ITALY
FOUNDATION OF A ROMAN REPUBLIC
X Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire -- film starts with the foundation of Rome and goes to its collapse
Orazi e Curiazi (Duel of the Champions) (1961) -- Roman leader (673-642 BC) challenges forces of Alba Longa
Hero of Rome (1964) – the exile Tarquin, the last tyrant of Rome, 509 BC, tries to get back in power
X Coriolanus: Hero without a Country (1964) – Coriolanus, Roman general at siege of the Volscian city of Corioli, 493 BC
Hannibal (1959) -- the great Carthaginian general in the Second Punic War (Carthage vs. Rome), 218-201 BC
X Hannibal: Rome's Worst Nightmare -- Hannibal marched 40,000 soldiers and 37 elephants 1,500 miles to fight the Romans
Cabiria (1914) -- a young girl's odyssey at the time of Hannibal in the Second Punic War (218-201 BC) -- focus on n. African front
X Siege of Syracuse (1960) – Roman siege (214-212 BC) in Second Punic War
X Scipione l'africano (Scipio Africanus: The Defeat of Hannibal) (1937) -- Roman general defeats Hannibal ($30)
X Scipione detto anche l'africano (Scipio the African) (1971) -- ancient Roman warrior Scipio Africanus ($60)
Cartagine in fiamme (Carthage in Flames) (1960) -- Rome vs. Carthage during Third Punic War, 149-146 B.C.
The Centurion (Conqueror of Corinth) (1961) – Battle of Corinth (146 BC)
Spartacus and the Slave Revolt:
Spartacus (1960) -- slave revolt in 71 B.C.; with Kirk Douglas
X Spartacus (2004) -- TV mini-series
Spartaco (or Sins of Rome) (1953) -- Italian version of Spartacus
Gli invincibili dieci gladiatori (Spartacus and the Ten Gladiators) (1964) – story of Spartacus
FOUNDATION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE Back to Chapter III Back to Contents
Julius Caesar:
Julius Caesar (2002) -- solid telling in this mini-series of the Caesar tale; Jeremy Sisto as Julius Caesar & Samuela Sardo as Cleopatra
X Julius Caesar (1984) -- Janet Baker as Caesar; Valerie Masterson as Cleopatra; made for TV
X Julius Caesar (1970) -- Charlton Heston as Caesar; no Cleopatra
X Julius Caesar (1953) -- Shakespeare's play with Marlon Brando as Julius Caesar (48-44 B.C.); no Cleopatra
Giulio Cesare, il conquistatore delle Gallie (Caesar the Conqueror) (1962) -- Caesar conquers Gaul; with Cameron Mitchell as Caesar
Vercingétorix (Druids) (2001) -- story of the battle of the Gauls against the tyranny of Rome; Klaus Maria Brandauer as Caesar
X Die Verschwörung (1969) – Caesar and assassination; made for German TV
X Rome (2005) -- Julius Caesar & Company; Ciarán Hinds as Caesar & Lyndsey Marshal as Cleopatra
Cleopatra:
Cleopatra (1999) -- with Leonor Varela
Cleopatra (1963) -- with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton
Cleopatra (1934) -- love affairs with Caesar (to 44 BC) and Mark Antony (second triumvirate, 43-27 BC) (with Claudette Colbert)
Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) -- British film with Vivian Leigh as Cleopatra
X Antony and Cleopatra (1974) -- Janet Suzman as Cleopatra
X Antony and Cleopatra (1972) -- with Hildegard Neil
X Antony and Cleopatra (1983) -- Shakespeare version ; Lynn Redgrave as Cleopatra
X The Cleopatras (1983) – miniseries of the Ptolemaic dynasty (305-30 BCE) in Egypt
Il sepolcro dei re (Cleopatra's Daughter) (1960) – total fiction
Rome after Caesar:
Imperium: Augustus (2003) -- the great emperor of Rome, 27 B.C. to 14 A.D.
Empire (2005) -- rise of Octavius (the future Emperor Augustus of the Roman Empire)
X Massacre in the Black Forest (1967) – Germanic Cheruski ambushes and annihilates three Roman legions in 9 AD
X Caligula (1980) -- 37 to 42 A.D., very wicked emperor of Rome after Tiberius, 14-37 AD
X Caligola: La storia mai raccontata (Caligula: The Untold Story) (1982) – with lots of hardcore sex
I, Claudius (1976) -- handicapped emperor of Rome after Caligula, 42 to 54 AD
Messalina Venere imperatrice (Messalina Imperial Beauty) (1960) -- incredibly ambitious wife of Claudius who will do anything to get power for herself
Centurion (2010) -- devastation of the 9th Legion of Rome by the Picts in modern Scotland
Imperium: Nerone (Nero) (2004) -- 54-68 A.D., emperor of Rome after Caligula
Titus (1999) – Shakespeare story of "extraordinary human violence" after Roman general Titus Andronicus returns from his war on the northern Goths (note this is not the Roman Emperor Titus who ruled 79 to 81 A..D. )
X Dacii (1967) – King Decebalus of Dacia fought three wars without being eliminated against Rome under two emperors, but Rome in 105 seeks revenge
Pompeii:
X Last Days of Pompeii (1984) -- Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. and covered (thereby preserving) the Roman village of Pompeii
X Ultimi giorni di Pompei, Gli (Last Days of Pompeii) (1960) -- volcanic eruption (under emperors Vespasian 69-79 & Titus, 79-81 AD)
X The Last Days of Pompeii (1935) -- Mt. Vesuvius erupted 79A.D.
X Anno 79: La distruzione di Ercolano (The Destruction of Herculaneum) (1962) – intrigues in the court of Roman Emperor Titus Flavius
FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (180-476)
Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)-- Sophia Loren; troubles under Emperor Commodus (who ruled from 180 to 192)
X Nel Segno di Roma (Sign of the Gladiator) (1959) -- Queen of Palmyra, Zenobia, revolts against Rome & is captured (under Emperor Aurelian, 270-275) (currently unavailable)
Constantine and the Cross (1962) -- early 4th c. A.D. emperor battling Romans
Ágora (2009)-- Davus, a slave of the philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria, falls in love with her; she was killed in 415 by a Christian mob involved in anti-Jewish antics
X Agostino d'Ippona (Augustine of Hippo) (1972) Italian -- story of St. Augustine (354-430)
Attila (2001) -- the famous barbarian (died 453)
Attila (1954) -- with Sophia Loren
X Sign of the Pagan (1954) Attila the Hun threatening Rome (currently unavailable)
Der Name der Rose (The Name of the Rose) (1986) -- 1327, not a true story, but a good depiction of monastery life of the time; set in Italy
RENAISSANCE
House of Habsburg (1437-1657)
Maximilian I (1483-1519)
Borgias:
Lucrezia Borgia (1935) -- good story of the many political marriages of Lucrezia Borgia used by her family as a political pawn
Prince of Foxes (1949) -- Cesare Borgia (1475-1507) plays politics with who his sister will marry
X Bride of Vengeance (1949) -- Cesare Borgia
Lucrezica Borgia (1953) – Lucrezia Borgia (1480-1519) born near Rome
X Il Duca Nero (The Black Duke) (1963) -- Cesare Borgia starring Cameron Mitchell ($32)
X The Borgias (1981) -- BBC miniseries
X Las noches secretas de Lucrezia Borgia (Secret Nights) (1982) -- don't bother; it's more about sex than anything else
X Le notti di Lucrezia Borgia (The Nights of Lucretia Borgia) (1959) --
Los Borgia (The Borgias) (2006) -- Spanish film with English subtitles about the Borgia family
X The Borgias (2011) -- Showtime miniseries
Charles V, Holy Roman Empire (1530-1556)
X Il Diavolo nero (The Black Devil) (1957) -- as Carlos I of Spain (1516-1556) and as Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire (1519-1556) the monarch tries to occupy all of Italy with the help of traitors
The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965) -- Michelangelo (1475-1564) fights with Pope Julius II; based on Irving Stone novel
X Titan -- Story of Michelangelo (1950)
X Il mestiere delle armi (The Profession of Arms) (2001) – first victim of modern artillery Captain Giovanni De' Medici, who fought in the war of Charles V against the Pope, first half of 1500s -- (not available)
Rudolph II (1575-1612)
Caravaggio (2007) -- Italian Renaissance painter 1593-1610; proto-Baroque style
X Caravaggio (1986) -- gay Derek Jarman's fictionalized version of the life of Caravaggio
Artemisia (1997) -- Artemisia Gentileschi was one of the most accomplished early Baroque painters in the generation; influenced by Caravaggio
Dangerous Beauty -- a courtesan (Catherine McCormack) becomes the most desired woman in 16th century Venice, but faces criticism, humiliation and the Holy Inquisition
X Galilée ou L'amour de Dieu (2005) – Galilée and the Inquisition
Galileo (1975) -- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
Galileo Galilei (1969) -- Italian film
X Pietro Micca (1938) -- soldier becomes national hero in the defense of Turin (1706) against French troops during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714)
X Casanova (2005) -- yes, even Casanova got dumped; 18th century
X Adventures of Casanova (1948) --
X Les aventures de Casanova (Loves of Casanova) (1947) --
X Fellini's Casanova (1976) -- not for historians; erotic adventure
CATHOLIC COUNTER REFORMATION Back to Chapter V Back to Contents
X Il Mestiere delle Armi (Profession of Arms) (2000) -- Giovanni de Medici, captain in Charles V's war against the pope & fought the Protestant Reformation
X The Cardinal (1936) -- Cardinal de Medici
X Catherine de Médici (1989) -- French movie about Catherine (1519-1589) who was queen consort of King Henry II of France from 1547 to 1559
ITALY (1789-1867)
X Die Marquise von O (The Marguise of O) -- in French-controlled Italy, in 1799 Russian General Souvorov invades Italy to kick the French out; he captures and then rapes the widow of the Marquis of O and she becomes pregnant
Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy (1805–1814)
Napoleon I (1805-1814)
X Fuoco su di me (Fire at my Heart) (2006) – story of young soldier of the Napoleonic army in 1815 in Napoli after the era of Gioacchino Murat, King of the Two Sicilies (1808 to 1815) (no English subtitles)
Ferdinando e Carolina (Ferdinando and Carolina) (1999) -- King Ferdinando I of Naples (reign 1816-1825) weds Mary Caroline of Austria, daughter of Empress Mary Theresa, in a political marriage
X L'ultima carica (1964) – set in 1820s war of independence in southern Italy
Wars of Italian Independence --three wars between Italian states and Austrian Empire 1848-1866 ending with conquest of entire Italian peninsula
X Viva l'Italia! (1961) -- about Giuseppe Garibaldi of Italian unification fame (director is Rossillini)
In nome del papa re (In the Name of the Pope King) (1977) – in 1867 the papal court fights to prevent Garibaldi's forces from taking power and bringing Rome into the Italian kingdom
X Noi credevamo (2010) -- Italy's battle for unification in the 19th century (no English options)
X In nome del popolo sovrano (In the Name of the Sovereign People) (1990) – 1849, Ciceruacchio declares Independent Republic of Rome, but French & Austrians try to block it by bringing back the Pope to Rome
X Bronte: cronaca di un massacro che i libri di storia non hanno raccontato (Liberty) (1972) — Italian War of Independence
X I vicer (2007) – 19th century Italian wars
X Ovod (The Gadfly) (1955) -- Russian film about 1800s Italy ($30)
X 'O re (The King of Naples) (1989) – 1860 overthrow of Francesco, the King of Naples and the two Sicilies; the deposed king and queen adapt to their new lives
Senso (1954) -- Venice, Italy 1866, obsessive love story set against Austrian military occupation and its overthrow
Italy:
X The Organizer (1963) -- labor strike in Italy at turn of the 20th century against a 14-hour work day
ITALY: BEFORE WWI
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
Victor Emmanuel II (1861-1878)
X Correva l'anno di grazia 1870 (aka 1870) (1971) – 1870 Italy
Umberto I (1878–1900)
Leopard (1936) -- Sicily after Italian unification
Victor Emmanuel III (1900–1946)
1900 (1976) -- the rise of the Black Shirts
Time of Indifference (1964) -- moral & social decay in 1920s Italy
RISE OF MUSSOLINI
Victor Emmanuel III (1900–1946)
1900 (1976) -- the Italian Communist Party and the rise of the Black Shirts
Tea with Mussolini (1999) -- English women stay in Florence up to and during World War II
Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1971) -- Italian concurrence with the Final Solution
X La Vita P bella (It's a Beautiful Life) (1997) -- father and son thrown in a concentration camp and dad tries to pretend it's a game to protect his son from the terror there
Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979) Italian -- writer Carlo Levi's exile from Mussolini in the Basilicata region of southern Italy
Lion of the Desert (1981) -- Omar Mukhtar, guerilla leader stymies Italian forays into Libya, 1911- 1931
X Giarabub (1942) – Italian propaganda movie about Italian forces in a critical situation in Libyan desert
Sanquepazzo (Wild Blood) (2008) -- acting couple Valenti and Ferida still act during fascist regime in Italy
Il Federale (The Fascist) (1961) -- an Italian fascist has to capture an anti-Mussolini professor; the fascists gets his man, but they have a series of mishaps getting back
X Sicilia! Sicilia! (Baarìa) (2009) -- a young man grows up noticing the injustices of living under the thumb of the local tycoon; he joins the Communist party and we see history through his eyes
X Paolmbella rossa (Red Wood Pigeon) -- star player of the water polo team has a problem with amnesia and goes through over 20 years of Italian communist party history while trying to remember who he is
X D'Annunzio (D'Annunzio and I) (1985) -- Gabriele d'Annunzio (1863-1938) was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist and dramatist who had a controversial role in Italian politics
X Una giornata particolare (A Special day) (1977) -- love story set around the first meeting of Hitler and Mussolini
World War II
Allied Invasion of Italy.
Anzio (1968) -- French-Italian-Spanish movie dealing with the beach landing, January to May, 1944
Darby's Rangers (1958) -- assault troops in N. Africa & Italy
X Bold and the Brave (1956) -- WWII soldiers fighting in Italy ($31)
La Ciociara (Two Women ) (1960) -- an Italian woman and her daughter try to escape the daily air raids in Rome by heading into the countryside
A Walk in the Sun (1945) -- story of one platoon of Americans fighting in Salerno
The Scarlet and the Black (1983) -- Vatican priest hides downed Allied pilots and coordinates with the Italian Resistance
Gli Sbandati (The Disbanded) (1955) -- a mama's boy has great difficulties in breaking away from his mother so he can love a refugee girl around the time of the Italian armistice with the Allies in WWII
Il partigiano Johnny (Johnny the Partisan) (2000) -- Germans occupy Italy after September 8, 1943, Italian soldiers head to the hills to set up a resistance movement
Rappresaglia (Massacre in Rome) (1973) -- massacre of Italian citizens (especially Jews) after the partisans attack a German SS company
X Hotel Meina (2007) – first Italian Nazi massacre of Jews occurs following the armistice of the 8th of September 1943 where Italy went over to the Allies
X Baciami piccina (Three on the Road) (2006) – Sept 1943 carabiniere Umberto escorts prisoner to Venice. His fiancée follows him; train breaks down; have to go on; armistice with Allies is signed & everything changes
X Il sole di Montecassino (Fear of Evil; St. Benedict) (1945) – Battle for Monte Cassino, 1944; built by Saint Benedict around 529
X Dieci italiani per un tedesco (Ten Italians for One German) (Via Rasella) (1962) – vicious reprisal ordered by Austrian Colonel Kappler in 1944 Rome
X Il generale della Rovere (General della Rovere) (1959) -- in Milan, Italy a German Nazi goes undercover in a prison to find out who among the prisoners are the Italian resistance fighters
Russian Front:
Italiani brava gente (Attack and Retreat) (1999) -- 1942, Italian army up against the Russians at the Battle of the Don during the Stalingrad counteroffensive
X L'Uomo della Croce (Man with a Cross) (1943) -- Catholic chaplain with Italian expeditionary forces on the Eastern Front
Italy's Last Days of Fascism.
Sal o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (The Last 120 Days of Sodom) (1975) -- Marquis de Sade's model applies to 1944 Fascist Italy
Mussolini: The Decline and Fall of Il Duce (1985) (a.k.a, Mussolini and I)
Benito: The Rise and Fall of Mussolini (1993) -- Mussolini in his early opportunistic career as a socialist
Last Days of Mussolini (1977) -- ad-hoc execution of Mussolini
Mussolini: The Untold Story (1985) -- based on the memories of Vittorio Mussolini, the oldest son of the Italian dictator
X Miracle at St Anna (2008) -- four African-Americans fighting in the Tuscany region, get trapped in a village, fall of 1944
Paisan (1946) -- a heart-breaking look at the last days of the war
The Night of the Shooting Stars (1982) -- last days of WWII for one town in Italy
Roma, cittB aperta (Open City) (1945) -- the Italian resistance against German occupation
Vincere (Win) (2009) – Mussolini’s mistress Ida Dalser and their son Albino
X Porzus (1997) -- communist unit in Friuli, Italy kills a group of non-communist partisans to prepare Italy for a communist future
X Texas 46 (2002) --- story around the 50,000 Italian POWs in the USA
Post-War Italy
Victor Emmanuel III (1900–1946)
Umberto II (9 May 1946 - 12 June 1946) -- last King of Italy
Ladri di biciclette (Bicycle Thief) (1949) -- Italy's post-war depression
Umberto D. (1955) -- poor treatment of elderly in post-war depression
X Shoeshine (1946) -- miserable lives of street children surviving by shining the boots of American GIs
X Il sangue dei vinti (Blood of the Losers) (2008) – following WWII, an Italian family fractures
Miracolo a Milano (Miracle in Milan) (1951) -- a fantasy concerning the post-World War II poor in Italy
X La Dolce Vita (1961) -- disillusionment and decadence after Fascism and War
Mama Roma (1962) -- the continuing negative effects of poverty on a mother trying to improve her life for herself and her son
La Meglio gioventu (The Best of Youth) (2003) -- two brothers live through the period 1966-2000
X Il divo (The Deity) (2008) – Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, 1972-1973, 1976-1979, 1989 to 1992
Buongiorno, notte (Good Morning, Night) (2003) -- 1978, Red Brigade kidnaps Prime Minister Moro
X Guido che sfido le Brigate Rosse (2007) – in 1979 Italy, trade unionist Guido Rossa, killed by a member of the Red Brigades (Italian language only)
X Il caso Moro (The Moro Affair) (1986) — Red Brigade kidnaps the Chief of the Christian Democratic Party
Excellent Cadavers (1999) -- battle waged against the Sicilian Mafia during the late 1980's and early 1990's
Salvatore Giuliano (1962) -- young Mafia leader recruited by Sicilian separatist politicians is gunned down close to declaration of Sicily's self-rule
La Prima Linea (The Front Line) (2009) -- story of Italian extreme left-wing terrorist group with leaders of the nature of a Marxist Bonnie and Clyde
X Ecce bombo (Behold the Man) -- black humor spoofs the then current wave of terrorism and bombings in Italy
X Il grande sogno (The Big Dream) -- Italy, 1968; a policemen, who wants to be an actor, is a mole among the student radicals when he falls in love with the radical Laura who likes him and a fellow student radical
X Five Moons Square (Five Moons Plaza) (2003) -- judge gets an old 8mm film in the mail of the kidnapping of the President of the Italian Christian Democratic party, Aldo Moro, March 16, 1978
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