This is the film which features the - literally - epoch-making, iconic, striptease by Sophia Loren! Presented for the very 1st time in its English spoken version (also optional original Italian with revised subtiles) for the 1st time restored in its longer original version from new HD materials with faithful filmic look. Director DeSica (Two Women, Umberto D, Bicycle Thieves) tells three rambunctious stories celebrating beautiful women (all played by Loren) and suave Latin lovers (all played by Mastroianni), his joyous YESTERDAY TODAY TOMORROW made La Dolce Vita, the sweet-life, attainable for all - less cerebral than Fellini.. and more fun! Time to get on our scooters and go Ciao Bella! Extras: Sophia, yesterday, today and tomorrow: a candid intimate interview with of Loren with exclusive footage of her family, close friends and collaborators such as Woody Allen, Giorgio Armani and others Vittorio D: Tribute to multi-awarded maestro filmmaker De Sica, a milestone of Cinema history. With participations from the likes of Clint Eastwood, Ken Loach, Mike Leigh,etc
One of the masterworks of 1960s cinema, La notte [The Night] marked yet another development in the continuous stylistic evolution of its director, Michelangelo Antonioni - even as it solidified his reputation as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. La notte is Antonioni's Twilight of the Gods, but composed in cinematic terms. Examined from a crane-shot, it's a sprawling study of Italy's upper middle-class; seen in close-up, it's an x-ray of modern man's psychic desolation. Two of the giants of film-acting come together as a married couple living in crisis: Marcello Mastroianni (La dolce vita, 8-1/2) and Jeanne Moreau (Jules et Jim, Bay of Angels). He is a renowned author and public intellectual; she is the wife. Over the course of one day and the night into which it inevitably bleeds, the pair will come to re-examine their emotional bonds, and grapple with the question of whether love and communication are even possible in a world built out of profligate idylls and sexual hysteria. Photographed in rapturous black-and-white by the great Gianni di Venanzo (8-1/2, Giulietta degli spiriti), La notte presents the beauty of seduction, then asks: When did this occur - this seduction of Beauty? The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Michelangelo Antonioni's haunted odyssey for the first time ever on Blu-ray. Special Features: New 1080p presentation of the film in its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio with previously censored sequences restored for the first time. New and improved English subtitles Original Italian Theatrical Trailer 56-page booklet with an essay by film-critic and scholar Brad Stevens, and the transcript of a lengthy Q&A conducted in 1961 with Antonioni upon the film’s release.
The most famous film by Italian provocateur Marco Ferreri (Dillinger is Dead) La Grande bouffe was reviled on release for its perversity decadence and attack on the bourgeoisie yet won the prestigious FIPRESCI prize after its controversial screening at the Cannes Film Festival. Four friends played by international superstars Marcello Mastroianni (Fellini’s 8½) Michel Piccoli (Belle de jour) Ugo Tognazzi (Barbarella) and Philippe Noiret (Zazie dans le métro) retreat to a country mansion where they determine to eat themselves to death whilst engaging in group sex with prostitutes and a local school teacher (Andréa Ferréol The Tin Drum) who seems to be up for anything… At once jovial and sinister the film’s jet-black humour has a further twist as the reputed actors (whose characters use their own names) buck their respectable trend for a descent into fart-filled chaos that delivers a feast for the eyes and mind. SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS: Brand new 2K restoration of the original camera negative High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation Original French audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray) Newly translated English subtitles The Farcical Movie – A French television profile of Marco Ferreri from 1975 in which the director discusses among other things the influence of Tex Avery Luis Buñuel and Tod Browning’s Freaks Behind-the-scenes footage of the making of La Grande bouffe containing interviews with Ferrari and actors Marcello Mastroianni Michel Piccoli Ugo Tognazzi and Philippe Noiret Extracts from the television series Couleurs autour d'un festival featuring interviews with the cast and crew recorded during the Cannes Film Festival A visual essay on the film with by Italian film scholar Pasquale Iannone Select scene audio commentary by Iannone News report from the Cannes Film Festival where La Grande bouffe caused a controversial stir including Ferreri at the press conference Original Trailer Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Johnny Mains illustrated with original archive stills and posters
The was the first Italian feature film shot in Moscow. It was directed by the renowned Vittorio De Sica and produced by Carlo Ponti. Sophia Loren stars as Giovanna an Italian woman who marries Antonio (Marcello Mastroianni) 12 days before the outbreak of World War II. Antonio has no desire to fight in the conflict. He fakes insanity to try to avoid the draft but officials see through the charade. Antonio is sent to the Russian front where the soldiers are plagued by freezing temperatures and short supplies of rations. He is found half-dead in the cold by a Russian peasant girl Mascia (Lyudmila Savelyeva). She takes him in and eventually they marry. Giovanna waits in vain for word on the fate of her husband who is officially declared missing in action. She goes to Russia to try to find him searching records and cemeteries. Finally she discovers first his new wife then him and reluctantly decides not to fight the situation. Returning home to Italy she marries an older factory worker Ettore (Germano Longo) and they have a son (who is played by the real-life son of Ponti and Loren). Antonio still longs for Giovanna and he returns to Italy to discuss a reconciliation with her.
A heart-felt drama directed by Vittorio De Sica (BICYCLE THIEVES) - the filmmaking trio De Sica Loren and Mastroianni - who remain to-date the undisputed Italian film royalty - became the most successful film team in Italy with their films bringing home Oscars and or Cannes Awards as well as fame and fortune around the world. Here they are a the very top of their game with Loren and Mastroianni as the newly-wed lovers torn apart by War who never give up on one another despite almost impossible odds. Mastroianni is the soldier left to die in the howling snows of a frozen Russian winter and LOREN his young bride who fights all the odds of post war Russia to find the man she said she would never leave! SUNFLOWER was produced by Carlo Ponti (DOCTOR ZHIVAGO BLOW UP LA STRADA A SPECIAL DAY) with Joseph Levine: it has in fact a lot of Zhivago connotations and similar wide vista production values. Interestingly SUNFLOWERS was the 1st 'westerner' film shot in Russia - and Ukraine - about a world torn apart by war ..! SUNFLOWER has the potential to cross over from world cinema art house into familyviewing drama because like Zhivago this English-speaking film is an intense life-affirming drama of love lost and found set against a war background. Bonus Features: Sophia Yesterday Today Tomorrow Documentary (54 min) exclusive documentary SOPHIA YESTERDAY TODAY TOMORROW is an exclusive candid personal interview with Loren it includes never before seen footage of Loren's life & features her family and many close friends such as Woody Allen Giorgio Armani .. Photo Gallery from the film and documentary Argent Trailer Park
Marcello Mastroianni plays a playboy reporter on the hunt for scandal amongst Rome's high society in this classic Italian film directed by Federico Fellini. Both drawn to and repelled by the decadent lifestyle that provides his living he finds himself torn between his passion for a starlet (Anita Ekberg) and his desire for a Bohemian life like that of his friend (Alain Cuny)...
After the fall of Napoleon, the Restoration begins. Fulvio (Marcello Mastroianni, La dolce vita), an aristocrat who has dedicated his life to the revolution has become disillusioned and his cowardice keeps him from joining his comrades. As he struggles to manage his evasion and lies he gets swept up in a suicidal uprising in Southern Italy. Stunningly photographed with lush period detail and featuring the Taviani brothers' trademark magic realism and absurdist irony, Allonsanfà n has Mastroianni on top form as the reluctant insurgent and one of Ennio Morricone's finest scores. Radiance Films is proud to present this essential film on Blu-ray for the first time in the world. Product Features New 2K restoration of the film from the original negative, presented on Blu-ray for the first time in the world Original uncompressed mono PCM audio Audio commentary by critic Michael Brooke Archival interview with the Taviani brothers by critic Gideon Bachmann in which they discuss filmmaking approaches, the role of the director, the future of cinema and more (57 mins) Original trailer Newly translated English subtitles Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Italian cinema expert Robert Lumley and a newly translated contemporary interview with the Taviani brothers Single pressing of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
An odious architect is beaten to death and a high society wife (Jacqueline Bisset, Day for Night) and her gay friend (Jean-Louis Trintignant, The Conformist) are the key suspects with a discarded letter implicating them in the crime. Commissioner Santamaria (Marcello Mastroianni, Fellini's 8 ½) is assigned to the case and tries to uncover the murder suspect in upper-class Turin. With a murder mystery narrative worthy of Agatha Christie, The Sunday Woman is also a sharp critique of Turin's upper crust.The screenplay, by the celebrated duo Age & Scarpelli, famed for their masterpieces in the Commedia all'Italiana boom including Big Deal on Madonna Street and The Organizer, is a whip-smart adaptation of the best-selling novels by Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini with the lead character of Santamaria inspired by the real-life head of the Flying Squad. The much-heralded director Luigi Comencini (Misunderstood) often worked in a combination of comedy and drama, finding humour in tragedy, and is only waiting to be rediscovered as a master of post-war Italian cinema. Product Features 2K restoration of the film from the original negative, presented in the original 1.33:1 and an alternate 1.85:1 widescreen presentation Original uncompressed mono PCM audio Newly filmed interview with academic and Italian cinema expert Richard Dyer, who looks at The Sunday Woman (2022, 18 mins) Archival interview with cinematographer Luciano Tovoli who discusses his work on the film (2008, 22 mins) Newly filmed interview with academic and screenwriter Giacomo Scarpelli, who discusses the life and work of his father, Furio Scarpelli and his writing partner Agenore Incrocci (2022, 36 mins) Archival French TV interview with Jean-Louis Trintignant in which the actor discusses The Sunday Woman (1976, 4 mins) Trailer
At three brief hours, Fellini's cynical, engrossing social commentary, La Dolce Vita, stands as his timeless masterpiece. A rich, detailed panorama of Rome's modern decadence and sophisticated immorality, the film is episodic in structure but held tightly in focus by the wandering protagonist through whom we witness the sordid action. Marcello Rubini is a tabloid reporter trapped in a shallow high-society existence, as extraordinarily played by Marcello Mastroianni, a man of paradoxical, emotional juxtapositions: cool but tortured, sexy but impotent. He dreams about writing something important but remains seduced by the money and prestige that accompany his shallow position. He romanticises about finding true love but acts unfazed upon finding that his girlfriend has taken an overdose of sleeping pills. Instead, he engages in a ménage à trois, then frolics in a fountain with a giggling American starlet (bombshell Anita Ekberg), and in the film's unforgettably inspired finale, attends a wild orgy that ends, symbolically with its participants finding a rotting sea animal while wandering the beach at dawn. Fellini saw his film as life affirming (thus its title, "The Sweet Life"), but it's impossible to take him seriously. While Mastroianni drifts from one worldly pleasure to another, be it sex, drink, glamorous parties or rich foods, they are presented, through his detached eyes, as merely momentary distractions. His existence, an endless series of wild evenings and lonely mornings, is ultimately soulless and facile. Because he lacks the courage to change, Mastroianni is left with no alternative but to wearily accept and enjoy this "sweet" life. --Dave McCoy, Amazon.com
Probably Fellini's most acclaimed work 8 ½ won two Oscars including Best Foreign Film and is one of the great films about moviemaking perhaps the reason it is filmmakers' and film buffs' ultimate film of all time. A film director (a magnificent Marcello Mastroianni) is struggling to find the creativity required to deliver his next movie and consequently is being hassled by industry figures as well as his wife (Anouk Aimée) and his mistress (Sandra Milo). In order to escape his tormentors the director retreats into a world of memories dreams and fantasies. The result is a dazzling array of themes and images which make 8 ½ the quintessential Fellini movie. Special Features: Exclusive 50 min documentary on the famously lost ending of 8 ½: Lost Sequence Interview with Assistant Director Lina Wertmuller and Theatrical Trailers
Rich shop owner Don Domenico (Marcello Mastroianni) meets 17-year old Filumena Maturano (Sophia Loren) in a Naples brothel during a Second World War air raid. He rescues her, sets her up as his mistress, and over the years exploits her ... She loves him dearly but is disillusioned when she finds he is having an affair with the shop's young cashier. To win him back, she stages her own death! and when this doesn't work, she admits that she's the mother of three sons, one of whom is Domenico's; but she refuses to say which one! At long last he gives in and they finally get married. Loren gets her man! Extras: TWO SPECIAL DOCUMENTARIES: Sophia, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: a candid, intimate interview with Sophia Loren, with exclusive footage of her family, close friends and collaborators such as Woody Allen, Giorgio Armani and others Vittorio D: Tribute to multi-awarded maestro filmmaker De Sica, a milestone of Cinema history. With interviews with Clint Eastwood, Ken Loach, Mike Leigh etc Separate Italian audio with new improved subtitles Exclusive Documentary on Sophia Loren Exclusive Documentary on Vittorio De Sica
Fellini's most acclaimed work, 8 1/2 won two Oscars ® including Best Foreign Film. Fellini is unanimously voted by film critics - and notably, by filmmakers - as one of the greatest directors of all time. And Fellini's 8 ½ is revered as the most important European film ever made and film buffs' ultimate film of all time! MARCELLO MASTROIANNI is Fellini's alter ego, Guido, a successful filmmaker who, embarking on his next film, discovers he has a complete director's block: he has no story to tell ! Harassed by his producers, his mistress (SANDRA MILO) and his wife (ANOUK AIMEE) while struggling to find the inspiration for his film, he increasingly retreats in dreamy recollections of his life and lovers, until fantasy - personified by the heavenly beautiful CLAUDIA CARDINALE - his memories and reality merge in the director's mind and on screen - in an astonishing, masterful spectacle which culminates in an electrifying triumph of optimism. As Guido, Fellini's alter-ego says at the end of 8 ½: Life is a party, let's live it together Special Features: New unique intimate interview with Sandra Milo the film's co-lead and off-screen real life companion' of Fellini. Filmed especially for this CultFilms release Interview with Lina Wertmuller, Fellini's Assistant Director on 8 ½. Filmed especially for CultFilms. Lost Sequence documentary on the making of 8 ½ with interviews with cast crew and Fellini himself: the focus is on one of film-lore's great mystery! Where a massive sequence was shot with all the cast, but not included in the film, and it was never seen again. Tribute to Fellini's speech on receiving his Academy Award Oscar
Federico Fellini's epic 1980 fantasia introduced the start of the Maestro's delirious late period. A surrealist tour-de-force filmed on soundstages and locations alike, and overflowing with the same sensory (and sensual) invention heretofore found only in the classic movie-musicals (and Fellini's own oeuvre), La citta delle donne [City of Women] taps into the era's restless youth-culture, coalescing into nothing less than Fellini's post-punk opus. Marcello Mastroianni appears as Fellini's alter ego in a semi-reprise of his character from 8-1/2, Snaporaz. As though passing into a dream, the charismatic avatar finds himself initiated into a phantasmagoric world where women - or an idea of women - have taken power, and which is structured like an array of psychosexual set-pieces - culminating in a bravura hot-air balloon that decisively sticks the anti up into climax. A great adventure through the looking-glass, as it were, of Fellini's own phallic lens and life-long libidinal ruminations, La citta delle donne sharply divided critics at the 1980 Festival de Cannes, some of whom had merely anticipated a nostalgic retread of the earlier Mastroianni works. What they were greeted with, and what remains today, is, in the words of Serge Daney, a victory of cinema. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present La citta delle donne on Blu-ray and DVD in Gaumont's glorious new HD restoration. Special Features: Newly Translated Optional Subtitles Substantial Booklet Containing Writing on the Film, Vintage Exerpts and Rare Archival Imagery
Set in the Second World War when Nazi Germany occupied Italy. This film deals with the Vatican's involvement in the entire movement during the occupation of Rome.
The biggest hit from the most popular Italian filmmaker of all time, La dolce vita rocketed FEDERICO FELLINI (8½) to international mainstream successironically, by offering a damning critique of the culture of stardom. A look at the darkness beneath the seductive lifestyles of Rome's rich and glamorous, the film follows a notorious celebrity journalistplayed by a sublimely cool MARCELLO MASTROIANNI (8½)during a hectic week spent on the peripheries of the spotlight. This mordant picture was an incisive commentary on the deepening decadence of the European 1960s, and it provided a prescient glimpse of just how gossip- and fame-obsessed our society would become. Special Features: New 4K digital restoration by the Film Foundation, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray New visual essay by : : kogonada New interview with filmmaker Lina Wertmüller, who worked as assistant director on the film Scholar David Forgacs discusses the period in Italy's history when the film was made New interview with Italian film journalist Antonello Sarno about the outlandish fashions seen in the film Audio interview with actor Marcello Mastroianni from the early 1960s, conducted by film historian Gideon Bachmann Felliniana, a presentation of ephemera related to La dolce vita from the collection of Don Young PLUS: An essay by critic Gary Giddins
Federico Fellini's 8 1/2, his 1963 semi-autobiographical story about a worshipped filmmaker who has lost his inspiration, is still a mesmerising mystery tour that has been quoted (Woody Allen's Stardust Memories, Paul Mazursky's Alex in Wonderland) but never duplicated. Marcello Mastroianni plays Guido, a director trying to relax a bit in the wake of his latest hit. Besieged by people eager to work with him, however, he also struggles to find his next idea for a film. The combined pressures draw him within himself, where his recollections of significant events in his life and the many lovers he has left behind begin to haunt him. The marriage of Fellini's hyper real imagery, dreamy sidebars and the gravity of Guido's increasing guilt and self-awareness make this as much a deeply moving, soulful film as it is an electrifying spectacle. Mastroianni is wonderful in the lead, his woozy sensitivity to Guido's freefall both touching and charming--all the more so as the character becomes increasingly divorced from the celebrity hype that ultimately outpaces him. --Tom Keogh
Federico Fellini's epic 1980 fantasia introduced the start of the Maestro's delirious late period. A surrealist tour-de-force filmed on soundstages and locations alike, and overflowing with the same sensory (and sensual) invention heretofore found only in the classic movie-musicals (and Fellini's own oeuvre), La citta delle donne [City of Women] taps into the era's restless youth-culture, coalescing into nothing less than Fellini's post-punk opus. Marcello Mastroianni appears as Fellini's alter ego in a semi-reprise of his character from 8-1/2, Snaporaz. As though passing into a dream, the charismatic avatar finds himself initiated into a phantasmagoric world where women - or an idea of women - have taken power, and which is structured like an array of psychosexual set-pieces - culminating in a bravura hot-air balloon that decisively sticks the anti up into climax. A great adventure through the looking-glass, as it were, of Fellini's own phallic lens and life-long libidinal ruminations, La citta delle donne sharply divided critics at the 1980 Festival de Cannes, some of whom had merely anticipated a nostalgic retread of the earlier Mastroianni works. What they were greeted with, and what remains today, is, in the words of Serge Daney, a victory of cinema. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present La citta delle donne on Blu-ray and DVD in Gaumont's glorious new HD restoration. Special Features: HD Restoration of the Film, presented in 1080p on the Blu-ray Newly Translated Optional Subtitles Substantial Booklet Containing Writing on the Film, Vintage Exerpts and Rare Archival Imagery
At three brief hours, Fellini's cynical, engrossing social commentary, La Dolce Vita, stands as his timeless masterpiece. A rich, detailed panorama of Rome's modern decadence and sophisticated immorality, the film is episodic in structure but held tightly in focus by the wandering protagonist through whom we witness the sordid action. Marcello Rubini is a tabloid reporter trapped in a shallow high-society existence, as extraordinarily played by Marcello Mastroianni, a man of paradoxical, emotional juxtapositions: cool but tortured, sexy but impotent. He dreams about writing something important but remains seduced by the money and prestige that accompany his shallow position. He romanticises about finding true love but acts unfazed upon finding that his girlfriend has taken an overdose of sleeping pills. Instead, he engages in a ménage à trois, then frolics in a fountain with a giggling American starlet (bombshell Anita Ekberg), and in the film's unforgettably inspired finale, attends a wild orgy that ends, symbolically with its participants finding a rotting sea animal while wandering the beach at dawn. Fellini saw his film as life affirming (thus its title, "The Sweet Life"), but it's impossible to take him seriously. While Mastroianni drifts from one worldly pleasure to another, be it sex, drink, glamorous parties or rich foods, they are presented, through his detached eyes, as merely momentary distractions. His existence, an endless series of wild evenings and lonely mornings, is ultimately soulless and facile. Because he lacks the courage to change, Mastroianni is left with no alternative but to wearily accept and enjoy this "sweet" life. --Dave McCoy, Amazon.com
Probably Fellini's most acclaimed work 8 ½ won two Oscars including Best Foreign Film and is one of the great films about moviemaking perhaps the reason it is filmmakers' and film buffs' ultimate film of all time. A film director (a magnificent Marcello Mastroianni) is struggling to find the creativity required to deliver his next movie and consequently is being hassled by industry figures as well as his wife (Anouk Aimée) and his mistress (Sandra Milo). In order to escape his tormentors the director retreats into a world of memories dreams and fantasies. The result is a dazzling array of themes and images which make 8 ½ the quintessential Fellini movie. Special Features: Exclusive 50 min documentary on the famously lost ending of 8 ½: Lost Sequence Interview with Assistant Director Lina Wertmuller and Theatrical Trailers
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