ITALY
ROMAN EMPIRE TO EARLY CHRISTIANITY
Orazi e Curiazi (Duel of Champions) (1961) -- Roman leader challenges forces of Alba Longa
Hannibal (1960) -- Second Punic War (Carthage vs. Rome)
Carthage in Flames (1959) Rome-Carthage War of 2nd c. B.C. during Third Punic War
Scipio Africanus: The Defeat of Hannibal (1939) -- Roman general defeats Hannibal
Cabiria (1910) -- a young girl's odyssey through ancient Rome at the time of Hannibal
Spartacus (1960) -- slave revolt in 71 B.C.
Sins of Rome (1954) -- Spartacus
Julius Caesar (1953) -- Shakespeare's play with Marlon Brando
Julius Caesar (1970) -- Charlton Heston
Rome (2005) -- Julius Caesar & Company
Cleopatra (1934) -- love affairs with Caesar and Mark Antony
Cleopatra (1963)
Cleopatra (1999) -- Leonor Varela
Caesar and Cleopatra (1946) British film
Antony and Cleopatra (1973)
Caligula (1980) -- 37 to 42 A.D., very bad emperor of Rome, after Tiberius
I, Claudius (1976) -- 42 to 54 A.D., handicapped emperor of Rome after Caligula
Quo Vadis (1951) -- Christian persecution under Emperor Nero
Sign of the Cross (1932) -- Rome under Emperor Nero; Christians seek religious freedom
Ben-Hur (1959) -- Charlton Heston
Sign of the Gladiator (1959)
Gladiator (2000)
Masada (1981) -- 70 A.D. Jewish Revolt against Roman rule
Last Days of Pompeii (1984) -- Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. and covered (thereby preserving) the Roman village of Pompeii
Ultimi giorni di Pompei, Gli (Last Days of Pompeii) (1960)
The Last Days of Pompeii (1935) -- Mt. Vesuvius erupted 79A.D.
FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (180-476)
Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)-- Sophia Loren
Nel Segno di Roma (Sign of the Gladiator) (1959) -- Queen of Palmyra, Zenobia, revolts against Rome & is captured (under Emperor Aurelian - 270-275)
Constantine and the Cross (1962) -- 4th c. A.D. emperor battling Romans
Attila (2001) -- the famous barbarian (died 453)
Attila (1954) --
Sign of the Pagan (1954) Attila the Hun threatening Rome
Medieval Italy
The Flame and the Arrow (1950) -- 12 c. Lombardy under German overlord
Renaissance
The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965) -- Michelangelo (1475-1564) fights with Pope Julius II; based on Irving Stone novel
Titan -- Story of Michelangelo (1950)
Prince of Foxes (1949) -- Cesare Borgia (1475-1507) plays politics with who his sister will marry
Il Duca Nero (The Black Duke) (1963) -- Cesare Borgia
Bride of Vengeance (1948) -- Cesare Borgia
Caravaggio (1986) -- Italian Renaissance painter 1593-1610; proto-Baroque style
Artemisia (1997) -- Artemisia Gentileschi was one of the most accomplished early Baroque painters in the generation influenced by Caravaggio
Dangerous Beauty -- 16th c. Venice; with Catherine McCormack
Casanova (2005) -- yes, even Casanova got dumped; 18th century
Fellini's Casanova (1976) -- not for historians; erotic adventure
The Amorous Mis-Adventures of Casanova (AKA Casanova & Co.) (1979) -- not for historians; erotic comedy
Galileo (1975) -- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
Galileo Galilei (1969) Italian
ITALY (1855)
Senso (1968) -- Italy 1855, Austrian military occupation
ITALY: BEFORE WWI
Leopard (1936) -- Sicily after Italian unification
1900 (1976) -- the Italian Communist Party and the rise of the Black Shirts
RISE OF MUSSOLINI:
1900 (1976) -- the Italian Communist Party and the rise of the Black Shirts
Mussolini: The Decline and Fall of Il Duce (1985) (A.k.a, Mussolini and I)
Time of Indifference (1964) -- moral & social decay in 1920s Italy
Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1971) -- Italian concurrence with the Final Solution
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
El Alamein (2002) -- the battle that finally stops Rommel in North Africa seen through the eyes of an Italian unit, October- November, 1942
El Alamein (1968) -- Italian troops left behind by their German allies
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
Bold and the Brave (1956) -- WWII soldiers fighting in Italy
Italiani brava gente (Attack and Retreat) (1999) -- Italian army up against the Russians at the Battle of the Don during the Stalingrad counteroffensive
The Assisi Underground (1985) -- rescuing Italian Jews from the Nazis in 1943 Assisi
ITALY'S LAST DAYS OF FASCISM
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
Open City (1945) -- the Italian resistance against German occupation
Post-War Italy
Ladri di biciclette (Bicycle Thief) (1949) -- Italy's post-war depression
Umberto D. (1955) -- poor treatment of elderly in post-war depression
Miracle in Milan (1951) -- displaced European refugees
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
Excellent Cadavers (1999) -- battle waged against the Sicilian Mafia during the late 1980's and early 1990's