Romolo Valli

Interview with the italian composer Claudio Gizzi about his lifetime and work as part or the extras of the Blu-Ray edition from What? (Che?) (1972) from Roman Polanski

At the beginning of the 1913 Mexican Revolution, greedy bandit Juan Miranda and idealist John H. Mallory, an Irish Republican Army explosives expert on the lam from the British, fall in with a band of revolutionaries plotting to strike a national bank. When it turns out that the government has been using the bank as a hiding place for illegally detained political prisoners -- who are freed by the blast -- Miranda becomes a revolutionary hero against his will.

Composer Gustav von Aschenbach travels to Venice for health reasons. There, he becomes obsessed with the stunning beauty of an adolescent Polish boy named Tadzio who is staying with his family at the same Grand Hôtel des Bains on the Lido as Aschenbach.

A young American woman traveling through Italy finds herself in a strange Mediterranean villa where nothing seems quite right.

A retired professor of American origin lives a solitary life in a luxurious palazzo in Rome. He is confronted by a vulgar Italian marchesa and her lover, her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend, and forced to rent to them an apartment on the upper floor of his palazzo. From this point on his quiet routine is turned into chaos by his tenants' machinations, and everybody's life takes an unexpected but inevitable turn.

The epic tale of a class struggle in twentieth century Italy, as seen through the eyes of two childhood friends on opposing sides.

In 1930s Italy, a wealthy Jewish family tries to maintain their privileged lifestyle, hosting friends for tennis and parties at their villa. As anti-Semitism intensifies under Fascism, they must ultimately face the horrors of the Holocaust.

Bobby Deerfield, a famous American race car driver on the European circuit, falls in love with the enigmatic Lillian Morelli, who is terminally ill.

The story of fish-monger Nino of Rione Borgo. Nino is in love with Rosa but he always manages to postpone their wedding.

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.

Having both suffered extreme losses, two disparate souls try to form a relationship for consolation rather than romance.

No synopsis available yet.

After a fall from a horse, a 20th-century nobleman remains convinced that he is Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor in the 11th century. For more than twenty years, his family indulge his madness, until his nephew and former companions decide to cure him once and for all. But their attempt reveals a reality far more destabilizing and tragic than they could have imagined.

A middle-aged government accountant is determined to secure a stable job for his son before retiring, willing to go to great lengths to achieve his goal.

Documentary on the filming of Novecento by Bernardo Bertolucci

A dying priest is commissioned to investigate the deeds of Giacomo Nerone, a dead wartime partisan, and find out if he truly is worthy of being canonized.

1936. In a village in the Bassa Padana, a beautiful and shapely forty-year-old girl is aunt of some boys in the middle of their sexual maturity.

In 1880's Italy, young Paulina must join a monastery to escape a doomed relationship with a married count. However, neither she, nor the count can just move on and all elements for a tragedy are there.

De Luca is killed by Marchetti's chauffeur. Marchetti ordered the murder because he was to be accused by De Luca. The two have a car accident while going home to get an alibi. There is a witness, Sironi, who calls the police. But when the police arrive the car has gone and so have the two men. Inspector Santi and young judge Novelli look into the strange case. Marchetti, however, is a powerful man and Sironi and his family begin to be obsessed first by threats then by assaults.

Absurdism’s king of comedy, Luigi Pirandello, adapted a 1915 short story he wrote titled “Signora Frola and Signor Ponza, Her Son-in-Law” into a play two years later. Right You Are (If You Think Are) was presented in dramatic form as a “A Parable in Three Acts.” As in any instructive parable, the characterization is put fully into the service of delivering the lesson and thus creates mysteries about motivation that remain unresolved by the conclusion.

Leone, a very rational man, silently accepts that his wife Silia is cheating on him with Guido. When a well-known swordsman offends Silia, the woman asks her husband to make amends by challenging him to a duel; Leone accepts, but sends Guido in his place.

A behind-the-scenes documentary about the filming of the Federico Fellini film, "Satyricon."

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.

An anthology of four comic moral tales about the hypocrisies surrounding sex in 1960s Italy: frothy young love and office politics in the big city; milk advertisements that begin to haunt an aging prude; a trophy wife enduring her husband's very public affairs; a lucky ticket-holder at a small town fair.

Lorenzo, who's 16 and born to a wealthy family in Parma, tries to make things right toward a showgirl, Aida, whom his older brother has mistreated. In extending kindness and standing up for her, he comes of age. But, is there anything he can do that will alter Aida's situation or her prospects?

Carla Zachanassian had a child by Serge Miller as a teenager. When Serge refused to marry her, she was driven out of town. By her own wit and cunning, she has returned as a multi-millionaire for a visit. The town lays out the red carpet expecting big things from Carla, only to learn that her sole purpose is to see Serge Miller killed...

Two jerks are enlisted in the Italian army during W.W.1 and by pure luck manage to help win an important battle.

Secluding herself in an island mansion in the Mediterranean with her servants and nurses, the wealthy Flora "Sissy" Goforth prepares for her impending death -- and she isn't the only one who's waiting. Known for his attraction to the dying rich, poet Chris Flanders ingratiates himself with the wilting Sissy. Although her friend explains Flanders' "Angel of Death" nature to her, Sissy embraces the vulture-like Flanders.

In the first episode, Quirino tries to conquer co-worker Gabriella. In the second episode, Prof. Beozi ends up in a raid of the police in a local for homosexuals when trying to avoid a scandal. In the third episode, Guglielmo passes all tests in order to become reader of the television news brilliantly, although the commission works with all subtleness's to exclude him.

Gerard, a young man from a "good family" dreams of becoming an actor. To do this, he follows everywhere his sister Frédérique who is infatuated with cinéma vérité.

Ignazio is married to a much younger girl, as she starts being attracted by a handsome young man. The new couple set up several plans to kill the cuckhold, but.. it always seems to work out for lucky Ignazio!

Rita, a vivacious co-ed flees her boarding school with her music teacher, who is also engaged to her. She wants to take part in a singing contest but her father who is dead against it has her kidnapped. He finally gives in when his wife threatens to sing in the contest herself.

Behind the facade of a fashionable Milanese home, headed by Arabella, lies an efficient ring of high prostitution.

Five Yugoslav women who consorted with the German occupiers are publicly humiliated and banished by the Yugoslav partisans but they take up arms to fend for themselves.

September the 8th 1943, Rome, day of the armistice. Danilo escapes the fascist enlist, while Michele succeeded to leave his administration moving from Rome. On the way to come back Rome the two meets Gino and all together will try to pass trough the Gothic Line.

Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore is an Italian staged filmmaking of the play of the same name, written by Luigi Pirandello about the relationship between authors, their characters and theater practitioners. The story follows six characters: Il Padre (Romolo Valli), la Figliastra (Rossella Falk), la Madre (Elsa Albani), Il Figlio (Piero Sammataro), la bambina (Patrizia Ponzelli) and Il giovinello(Paolo Figna) that invading a essay by a theater company looking for an author.

The death of a wealthy patriarch in 1885 sets off an interfamily power struggle. Son Ferdinando buys out his other relatives in order to gain full control over the dead man's property. But Ferdinando's nephew Amerigo holds out. Amerigo's stance is weakened when he heads for Florence and meets prostitute Bianca.

A young man hatches a plan to sleep with another man's infertile wife. Based on the play by Machiavelli.

Silvia is young, beautiful and rich. When her husband goes on a business trip, she starts working as a secretary for Margaret, a famous film star. Margaret appears to have no problems giving her what she wants and turns her into a sex slave- little by little, she subjects herself to increasingly serious humiliations in a masochistic relationship.

No synopsis available yet.

This film is very much a docudrama which portrays the difficulties of Italian life circa 1963 due to the absence of a divorce law. Five scenarios with different actors portray realistic situations where divorce is clearly warranted but, because marriage was strictly in the purview of the Catholic Church at that time, which strictly forbade divorce, these people are shown to suffer the consequences in their daily lives. Italy got its first civilian divorce law in 1970.

"In Search of Marcel Proust" is a 1962 literary documentary directed by the Italian poet Attilio Bertolucci. It serves as a biographical and critical journey into the world of Marcel Proust, blending readings from his masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time, with rare filmed testimonies from those who knew him personally, including his housekeeper Céleste Albaret and friends like Jean Cocteau and François Mauriac.

Florence, early 1960s. Bruno aspires to be hired at a prestigious factory, but his Communist ideals — instilled by Millo, a father figure and family friend in love with Bruno's widowed mother Ivana — are an obstacle. His relationship with Lori, a beautiful and tormented young woman who has just returned from Milan, reshapes his convictions. Freely adapted from a minor novel by Vasco Pratolini.

Milan, one winter in the early sixties. Valeria, a free young woman who usually goes from one man to another, falls in love with Giampiero. This time, this is a serious relationship to the point that she contemplates marriage. All the more since she gets pregnant.

The laboratory tests and complex work involved in constructing the dam in the Lei Valley are described in detail to give an idea of the complexity of building the Lei Rhine dam. Among double-curved arch dams, this one has the widest crest in the world. The construction of the dam is punctuated by the long speeches and anecdotes of an elderly master builder.

No synopsis available yet.

Italy, 1916. Oreste Jacovacci and Giovanni Busacca are called, as all the Italian youths, to serve the army in the WWI. They both try in every way to avoid serving the army.

Policarpo De Tappetti is a calligrapher who works under the orders of Don César Pancarano de Rondò. For many years, Policarpo has been seeking a promotion and a raise that never comes, and, it seems, will never come. One day, Jerónimo, the son of Don César, meets Celeste, the daughter of Policarpo, and falls in love with her. Policarpo sees in that relationship the solution to his aspirations at work, and does everything in his power to make this relationship fruitful. Don César, who presumes to be a count, sees with very bad eyes that his son meets a girl from such a different social position, and does just the opposite. But the efforts made by both parties will be of no use, since Celeste has fallen in love with Mario Marquetti, a "specialized mechanic" (typist) who is giving private lessons in the offices of the businessman Franquinet .