Vittorio Cottafavi

Messalina was the Roman noblewoman who inveigled ageing emperor Claudio into marriage. Once ensconced on the throne, Messalina launched a reign of terror that shook the empire to its very foundations. The subject of countless film treatments, Rome's most villified empress is herein played by British actress Belinda Lee.

In a dystopian future, two superpowers have shared the Earth, and both try to conquer the Solar System. The penal colony of Venus becomes the missile base of one of the two superpowers, but the deportees oppose the project.

An engineer has a romance with the mistress of a rich banker but she sacrifices herself,returning to the rich man, for the best interests of the lover and his family.

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A reconstruction of Napoleon Bonaparte's years after Waterloo, from his exile to St. Helena until his death under mysterious circumstances: between hopes of escape and illness, the former emperor dictates his memoirs. Directed by Vittorio Cottafavi, the film is based on a story by Roberto Mazzucco, with a screenplay by Cottafavi and Giovanni Bormioli.

A warrior returning home to his country must battle giant bats, three-headed dogs and a vicious dragon to save his wife, and his people, from the machinations of an evil ruler.

Messalina was the Roman noblewoman who inveigled ageing emperor Claudio into marriage. Once ensconced on the throne, Messalina launched a reign of terror that shook the empire to its very foundations. The subject of countless film treatments, Rome's most villified empress is herein played by British actress Belinda Lee.

In a dystopian future, two superpowers have shared the Earth, and both try to conquer the Solar System. The penal colony of Venus becomes the missile base of one of the two superpowers, but the deportees oppose the project.

An engineer has a romance with the mistress of a rich banker but she sacrifices herself,returning to the rich man, for the best interests of the lover and his family.

A reconstruction of Napoleon Bonaparte's years after Waterloo, from his exile to St. Helena until his death under mysterious circumstances: between hopes of escape and illness, the former emperor dictates his memoirs. Directed by Vittorio Cottafavi, the film is based on a story by Roberto Mazzucco, with a screenplay by Cottafavi and Giovanni Bormioli.

A reconstruction of Napoleon Bonaparte's years after Waterloo, from his exile to St. Helena until his death under mysterious circumstances: between hopes of escape and illness, the former emperor dictates his memoirs. Directed by Vittorio Cottafavi, the film is based on a story by Roberto Mazzucco, with a screenplay by Cottafavi and Giovanni Bormioli.

A warrior returning home to his country must battle giant bats, three-headed dogs and a vicious dragon to save his wife, and his people, from the machinations of an evil ruler.

King Androcles of Thebes commands a ship in search of a threat to Greece, predicted by an atmospheric oracle. Hercules is part of the crew, but the strongman falls overboard in a thick fog. Washed ashore, he saves a young Ismene from Proteus, an evil, shape-shifting creature. Ismene takes Hercules to Atlantis, where he discovers that her mother, Queen Antinea, has captured Androcles. Hercules schemes to rescue him and thwart Antinea's dream of world conquest.

Marching down the Italian peninsula to sack ancient Rome, Etruscan warrior Drusco instead offers to hold back his onslaught if the Romans hand over hostages, including Clelia, the sexy leader of a clan of woman warriors. But before long, intrigue and betrayal unravel the fragile peace. Directors Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia and Vittorio Cottafavi helm this vintage sword-and-sandal epic.

An adaptation of Joseph Conrad's first novel, taking us to the Malaysian mangrove forests against a backdrop of colonial decadence.

Octavio secretly sent his consul Curridio to Alexandria in a final attempt to reach peace. In the city, he meets Berenice, a mysterious and beautiful dancer who falls in love. Actually, the dancer is the queen Cleopatra who leads a double life using this name.

Octavio secretly sent his consul Curridio to Alexandria in a final attempt to reach peace. In the city, he meets Berenice, a mysterious and beautiful dancer who falls in love. Actually, the dancer is the queen Cleopatra who leads a double life using this name.

Marcus Numidius, a Roman tribune sent to Armenia to put down a gladiators' revolt, captures the rebels' popular leader, Asclepius. Princess Amira, with ambitions of being Queen and jealous of Asclepius' popularity, plans his death in the arena by substituting a lion for his human opponent

Cottafavi's adaptation of the Greek tragedy for RAI.

Don Fernando rallies peasants and townspeople to overthrow Moorish occupiers in medieval Spain.

Don Fernando rallies peasants and townspeople to overthrow Moorish occupiers in medieval Spain.

In the forested slopes surrounding the rural Tuscan village of Tirli, a group of lumberjacks work long hours felling trees in the hopes of making an ample profit. Amongst them, a recently widowed father struggles to overcome the pain of his wife’s death, whilst juggling the fresh financial pressures of raising two motherless children.

Liana, an architecture graduate, is about to get married until she is confronted with the fact she is sacrificing the rest of her life for a man she barely knows. So begins a series of romantic encounters in which Liana tries to find her freedom and happiness, but which will ultimately lead her to a tragic fate.

A group of royalists during the French Revolution make several attempts to rescue Marie Antoinette from prison, in this combination of genres: swashbuckler, melodrama, psychological drama, and historical tragedy. Based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas.

In 1951, two years after the “scandal” of the Fiamma che non si spegne, Cottafavi got the opportunity to work on a film with a small production company, Novissima Film. With little means, a number of technical and financial problems and working Sundays with the pieces of film given to him bit by bit, Cottafavi shot Una donna ha ucciso, a minor film that marked his comeback to directing. (Gianni Rondolino)

In 1951, two years after the “scandal” of the Fiamma che non si spegne, Cottafavi got the opportunity to work on a film with a small production company, Novissima Film. With little means, a number of technical and financial problems and working Sundays with the pieces of film given to him bit by bit, Cottafavi shot Una donna ha ucciso, a minor film that marked his comeback to directing. (Gianni Rondolino)

Based on the short story "Sept petites croix dans un carnet" by Georges Simenon. "Sette piccole croci" was the first drama, non-series (what is today called a TV movie), as well as the first police thriller to be broadcast on Italian television. The story follows a tense cat-and-mouse chase across Paris on Christmas Eve.

Inspired to the real story of the Carabiniere Salvo D'Acquisto. We see how, to save 22 hostages from dead sentence by Nazi, he decided to sacrifice himself.

Inspired to the real story of the Carabiniere Salvo D'Acquisto. We see how, to save 22 hostages from dead sentence by Nazi, he decided to sacrifice himself.

A mysterious man, who had lost his memory, arrives in San Marino among other refugees during the Second World War.

The film takes place at the end of the 19th century. The Cardinal Guglielmo Massaia has spent 20 years in Ethiopia to convert people to the Catholic Church. He comes back to Italy and he tries to get the help of the government of Piedmont. The Count Cavour, although he appreciates the Cardinal's deeds in Africa, cannot grant his Cabinet's support to the Cardinal's plans. The missionary man, trusting the Divine Providence, goes back to Africa by himself. The Cardinal, who is known among the people as Abuna Messias, becomes a friend of king Menelik. The support of the king is fundamental to spread his word and accomplish his mission. The Head of the Coptic Church, Abuna Attanasio, does whatever he can to prevent Massaia from reaching his goals and to get him exiled from Ethiopia. Menelik refuses to help Abuna Attanasio, who decides to address the Emperor, thus igniting a war between the Emperor and his subject Menelik. In order to end the war, the Cardinal decides to leave Africa.

After years of detachment Alberto Valli returns to the home of Margherita, his widowed mother, with his mistress Germaine.

Based on the novel The Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas fils.

It is in the late 1930s, and Cesare Pavese, a writer, with two of his friends meets a very uninhibited noble couple.

It is in the late 1930s, and Cesare Pavese, a writer, with two of his friends meets a very uninhibited noble couple.

A comedy of misunderstandings caused by words. Walter Chiari is a stage actor who tries to cash a check at a public office.

An official, betrayed by his lady servant, joins musketeers such as Athos, while she turns into a countess and a spy that will eventually be executed.

Luisa Galli moves to Rome in search of a respectable job, but instead just finds a job as a waitress for the lawyer Giorgi.

A film by Vittorio Cottafavi based on the Leo Tolstoy play.

Leo is a young man trying to make a living without any success. Through fortuitous circumstances, he is assigned by the director of a big firm to accompany for one night the daughter of the firm's accountant, Titi. Leo pretends then to be the son of a tycoon and takes her to a luxurious restaurant.

Leo is a young man trying to make a living without any success. Through fortuitous circumstances, he is assigned by the director of a big firm to accompany for one night the daughter of the firm's accountant, Titi. Leo pretends then to be the son of a tycoon and takes her to a luxurious restaurant.

The plot by a group of German officers to depose of Adolf Hitler in July 1944.

Television movie about Oliver Cromwell.

The trial of Saint Teresa de Lisieux.

In 1967 the director Vittorio Cottafavi produces the TV movie Le Troiane from Euripides. He uses the classical Italian translation by Enzio Cetrangolo, but creates an original way of film adaptation, inspired by the Brechtian conception of staging the ancient theater. He does not use costume or set design, but is based only on the simple performance of the actors, highlighted by the shooting technique. The absolute sense of tragedy is perceived by the public through emotional engagement and imagination. So, the Trojan war is all the wars and the pain of the Trojan women is the pain of all the victims of any war.

In 1967 the director Vittorio Cottafavi produces the TV movie Le Troiane from Euripides. He uses the classical Italian translation by Enzio Cetrangolo, but creates an original way of film adaptation, inspired by the Brechtian conception of staging the ancient theater. He does not use costume or set design, but is based only on the simple performance of the actors, highlighted by the shooting technique. The absolute sense of tragedy is perceived by the public through emotional engagement and imagination. So, the Trojan war is all the wars and the pain of the Trojan women is the pain of all the victims of any war.