Anna Magnani

Made up almost entirely of archival interviews with Italian film director Roberto Rossellini (with audio interviews playing over various behind-the-scene bits and archival footage) the director recalls his early life, how he got into film, his political beliefs and how they were formed.

A virtually plotless, gaudy, impressionistic portrait of Rome through the eyes of one of its most famous citizens... (imdb)

In this politically conscious Italian drama a woman's working-class husband becomes the prisoner of the Vatican after he commits political crimes. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Bombolini is a fairly worthless drunk in the small Italian town of Santa Vittoria in the closing days of World War II. When word comes that the Fascist government has surrendered, he climbs a water tower to tear down the flag. He can't get down and someone gets the crowd to chant his name to give him confidence. The Fascist town council hears this and believes that he is the town's new leader.(imdb)

Mamma Roma is a middle-aged whore of Roma. Now she can quit her job to become a fruit seller. And she can take back her 16-year-old son... (imdb)

Val Xavier (Marlon Brando), a drifter of obscure origins arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence (Anna Magnani), a sex-starved woman whose husband Jabe M. Torrance (Victor Jory) is dying of cancer upstairs. Val is pursued by Carol Cutere (Joanne Woodward), the enigmatic local tramp-of-good-family, who covets his snakeskin jacket as much as his body and tries to seduce him in the cemetery. Val is more attracted to the mature Lady and gets her pregnant. (imdb)

Comedy of errors about two film extras involved with a young jewel thief on New Year's Eve in Rome. Based on the short stories by Alberto Moravia. (bfi)

Drama about an innocent housewife falsely convicted of theft. Sent to a women's prison in Rome, she is trying to survive and learn to cope in the company of murderers, thieves and prostitutes. (worldcat)

Giola, marries widowed rancher Gino (Anthony Quinn), who is haunted by the memory of his first spouse. The situation is dicier in Wind, since Italian immigrant Gino's deceased wife was Giola's sister. Eventually tiring of her husband's mood swings, Giola turns to his son, Bene (Anthony Franciosa), for emotional and sexual gratification. (imdb)

An Italian-American neighborhood in Louisiana is disturbed when truck driver Rosario Delle Rose is killed by police while smuggling. His buxom widow Serafina miscarries, then over a period of years draws more and more into herself, trying to force her lovely teenaged daughter Rosa to do likewise. On one eventful day, Rose finally breaks away; Serafina learns of Rosario's affair with another woman; and a new carefree, handsome Italian truck driver enters her life... (imdb)

A small town of Central America in the eighteenth century. Camilla, the star of a theater company, hesitates between three men... (imdb)

Five portraits of actresses in their "common" life, seen as women rather than movie stars.

Film director Blasetti is looking for a little girl for his new movie. Along with other mothers, Maddelena takes her daugther to Cinecittà, hoping she'll be selected and become a star. She is ready to sacrifice anything for little Maria, even if her husband would prefer they save their little money for the rent, instead of paying teachers, hairdressers or bribes for her illusions. (imdb)

While awaiting Production Code seal approval in the USA this Italian-made production went through three American distributors in three years; first Motion Picture Sales Corporation that passed it off to Eagle Lion and finally to United Artits when they acquired Eagle Lion properties. Anna Magnani, a prostitute, is banished from Naples and returns to her home, a volcanic island off of southern Italy. (imdb)

Two-part anthology film, each segment starring Anna Magnani as different women who confront heartache in an unconventional manner.

Assunta, a commoner of Naples, is scarred by her lover Michele for jealousy.

A rowdy woman is so forceful that she outdoes her husband in a loud cry against speculators who refuse poor people entrance to a block of new apartments, built after WW2. Without noticing it, she starts a people's movement, and leads a march to the capital. She returns to her village a winner, an honourable MP. Yet, she is still the same simple, fiery woman, able to get in a hair-pulling brawl with the local barmaid for the affection of her man. (imdb)

The title character is Ernesto (Amadeo Nazzari), who turns to crime after suffering shell shock during WW II. Magnani plays Ernesto's faithful girlfriend Lydia. Their relationship is as foredoomed as Ernesto himself, who comes to grief through an extreme act of self-sacrifice. (allmovie.com)

Thanks to wartime smuggling Gioconda Perfetti, a roman fruit vendor, becomes very rich. She leaves her shop and moves to a magnificent villa which once belonged to a count. She also becomes involved with some very dubious characters who profit from her ignorance and cheat her out of her money. (imdb)

Rome, 1944. Giorgio Manfredi, one of the leaders of the Resistance, is tracked down by the Nazis. He goes to his friend Francesco's, and asks Pina, Francesco's fiancée, for help (imdb)

An Italian neorealist film that follows two friends struggling to survive during WWII by smuggling goods on the black market. The less scrupulous of the two finds success, while his honest friend makes life difficult for himself by taking in an orphan. (wordcat)

Peppino, a fishmonger on Campo de' Fiori, a famous Roman marketplace, works alongside Elide, a greengrocer, who has a soft spot for him, despite the fact they argue all day long... But neither Peppino, nor his friend Aurelio, the barber, are interested in getting married. Until he meets the beautiful Elsa...

The roman coachman Totò doesn't want his coach being replaced by cars and doesn't want his daughter Nannarella to go out with the taxi driver Roberto. But it is Roberto who saves him when he gets into trouble.

Unforgettable drama starred by Anna Magnani. The merchant Giovanni Illes is tracked down by the debtors, but cannot pay his debts. To save her father from bankruptcy, Anna talks to the lawyer, trying to earn an extension. The lawyer grants it to him, but he gets too close, even physically. She wants to defend herself, but his power dominates the impotence of the woman.

A comedy of errors in which the sweetly incompetent Dr. Pietro Vignali (de Sica) has been run deep into debt by his girlfriend, Loletta Prima (Magnani). After his creditors threaten to sell his belongings, he takes a job as an orphanage health inspector to pay his debts and ends up engaged to wealthy Lilli, daughter of a mattress tycoon, and chased after by the orphan Teresa Venerdí, while trying to keep his life in order. (imdb)

In the absence of the biological mother, too busy pursuing her theatrical career, we see the glorification of the maternal surrogate, a woman who is a paragon of sacrifice and self-abnegation. La Fuggitiva is also a film in which a child actress takes a prominent role. In this sentimental drama, the little girl suffers for and rebels against the loneliness and neglect stemming from the lack of a mother and a loving family setting. (imdb)

Umberto Solaro loses the love of his life Speranza, a noble but poor girl who has been forced to marry a rich Austrian army officer. Heartbroken Umberto becomes a riding instructor but during a competition his horse dies and he decides to give up equitation and become an aviator. (imdb)

A small girl witnesses the murder of her mother, which renders her blind. Years later, an operation to restore her eyesight puts her in jeopardy when the murderer returns.

A meek professor is swept over his feet by a very vivacious girl. (imdb)