The Leopard (1963)
Director
Luchino Visconti
Main cast
Burt Lancaster; Alain Delon; Claudia Cardinale; Paolo Stoppa; Rina Morelli
Genres
Drama
Description
As Garibaldi's troops begin the unification of Italy in the 1860s, an aristocratic Sicilian family grudgingly adapts to the sweeping social changes undermining their way of life. Proud but pragmatic Prince Don Fabrizio Salina (Burt Lancaster) allows his war hero nephew, Tancredi (Alain Delon), to marry Angelica (Claudia Cardinale), the beautiful daughter of gauche, bourgeois Don Calogero, in order to maintain the family's accustomed level of comfort and political clout.
Luchino Visconti
Main cast
Burt Lancaster; Alain Delon; Claudia Cardinale; Paolo Stoppa; Rina Morelli
Genres
Drama
Description
As Garibaldi's troops begin the unification of Italy in the 1860s, an aristocratic Sicilian family grudgingly adapts to the sweeping social changes undermining their way of life. Proud but pragmatic Prince Don Fabrizio Salina (Burt Lancaster) allows his war hero nephew, Tancredi (Alain Delon), to marry Angelica (Claudia Cardinale), the beautiful daughter of gauche, bourgeois Don Calogero, in order to maintain the family's accustomed level of comfort and political clout.
Similar movies
In 1838 in the kingdom of Naples and the Two Sicilies, Malacarne, gamekeeper of Baron San Germano, kills the bandit Caruso, whose widow gives birth to Giovanni and at the same time becomes the nurse of Costanza, San Germanoâs orphaned daughter. Thirteen years later, Giovanni and Costanza fall in love to the jealousy of her uncle, who shuts her in a convent, ordering Giovanni to be killed by Malacarne who has meanwhile become a bandit. Barely alive, Giovanni is taken away by Bourbon soldiers. After Garibaldiâs arrival in Sicily and its union with Italy, Costanza is freed from the convent and returns to San Germano. She is visited by Giovanni and although still loves him, rejects him since she wishes to become a nun. In the meantime, Giovanni kills Malacarne and takes his place. Costanza marries the rich Lo Turco and the next day departs for Naples, but during the journey the carriage is attacked by Giovanniâs band. Costanza flees with him and they leave for America.
Disgusted with the policies of King Charles I, Oliver Cromwell plans to take his family to the New World. But on the eve of their departure, Cromwell is drawn into the tangled web of religion and politics that will result in the English Civil War.
An adaptation of nine stories from Bocaccio's "Decameron": A young Sicilian is swindled twice, but ends up rich; a man poses as a deaf-mute in a convent of curious nuns; a woman must hide her lover when her husband comes home early; a scoundrel fools a priest on his deathbed; three brothers take revenge on their sister's lover; a young girl sleeps on the roof to meet her boyfriend at night; a group of painters wait for inspiration; a crafty priest attempts to seduce his friend's wife; and two friends make a pact to find out what happens after death. Pasolini is up to his old tricks satirizing the Church, and throwing in liberal doses of life and love
Spanning four decades, from the chaotic 1960s to the present, director Marco Tullio Giordana's passionate epic 'La Meglio Gioventu' follows two Italian brothers through some of the most tumultuous events of recent Italian history.
The War Game is a fictional, worst-case-scenario docudrama about nuclear war and its aftermath in and around a typical English city. Although it won an Oscar for Best Documentary, it is fiction. It was intended as an hour-long program to air on BBC 1, but it was deemed too intense and violent to broadcast. It went to theatrical distribution as a feature film instead. Low-budget and shot on location, it strives for and achieves convincing and unflinching realism.
Inspired to a true story, on November 5th 1991, Rita Atria a young 17-year-old Sicilian girl, goes to see an anti-Mafia judge Paolo Borsellino to denounce the Mafia system that was responsible for the murder of her father and her brother. It is the first time that such a young woman from a Mafia family rebels and betrays the Mafia. From that moment on, Rita's days are numbered. She only has nine months to live...
An American classic in which a manipulative woman and a roguish man carry on a turbulent love affair in the American south during the Civil War and Reconstruction.
"Patton" tells the tale of General George S. Patton, famous tank commander of World War II. The film begins with patton's career in North Africa and progresses through the invasion of Germany and the fall of the Third Reich. Side plots also speak of Patton's numerous faults such his temper and habit towards insubordination.
Nachdem sein Onkel Cesare in Palermo bei einem Sprengstoffanschlag ums Leben kommt, schlieÃt Peppino sich den Kommunisten an, weil er mit deren Hilfe die Mörder seines Onkels finden will. Die Verantwortlichen vermutet der Junge nämlich in seiner eigenen Familie. test
A dramatization of the turbulent first years of Queen Victoria's rule, and her enduring romance with Prince Albert.
Set during the fading glory of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the film tells of the rise and fall of Alfred Redl (Brandauer), an ambitious young officer who proceeds up the ladder to become head of the Secret Police only to become ensnared in political deception.
In the midst of trying to legitimize his business dealings in 1979 New York and Italy, aging mafia don Michael Corleone seeks forgiveness for his sins while taking a young protege under his wing.
Six vignettes follow the Allied invasion from July 1943 to winter 1944, from Sicily north to Venice.
Cahiers du cinéma critic Serge Daney asks whether The Kingdom of Naples is "leftist fiction, kitschy melodrama, photo-roman, a decadent chronicle of a city, opera in a minor key, or simply the first realistic narrative film by Schroeter?" It is all of these and more: an epic chronicle of proletarian family life in Naples from 1943 to 1972 that brilliantly captures the wretched poverty, overwrought passions, and political, religious and economic upheavals of Sicily across two generations. Schroeter assimilates neorealist aesthetics and class sympathies with the tempestuous excesses of popular melodrama, borrowing freely from Rossellini, Pasolini, Visconti, Brecht, and Rossini. (Facets)
Egocentric bandit Salvatore Guiliano fights the Church, the Mafia, and the landed gentry while leading a populist movement for Sicilian independence.
On the first of May 1947, the bandit Salvatore Giuliano conducted a raid to the mountain pass Portella della Ginestra, with a view to capturing Sicily's most prominent communist, Giacomo Licausi. What actually happened was a regular massacre, leaving fourteen people dead and more than thirty wounded. In 1951, about a year after Giulano's violent death, his men are tried in Viterbo. Unconvinced by the official version, Gaspare Pasciotta's lawyer, decides to travel to Sicily and starts investigating the facts.
The King's Speech tells the story of the man who became King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II. After his brother abdicates, George ('Bertie') reluctantly assumes the throne. Plagued by a dreaded stutter and considered unfit to be king, Bertie engages the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue. Through a set of unexpected techniques, and as a result of an unlikely friendship, Bertie is able to find his voice and boldly lead the country into war.
A German Marquise has to deal with a pregnancy she cannot explain and an infatuated Russian Count.
Based on the story of Franca Viola and Filippo Melodia. In Sicily, as a Mafia boss leaves for prison, he advises Vito, a young man who's his potential successor, to marry a virtuous and poor woman. Vito's eye settles on Francesca, only 15, but lovely and self-possessed. Among her virtues are high self worth and forthright speech, so although she falls in love with Vito, she won't bow down to him. Believing he's losing face, he has his boys kidnap her and he rapes her. Then, he tells her he'll still marry her. Instead, she files charges. Her parents, brother, and neighbors refuse to support her. Will she break?
When her father unexpectedly falls terminally ill, exotic dancer Jessica "Jesse" Brown returns home for the first time in more than a decade. Her father's dying wish - that she take over as head of Mount Olive Baptist Church - turns her life and her family's life upside down.
Fourth-generation Army Col. William McNamara is imprisoned in a brutal German POW camp. Still, as the senior-ranking American officer, he commands his fellow inmates, keeping a sense of honor alive in a place where honor is easy to destroy, all under the dangerous eye of the Luftwafe vetran Col. Wilhelm Visser. Never giving up the fight to win the war, McNamara is silently planning, waiting for his moment to strike back at the enemy. A murder in the camp gives him the chance to set a risky plan in motion. With a court martial to keep Visser and the Germans distracted, McNamara orchestrates a cunning scheme to escape and destroy a nearby munitions plant, enlisting the unwitting help of young Lt. Tommy Hart. Together with his men, McNamara uses a hero's resolve to carry out his mission, ultimately forced to weigh the value of his life against the good of his country.
The story of the Opium War between China, in the waning days of the Qing Dynasty, and the British Empire, in the 1830s, and the subsequent takeover of Hong Kong by Britain; through the eyes of the key figures, fiercely nationalistic Lin Zexu, and opportunistic British naval diplomat Charles Elliot.
The adventures and deceptions of a photographer who travels through the small villages of Sicily pretending that he is working for the big film studios in Rome.
A veteran sergeant of the World War I leads a squad in World War II, always in the company of the survivor Pvt. Griff, the writer Pvt. Zab, the Sicilian Pvt. Vinci and Pvt. Johnson in Vichy French Africa, Sicily, D-Day at Omaha Beach, Belgium and France, ending in a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia where they face the true horror of war.
After the wild life-style of a famous young German photographer almost gets him killed, he goes to Palermo, Sicily to take a brake. Can the beautiful city and a beautiful local woman help him calm himself down?
A story set against the Mountain Meadows Massacre, the film is based upon the tragedy which occurred in Utah in 1857. A group of settlers, traveling on wagons, was murdered by the native Mormons. All together, about 140 souls of men, women and children, were taken.
After the death of his first wife, wealthy Raja Aditya Pratap Singh, re-marries another woman, simply known as Chhoti Rani, who subsequently becomes mentally unstable. His father's former mistress, Badi Rani, controls the wealth, while he himself has a mistress. Unable to procure contracts through Mantri Prabhu Tiwari, he decides to stand for elections, while his rival, Ghenda Singh, recruits an assassin, Babalu, who is also the nephew of Sunder, Chhoti Rani's chauffeur, to kill Aditya. After Sunder is unable to drive due to an injury, he recommends Babalu, and Aditya hires him. Babalu settles down in his new job, attempts to get accepted by everyone, including Chhoti Rani, who he finds attractive. He soon finds out that she, too, has feelings for him, and then starts making plans of not only carrying out his assigned task but also becoming the next Saheb.
Melodrama about a bomber on board an airplane, an airport almost closed by snow, and various personal problems of the people involved.
The story is set in the town of Ranasthali, in year 1989. Bhagat Panigrahi (Nara Rohit) is preparing to become a police officer. His father Chandrasekhar Panigrahi (Sayaji Shinde), a former Naxalite returns after 20 years before giving up his fight for the society for the reasons only known to him. He comes back home and questions his son's ambition of becoming a Police Officer. Meanwhile a local don, Shakti Patnaik (Randhir Gatla) is slowly building his empire, terrorizing police and anyone who opposes him. One day, Bhagat meets Subbalaxmi (Vedhicka) at the railway station and rescues her from the tragedy of her life. When her ex-husband involves Shakti's gang to abduct her, it triggers a series of consequences between Bhagat and Shakti. The rest is about how Bhagat never gives anything for his ambition, which inspires others to stand up for the fight against the tyranny of Shakti.
A classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson , the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.
A large international cast takes part in this comedy in which the stories of numerous individuals whose cars are stalled in a massive Roman traffic jam are told.
Young men with no future have little in the present as well. Natale is released from prison: he takes up with his friends again but none can find work. Claudio, from Palermo, gets out of juvenile detention in Naples and he's met by Vita, a girl who's come from home to run away with him. Where can they go? A young dad, whose potato stall at the market is shut down because he has no permit, takes his two small children to the beach and yells at them. Mario, gay, a prostitute in drag, gets a visit from his mom; he offers tea, then finds the water to his apartment is shut off. Social workers drop by, parole officers file reports. What hope is there? What options besides crime?
Charlie Anderson, a farmer in Shenandoah, Virginia, finds himself and his family in the middle of the Civil War he wants nothing to do with. When his youngest boy is taken prisoner by the North the Civil War is forced upon him.
The amorous adventures of Andrea Rossi-Colombotti, an army officer who finds pleasure with beautiful women in life-threatening situations.
This fun and sexy comedy tells a timelessly entertaining story where wealthy, secret passions and mischievous women put love to the test.. When a spirited young woman, Fanny Price, is sent away to live on the great country estate of her rich cousins, she's meant to learn the ways of proper society. But while Fanny learns "their" ways, she also enlightens them with a wit and sparkle all her own!
A drama based on Texas congressman Charlie Wilson's covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets had some unforeseen and long-reaching effects.
A true story of politics and art in the 1930s USA, centered around a leftist musical drama and attempts to stop its production.
A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village's theater and formed a deep friendship with the theater's projectionist.
Giuseppe Tornatore traces three generations of a Sicilian family in in the Sicilian town of Bagheria (known as Baarìa in the local Sicilian dialect), from the 1930s to the 1980s, to tell the story of the loves, dreams and delusions of an unusual community.
Cher is devastatingly funny, sinuous and beautiful as Loretta, an unlucky-in-love Italian widow who finds romance through the intervention of the Manhattan moon. With her wedding to a close friend just weeks away, she meets - and falls hopelessly in love with - his younger brother (Cage)!
The story of an idealist's rise to power in the world of Louisiana politics and the corruption that leads to his ultimate downfall. Based on the1946 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel written by Robert Penn Warren.
Alaipayuthey (Tamil: à®
லà¯à®ªà®¾à®¯à¯à®¤à¯) (Jumping Waves / compared to tempting or fickle mind in Tamil) is an 2000 Indian, Tamil language film directed by Mani Ratnam. Starring R. Madhavan and Shalini, the film explores the tensions of married life and the maturing of love. The film's score and soundtrack are composed by film composer A. R. Rahman. Alaipayuthey's story is mostly recollected in flashbacks by the character Karthik. Karthik and Shakti fall in love against the backdrop of Madras and its suburban trains, against the wishes of their parents. The movie was well received by critics and did well at the Tamil and Telugu box-offices primarily for its music and realistic portrayal of romance and married life.
The story of the love affair between FDR and his distant cousin Margaret Stuckley, centered around the weekend in 1939 when the King and Queen of the United Kingdom visited upstate New York.
A bombardier in World War II tries desperately to escape the insanity of the war. However, sometimes insanity is the only sane way cope with a crazy situation. Catch-22 is a parody of a "military mentality" and of a bureaucratic society in general.
While doing a series of reports on alternative energy sources, an opportunistic reporter Kimberly Wells witnesses an accident at a nuclear power plant. Wells is determined to publicise the incident but soon finds herself entangled in a sinister conspiracy to keep the full impact of the incident a secret.
Ustad Hotel is a quaint place run by a foodie named Kareem, who is fondly called Ustad, on a beach in Kozhikode. He sells biriyani â not to make money but to ensure that his biriyani has his customers Faizie's stay in Kozhikode continues for a bit longer than what he had anticipated and during his stay with his grandfather, Faizie unearths a real world that exists beyond the sea and its shores. The film is about the bonding between Faizi and his grandfather and how a few days with his grandfather and Ustad Hotel changes his life for ever.
Lucky Luciano is one of the bosses of the Mafia. He orders the slaughter of 40 other responsibles, therefore becoming the only boss. But a few years later he is put into jail. In 1946, he got a pardon and is sent back to Sicilia. There, he begins becoming one of the chief of the Mafia. The US Army seems to refrain from interfering.
Due to his violent past, Deputy Sheriff Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III (Joe Don Baker) has been transferred to a rural outpost. When two thugs kill the sheriff, Geronimo shoots one of them, and the other vows revenge. Unfortunately for Geronimo, that thug turns out to be a mob boss, and the court orders Geronimo to extradite him back to his home in Sicily. When their plane is hijacked, the adversaries find their roles reversed.
Fortune hunter Holly Golightly finds herself captivated by aspiring writer Paul Varjak, who's moved into her building on a wealthy woman's dime. As romance blooms between Paul and Holly, Doc Golightly shows up on the scene, revealing Holly's past.
In turn-of-the-century New York, an Italian seeks vengeance on the mobsters who killed his father.
In the post Spanish civil war years, Catalan kids would sit in circles among the ruins and tell stories, known as "aventis" (the film's original title in Catalan, its original language). These tales mix war stories, local gossip, comic book characters, fantasy and real events. The "aventis" told in this film are told in flashback. In the mid 80s, 45 or so years after the age of the "aventis," a doctor and a nurse-nun (who grew up together, and now are co-workers in a hospital) identify the corpse of one of the main characters of the "aventis" of their childhood and adolescence. Besides the interesting flashbacks - a chronical of the Civil War in a "typical" Barcelona microcosm itself, the discovery of this body (belonging to someone long presumed dead) leads to other surprises and unresolved doubts, several decades later.
In 1950, 28-year-old outlaw Salvatore Giuliano is found gunned down in a Sicilian courtyard. Little is as it seems. The film moves back and forth between the late 1940s, when Giuliano and other reprobates were recruited by separatist politicians to do their fighting, and the days leading up to and following Giuliano's death.
Gretta's celebrity boyfriend breaks up with her after a long-term relationship, leaving the singer to find success on her own. With the help of record producer, Dan and hip-hop celebrity, Trouble Gum, Gretta strives to fulfil her musical ambitions.
Thirty years on from the 1984 Union Carbide plant malfunction, the consequences of which are tragically ongoing, A Prayer for Rain is the powerful and moving story of the Bhopal tragedy, one of the great corporate and environmental scandals of the last half-century. It dramatises the dependence of the local community on the chemical plant that will eventually cause catastrophe, and the series of oversights that led to an event that stands as a benchmark for corporate irresponsibility in the developing world.
An American journalist played by George Clooney arrives in Berlin just after the end of World War Two. He becomes involved in a murder mystery surrounding a dead GI who washes up at a lakeside mansion during the Potsdam negotiations between the Allied powers. Soon his investigation connects with his search for his married pre-war German lover played by Cate Blanchett.
True Women is a sweeping saga of love, war and adventure. Spanning five decades from the Texas Revolution through the Civil War, Reconstruction and beyond, True Women is the story of the love, friendship, survival and triumphs
An executive in charge of a nuclear power plant in the Mid-East must stop his son-- who turns out to be the Anti Christ -- from blowing it up.
England is torn in civil strife as the Royalists battle the Parliamentary Party for control. This conflict distracts people from rational thought and allows unscrupulous men to gain local power by exploiting village superstitions. One of these men is Matthew Hopkins, who tours the land offering his services as a persecutor of witches.
When a good-natured factory supervisor living in Milan with his Northern wife returns to his native Sicily, a decades' old oath forces him to fulfill a nightmarish obligation.
© Valossa 2015–2024