Domenico Paolella

Directing

Domenico Paolella

Born — Died

1915-10-18 — 2002-10-07

Place of birth

Foggia, Puglia, Italy

Known for

Directing

Credits

41 titles

Domenico Paolella was an Italian film director and screenwriter whose career encompassed a wide range of genres from the 1940s to the 1970s. Born in Foggia, Apulia, he began his career directing documentaries and short films before transitioning to feature films. Paolella directed over 50 films, including historical epics like Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon (1964), adventure films such as The Two Gladiators (1964), and Spaghetti Westerns like Execution (1968). He was also known for his work in the nunsploitation genre with films like The Nuns of Saint Archangel (1973). Paolella's films are noted for their dynamic storytelling and engagement with popular cinematic trends of his time.

Known for

Film credits

Behind the camera

Madri pericolose poster
6.0

A great Party is given by the rich family of Improta. Every kind of intrigue gets around this party. The purpose of every plan is to find a husband or a wife with a quality: wealth.

Madri pericolose

1960

Madri pericolose poster
6.0

A great Party is given by the rich family of Improta. Every kind of intrigue gets around this party. The purpose of every plan is to find a husband or a wife with a quality: wealth.

Madri pericolose

1960

Il coraggio poster
6.6

A wealthy trader saves the life of a poor suicidal man who then decides that his savior has the responsibility of taking care of him and his family.

Il coraggio

1955

Destinazione Sanremo poster
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Destinazione Sanremo

1959

Pirates of the Coast poster
5.7

Luis de Monterey is a ship captain who is pitted against a crafty pirates.

Pirates of the Coast

1960

Avenger of the Seven Seas poster
6.6

It's 1790 and British Naval Commander Redway is driven by greed for money and will stop at nothing to get it. His second in command, David Robinson, questions his allegiance when Redway kills his father and takes his brother prisoner. In order to save his brother and avenge his father's death David must join forces with a band of pirates, led by Captain Bernard, hunt down and kill Redway.

Avenger of the Seven Seas

1962

Guns of the Black Witch poster
7.0

In the 17th century, a village was the refuge of several French buccaneers. One day, the Spanish under the command of Guzmán, attacked the village and killed everybody, adults and children ...

Guns of the Black Witch

1961

Undersea Fantasy poster
6.4

The tale of two fish in love, threatened by an octopus and saved by an eel.

Undersea Fantasy

1940

Sanremo canta poster
9.0

A behind-the-scenes look at the 1956 edition of the Sanremo Festival.

Sanremo canta

1956

The Nun and the Devil poster
5.4

It's 1577. The Mother Superior at the convent of Archangel is seriously ill. The determined and calculating Mother Giulia plots to become the next Mother Superior. She receives tough competition from tormented lesbian Sister Chiara and the lusty Sister Carmela.

The Nun and the Devil

1973

The Nun and the Devil poster
5.4

It's 1577. The Mother Superior at the convent of Archangel is seriously ill. The determined and calculating Mother Giulia plots to become the next Mother Superior. She receives tough competition from tormented lesbian Sister Chiara and the lusty Sister Carmela.

The Nun and the Devil

1973

Canzoni di ieri, canzoni di oggi, canzoni di domani poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Canzoni di ieri, canzoni di oggi, canzoni di domani

1962

Story of a Cloistered Nun poster
5.3

Refusing an arranged marriage, young aristocrat Carmela is sent to a convent. Her arrival intensifies the power struggle between the debauched nun Elizabeth and the stern Mother Superior, as both are smitten by Carmela's beauty.

Story of a Cloistered Nun

1973

Story of a Cloistered Nun poster
5.3

Refusing an arranged marriage, young aristocrat Carmela is sent to a convent. Her arrival intensifies the power struggle between the debauched nun Elizabeth and the stern Mother Superior, as both are smitten by Carmela's beauty.

Story of a Cloistered Nun

1973

Women of Devil's Island poster
4.3

Italian costume drama about convicted women in France being sent to the penal colony on Devil's Island where they must wade through alligator-infested waters and find gold. Life on the island is tough for these buxom, beautifully-swept coiffed maidens - virtually none who look like they had even the slightest knowledge of crimes worthy of such a punishment. Here, if the girls want to get a day of rest they must work the night with the guards and/or warden of the island, but some changes come when Guy Madison arrives as the new warden out to change the horrible lives led by these playmate-wannabes.

Women of Devil's Island

1962

Women of Devil's Island poster
4.3

Italian costume drama about convicted women in France being sent to the penal colony on Devil's Island where they must wade through alligator-infested waters and find gold. Life on the island is tough for these buxom, beautifully-swept coiffed maidens - virtually none who look like they had even the slightest knowledge of crimes worthy of such a punishment. Here, if the girls want to get a day of rest they must work the night with the guards and/or warden of the island, but some changes come when Guy Madison arrives as the new warden out to change the horrible lives led by these playmate-wannabes.

Women of Devil's Island

1962

Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon poster
4.6

Hercules goes to Babylon to rescue the Queen of the Hellenes and free the people of Babylon from slavery.

Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon

1964

Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon poster
4.6

Hercules goes to Babylon to rescue the Queen of the Hellenes and free the people of Babylon from slavery.

Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon

1964

Hercules Against the Barbarians poster
5.0

The eternal Hercules in this film has gone way beyond his usual time and place in ancient Greece and is now helping Poland free itself of Mongol invaders in the 12th century. Mark Forest is the star of this peplum epic, Hercules Against The Barbarians.

Hercules Against the Barbarians

1964

Hercules Against the Barbarians poster
5.0

The eternal Hercules in this film has gone way beyond his usual time and place in ancient Greece and is now helping Poland free itself of Mongol invaders in the 12th century. Mark Forest is the star of this peplum epic, Hercules Against The Barbarians.

Hercules Against the Barbarians

1964

Samson Against the Sheik poster
7.0

In the late 1500s, forces of the Duke of Malaga topple the Sacred Obelisk in the North African city of Melida before they're defeated by the local Sheik. The Shiek's men then sail to Spain and kidnap the Duke's daughter, Isabella.

Samson Against the Sheik

1962

Stunt Squad poster
6.2

Fed up with the murderous shenanigans of Valli’s protection racket, police chief Grifi assembles an ace team of stunt trained police officers to tackle the mob!

Stunt Squad

1977

Stunt Squad poster
6.2

Fed up with the murderous shenanigans of Valli’s protection racket, police chief Grifi assembles an ace team of stunt trained police officers to tackle the mob!

Stunt Squad

1977

Hercules Against the Mongols poster
6.2

Though Genghis Khan eventually sought peace with the West, his death in 1227 AD puts into power his three war-like sons: Sayan, Susdal, and Kin Khan. These sons quickly overrun the city of Tuleda and take prisoner Princess Bianca, though young Prince Alessio escapes. Hercules comes to the rescue of Bianca, winning her freedom in a tournament in exchange for becoming a slave himself. Forces from the West soon come to re-take Tuleda and Hercules -- freed from his bonds -- helps to dispatch Genghis Khan's three sons while again saving Bianca and reuniting her with her young brother.

Hercules Against the Mongols

1963

Hercules Against the Mongols poster
6.2

Though Genghis Khan eventually sought peace with the West, his death in 1227 AD puts into power his three war-like sons: Sayan, Susdal, and Kin Khan. These sons quickly overrun the city of Tuleda and take prisoner Princess Bianca, though young Prince Alessio escapes. Hercules comes to the rescue of Bianca, winning her freedom in a tournament in exchange for becoming a slave himself. Forces from the West soon come to re-take Tuleda and Hercules -- freed from his bonds -- helps to dispatch Genghis Khan's three sons while again saving Bianca and reuniting her with her young brother.

Hercules Against the Mongols

1963

The Secret of the Black Falcon poster
6.3

A secret document has fallen into the hands of pirates. Spain and England are both interested. The English commissioned a notorious pirate and the Spaniards procure their best officer, Carlos de Herrera, to retrieve the document for them.

The Secret of the Black Falcon

1961

Challenge of the Gladiator poster
5.0

Treacherous Roman senator Lucius Quintilius plans a secret journey into Thrace to recover a legendary treasure. He is accompanied by his daughter Livia posing as a Christian slave girl, his cruel henchman Commodio, and Terenzius, an ex-gladiator and Nero look-alike who fools the local Thracians into believing he is the real Emperor. But Lucius's plans are thwarted by Spartacus and his band of rebels who succeed in capturing the treasure for Thrace. When news arrives from Rome that the real Nero has died, local Roman governor Consul Metellus joins forces with Spartacus to defeat the traitors.

Challenge of the Gladiator

1965

Challenge of the Gladiator poster
5.0

Treacherous Roman senator Lucius Quintilius plans a secret journey into Thrace to recover a legendary treasure. He is accompanied by his daughter Livia posing as a Christian slave girl, his cruel henchman Commodio, and Terenzius, an ex-gladiator and Nero look-alike who fools the local Thracians into believing he is the real Emperor. But Lucius's plans are thwarted by Spartacus and his band of rebels who succeed in capturing the treasure for Thrace. When news arrives from Rome that the real Nero has died, local Roman governor Consul Metellus joins forces with Spartacus to defeat the traitors.

Challenge of the Gladiator

1965

Operation Atlantis poster
5.0

An American agent discovers that the Red Chinese have built a secret atomic city from which they will attempt to invade America.

Operation Atlantis

1965

Operation Atlantis poster
5.0

An American agent discovers that the Red Chinese have built a secret atomic city from which they will attempt to invade America.

Operation Atlantis

1965

Execution poster
4.2

Clips, a bounty killer, is after one John Coler, who has fooled him, keeping all of a loot he should have shared with him. He finally catches his prey only to discover that the man is a Coler all right but not the expected one.

Execution

1968

Execution poster
4.2

Clips, a bounty killer, is after one John Coler, who has fooled him, keeping all of a loot he should have shared with him. He finally catches his prey only to discover that the man is a Coler all right but not the expected one.

Execution

1968

I teddy boys della canzone poster
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

I teddy boys della canzone

1960

Destinazione Piovarolo poster
6.9

Antonio La Quaglia becomes the railroader in Piovarolo during 1922 meanwhile the fascism is raising. Later he marries a jewish woman. He has career ambitions but can not reach them.

Destinazione Piovarolo

1955

No artwork available
NR

A documentary short on sulphur mining in Sicilia with a focus on the transition from traditional to new methods of extraction, the living conditions of the workers and the various, sometimes unexpected uses of sulphur in the industrial age.

Sicilian Sulfur

—

Rosso e nero poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

Rosso e nero

1954

Belli e brutti ridono tutti poster
4.0

"L'amore e' cieco "Discovered by the usher Capocchia in intimacy with an employee, Ernesto Rossi is fired by Mr. Bani. Pretending to be blind, Rossi retaliates by seducing Mrs. Bani in the sleeping car; but in the morning, he surprised to have been robbed of the 9 million from the liquidation. "Pane sicuro" The industrialist Santucci, attracted by the graces of the servant Margherita, takes her to his villa where, blackmailed by her and her husband Carlo, he will have to promise a job to them and to the Margherita's brother. "Un bisogno urgente" Franco Pennacchi, because of his wife who forced him to gulp down a yogurt, is in urgent need to satisfy needs that put him in serious embarrassment at the airport. in the house of the lover and in the inside of the immobilized elevator of his own house. "L'erede" Having died Adolfo III of the Bisi counts, the notary Guidi communicates the will of the deceased to the widow Countess Ada and the parish priest Don Enzo.

Belli e brutti ridono tutti

1979

Non sono più guaglione poster
8.0

A mechanic falls in love with a girl who aspires to become a diva.

Non sono più guaglione

1957

Danger!! Death Ray poster
3.0

When a scientist and his death ray are taken by a group of enemy agents, secret agent Bart Fargo is sent to retrieve the death ray and save the scientist.

Danger!! Death Ray

1967

Hate for Hate poster
6.0

After being captured during a bank robbery, a cowboy is sent to a prison located in a swamp, where he contracts malaria. He soon escapes and, with the help of a Mexican, sets out to track down his partner, who escaped from the bank robbery with all the money.

Hate for Hate

1967