The Countess, a wealthy American with an addiction to card games and a large real estate portfolio, has become an expert on the card games of all the countries where she owns houses. The regional favorite in Rome is a card game called “scopone” and the Countess summons a married couple to be her adversaries. The couple are the poorest of the poor, but the Countess supplies them with one million lire to play with, promising them that they can keep the money should they beat her.
Tag: ITALY
In this sword-and-sandal saga set on the steppes of Asia, Rik Battaglia plays Roland, leader of the Paladin troops, who must proves his mettle against the dreaded Saracen invaders, and withstand their evil plots, which primarily consist of sending gorgeous women into their camp to entice and distract them.
Prostitutes from Athens are transported by truck for the pleasure of the occupying Italian Army in this World War II drama. The 15 women are driven by a young lieutenant who gives a ride to a fascist major. Tension mounts between the two soldiers as the truck is attacked, and some of the women are killed. Love blossoms between one of the prostitutes and the lieutenant, and he encourages her to return home knowing he will never see her again.
Naples, 1959. Renato Caccioppoli, university professor in pure mathematics, is a disillusioned and tormented man who lives the last days of his life. Grandson of Bakunin on his mother’s side, interned in a psychiatric hospital for his anti-fascist acts, abandoned by his wife, and now become estranged from his own Communist Party comrades and his University collaborators, he lives his life with disenchanted detachment until his last act, suicide.
This suspenseful Italian crime drama is set in a Colombian river town and chronicles the series of events that led up to murder. Based on a novel by distinguished author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the tale begins in the present as a middle-aged doctor returns to the village after a twenty-year absence to investigate the murder that occurred just before he left.
Parigi e Sempre Parigi was the second feature-length effort from famed Italian documentary director Luciano Emmer. Parigi concentrates on a gentle cultural clash between a band of Italian sports fans and the citizenry of Paris. The hero, DeAngelis has heard so much about “naughty Paree” that he’s determined to experience that naughtiness first hand. This plot device, of course, obliges the director to introduce several delectable French mademoiselles in the proceedings. Ultimately, DeAngelis realizes that reports of French libertinism have been grossly exaggerated, but he has a high old time finding this out.
Amiel per la Pelle (Friends for Life) is largely told from a child’s-eye point of view. The heroes of the piece are Mario and Franco, young classmates and inseparable buddies. After several “Our Gang”-style adventures, the boys’ friendship is threatened when Mario reveals a secret that Franco confided in him.