute version is currently lost, so the DVD runs only 72 minutes.

Recommendations
...if you are looking for Rossellini's or Germi's lesser-known works, you will have some surprise.

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Germi's Guerra 1915-1918

Chiari's Dopoguerra 1920

Rossellini's Napoli 1943

L'onorevole Angelina (Angelina, 1947)

Director: Luigi Zampa
Starring: Anna Magnani, Nando Bruno, Ave Ninchi, Maria Grazia Francia
Label:  Dolmen Home Video (2008)
Format: DVD / PAL / Region 2
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1 b/w
Audio: Italian (Dolby Digital 1.0 mono/5.1 remix)
Subtitles: English, Italian

Bonus:

* Photogalley (16 stills)

Available on Amazon.it

What's the film about?

Trying to obtain better condition for her poor family, stormy housewife inadvertently starts a political movement... Before Open City Anna Magnani was better known as folk singer and vaudeville comedian, and in fact after Rossellini's film she made a handful of immensely successful dialect comedies. Here, director Luigi Zampa managed to inject her screen persona into a populist satire, thus anticipating the social issues addressed in later Italian comedies.

Recommendations
...if you are eager to see what Magnani is able to do in a Capra-esque picture.

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La vita che vorrei (The Life That I Want, 2004)

Director: Giuseppe Piccioni
Starring: Luigi Lo Cascio, Sandra Ceccarelli, Galatea Ranzi, Ninni Bruschetta
Label: 01 Distribution (2005)
Format: DVD / PAL / Region 2
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Audio: Italian (Dolby Digital 5.1/DTS 5.1)
Subtitles: English, Italian

Bonus:

* Gianna Nannini's Amandoti videoclip
* Poster gallery

Available on Amazon.it

What's the film about?

Extrovert aspirant actress and self-controlled successful actor are cast together in a costume romance, and they can't help falling in love. In the vein of Truffaut's Day for Night, this is a fine backstage drama about life imitating art and art imitating life, but also an homage to Italian cinema from the 1950s and 1960s (Visconti, Antonioni and, yes, Matarazzo). Last but not least, Lo Cascio and Ceccarelli are likely the best on-screen couple in recent Italian cinema.

Recommendations
...if you have ever wondered about contemporary Italian quality cinema.

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Riso amaro (Bitter Rice, 1949)

Director: Giuseppe De Santis
Starring: Silvana Mangano, Doris Dowling, Vittorio Gassman, Raf Vallone
Label: Dolmen Home Video (2007)
Format: DVD / PAL / Region 2
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1 b/w
Audio: Italian (Dolby Digital 1.0 mono/5.1 remix)
Subtitles: English, Italian

Bonus
* Photogalleries

Available on Amazon.it

What's the film about?

Persuaded by her lover, a young maid steals a precious necklace and then, in order to escape police, she joins a group of rice weeders (the so-called "mondine"). Director Giuseppe De Santis had been an omnivorous critic, and in fact his filmmaking is often characterized by hybridization of styles and narrative models, ranging from Italian realism to Mexican epics, from Soviet musicals to American crime movies. Thus, even if his screenplays were meant to be Marxist exemplums, his baroque visual style and his passion for erotic melodrama often result in delirious, highly enjoyable cinematic experience.

Recommendations
...if you want to get in touch with Neorealism in its oddest and hottest incarnation.

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RHV Catalogue

Ripley's Home Video has kindly sent me a complete list of their English-friendly releases. I plan to review most of them in the next months, but in the meanwhile I think this brief summary may be of general interest:

English subtitles
1. 1860 (Alessandro Blasetti, 1934)
2. 4 passi fra le nuvole (Alessandro Blasetti, 1942)
3. A luci spente (Maurizio Ponzi, 2004)
4. Action (Tinto Brass, 1980)
5. Un altro pianeta (Stefano Tummolini, 2008)
6. L'amore e basta (Stefano Consiglio, 2009)
7. By Giulio Questi (Giulio Questi, 2003-2007)
8. Un caso d'incoscienza (Emidio Greco, 1984)
9. Colpire al cuore (Gianni Amelio, 1983)
10. Il Cristo proibito (Curzio Malaparte, 1951)
11. Custodes Bestiae (Lorenzo Bianchini, 2006)
12. Una donna ha ucciso (Vittorio Cottafavi, 1952)
13. Fantasmi - Italian Ghost Stories (V/A, 2011)
14. Fermo posta Tinto Brass (Tinto Brass, 1995)
15. Il gabbiano (Marco Bellocchio, 1977)
16. Gelosia (Pietro Germi, 1953)
17. Il generale dell'armata morta (Luciano Tovoli, 1983)
18. Immacolata e Concetta, l'altra gelosia (Salvatore Piscicelli, 1981)
19. L'invenzione di Morel (Emidio Greco, 1974)
20. La maschera del demonio (Mario Bava, 1960)
21. Nel gorgo del peccato (Vittorio Cottafavi, 1954)
22. Nero. (Giancarlo Soldi, 1992)
23. Le occasioni di Rosa (Salvatore Piscicelli, 1981)
24. Gli occhi, la bocca (Marco Bellocchio, 1982)
25. Oci ciornie (Nikita Mikhalkov, 1987)
26. Ossessione (Luchino Visconti, 1943)
27. Pasolini prossimo nostro (Giuseppe Bertolucci, 2006)
28. Per un pugno di dollari (Sergio Leone, 1964) also available on BD
29. Prima della rivoluzione (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1964) also available on BD
30. Il sapore del grano (Gianni Da Campo, 1986)
31. Gli sbandati (Francesco Maselli, 1955)
32. La signora di tutti (Max Ophüls, 1934)
33. Sopralluoghi in Palestina (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1965)
34. La terra trema (Luchino Visconti, 1948)
35. L'uomo privato (Emidio Greco, 2007)
36. La vela incantata (Gianfranco Mingozzi, 1983)

English audio
37. Ad ogni costo (Giuliano Montaldo, 1967)
38. L'amore necessario (Fabio Carpi, 1991)
39. Assassination (Emilio Miraglia, 1967)
40. Caccia alla vedova (Giorgio Ferrara, 1991)
41. La calda vita (Florestano Vancini, 1964)
42. La città si difende (Pietro Germi, 1951)
43. Città violenta (Sergio Sollima, 1970) also available on BD
44. Duello nel Texas (Ricardo Blasco, 1963)
45. Goliath contro i giganti (Guido Malatesta, 1961)
46. Mio caro dottor Gräsler (Roberto Faenza, 1990)
47. Le pistole non discutono (Mario Caiano, 1964)
48. Sacco e Vanzetti (Giuliano Montaldo, 1971) also available on BD
49. Sansone (Gianfranco Parolini, 1961)
50. Sette donne per i Mac Gregor (Franco Giraldi, 1967)
51. Sette pistole per i Mac Gregor (Franco Giraldi, 1966)
52. La tarantola dal ventre nero (Paolo Cavara, 1971)
53. L'ultimo uomo della terra (Sidney Salkow, 1964)
54. Yvonne la Nuit (Giuseppe Amato, 1949)

Il gabbiano (The Seagull, 1977)

Director: Marco Bellocchio
Starring: Giulio Brogi, Laura Betti, Pamela Villoresi, Remo Girone
Label: Ripley's Home Video (2007)
Format: DVD / PAL / Region 0
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Audio: Italian (Dolby Digital 1.0 mono)
Subtitles: English

Available on Amazon.it

What's the film about?

Filmed in 16mm for Italian television, this 125-minute adaptation of Chekhov's play is a forgotten little gem. Beautifully staged and acted, by virtue of its iconoclastic approach it also overcomes the usual limitations of filmed theatre. Bellocchio's tack on the material, in fact, is strictly autobiographical: "Konstatin and Trigorin are the two side of each one of us, and they coexist today in a dramatic manner in the intellectual who was shaped by the experience of 1968".

Recommendations
...if you like Bellocchio, here you have the chance to discover one of his major works.

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I fratelli Dinamite (The Dynamite Brothers, 1949)

Director: Nino Pagot
Label: Medusa Video (2004)
Format: DVD / PAL / Region 2
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Audio: Italian (Dolby Digital 1.0 mono)
Subtitles: English, Italian

Bonus
* Before-and-after restoration demo (6 minutes)

Available on Amazon.it

What's the film about?
"This is the story of the three Dynamite Brothers, so called because they were so... sweet and good". A landmark achievement in Italian animation. The film's aesthetics is clearly Disney influenced, but Pagot's satiric approach is much closer to Fleischer's works. Despite a certain lack of narrative consistency, the visuals are often stunning and the 2004 restoration highlights a masterful use of colours.

Recommendations
...if you are in the mood for a vintage Technicolor fantasia, you won't be disappointed.

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