Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site
Main
Page This family-friendly site celebrates Italian culture for the enjoyment of children and
adults. Site-Overview
At YouTube.com, you can view clips
of many of the films mentioned here.
Watch Italian films with a live stream from a Italian
TV channels. Recent
Internationally Released Films Inside Film's list of
all of Italy's many, many film festivals 'La meglio gioventł' was made for Italian television (a 6 hour
mini-series) but was so accomplished and acclaimed that it is being
released around the world as two 3-hour films, that you can view on one
day or split over different days. Anna Magnani, the passionate and talented actress,
first known outside of Italy in her starring role in 'Roma, citta'
aperta' (Open City) in 1945, directed by Roberto Rossellini. Two images of Nino Manfredi in one of my favorite
Italian films 'Pane e cioccolato' (Bread and Chocolate) from 1973. You
can get it from Amazon.com. Nino Manfredi
received a career recognition award, the 'Prix Bianchi', at the 2003
Venice Film Festival, accepted by his family due to his poor health, he
passed away not long after. DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese on the set of The
Gangs of New York Cover of Isabella Rossellini's Autobiography
Giovanni Wayne, as he was often called when I first
arrived in Italy in the 1980s. Later Italians stopped Italianizing
the actors names, unless of course they were Italian-American
actors. You can still hear Silvestro Stallone and Roberto DeNiro,
for example.
John Wayne and Robert Mitchum, who had different actors dubbing
them in this film. But often the
same Italian actor would dub a similar sort of Hollywood actor.
For example, you'll hear the same voice for John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart
in their movies on Italian TV. And the wonderful
Marcello Mastroianni. A natural actor, without all the
mannerisms of the American method acting style. When asked how he
prepared for a part, he said he just made sure he understood the
emotions his character was feeling, and tried to portray them as
honestly as possible. Performances that touch the viewer,
without all the distracting tics.
I've put together a page describing some of the top Italian films
that are enjoying international release at this time (these are a
bit dated now, but the films are still wonderful on DVD). I provide synopses and links to reviews (at Rotten Tomatoes)
and film details (at the IMDB) so you can see if you want
to make an effort to catch them when they are released near you.
Just click here
or on the film poster to the left for La meglio gioventł. Many films are set in Italy, even non-Italian
films. If you'd like to see a list of them, and even buy
some via Amazon.com, the InItaly site offers just that
opportunity. Click here
or on the film director, to the right, to open
their page from which you can select a region of Italy (yes, there are
that many films!), or a director or actor. You can try the ItaliaMia
film page, too, to purchase films but also for lots of information on
Italian directors, actors, writers, film festivals and
associations. Click on the logo below to go to their main site
page, and on the link above to go directly to the cinema page. Italian film has a long and illustrious history, and if
you click here
or on the cup of coffee, to the right, you can read a decent
overview of that history. Not all the links on site are active
yet, but there's enough about the film eras, stars and directors, to get the
picture. The site is all text; a bit dry. A cup of coffee
might be a good idea before linking through. Plenty of international stars have made films in Italy over the
years, many affiliated with Cinecittą.
The studio maintains an informative website but it is all in Italian. It links to many other Italian film sites, again all in
Italian. Click here
or on the popcorn, to the right, to view an excellent
film links site open to the page on European Cinema. The actress Kathleen Turner is one of the international stars who's made a film in Italy, and
she swore she would never make another there
again because it had been such a horrible experience!
Unfortunately, she swore this to an Italian interviewer who then called
her "a big fat American cow" in his article (in Italian, of
course). The latest famous
fan of the Roman studios is Martin Scorsese who filmed The Gangs of
New York entirely on their soundstages. The only
complaint he had was the excellent Italian food was making his star, Leonardo
DiCaprio, too fat! Speaking of Martin Scorsese and food...it seems that one of the
reasons Isabella Rossellini divorced him was, according to her, he
wanted her constantly in the kitchen cooking for he and his
friends. So it's not just DiCaprio who's a fan of Italian
cooking! If you're married to Ms. Rossellini and the kitchen is the only
place you want her to be, you must be a fanatical mangiatore, e non
di donne! Today, Italian cinematographers have successfully carved a niche in
the made-for-television film market. Apparently they own the
rights to the Bible, or so it would seem, and have filmed the entire
book, or so they claim!
The famous Italian
director of comedies, Mario Monicelli, explained to a Canadian reporter
why Italian films are mostly dubbed.
He said the first reason was
because most Italian films are made on location rather than on
soundstages. The microphones pick up too much of the chaotic
Italian street noises to use live sound recording on location.
The
second reason he gave had to do with the many regional accents and
dialects in Italy. A director has to cast for the right look, and
the right accent. Because he rarely finds an actor who is right on
both counts, he chooses to cast for look, and dub the actor with the
right accent later.
Another reason is the common casting of
European stars in Italian films who don't always speak Italian very
well. They don't want to sound anything but perfect, so they get
dubbed by someone who sounds just like them if they could actually speak
Italian well. This last reason is actually the philosophy that
was used in the past to dub Hollywood films. I'll never forget the
first time I saw a John Wayne film dubbed into Italian. I was sure
John Wayne was speaking Italian! I really had to pinch myself to
come to my senses and realize that it was an Italian actor impersonating
John Wayne's style of speech, cadence and all, while speaking perfect
Italian! "Andiamo al 'corrallo', ragazzi!", he said as
he sauntered off into the sunset, with me watching with my mouth open in
amazement. If you'd like to see what Amazon.com has on offer for Mr.
Manfredi or Ms. Magnani, or any other actors, directors...you can search
here. Just enter 'DVD' (or VHS) in the 'Search' field, then 'Anna
Magnani' for example in the 'Keywords' field. Then click on the
'Go' button to get a list of DVDs with comments and prices. Here are a few direct links to some fine films.
Check out
my page
dedicated to the Italian actor Terence
Hill. From there you can link to his Official Website in
Italy. I've a story about running into Italian actor Francesco
Nuti. I learned a valuable lesson about fame.
And click here for a grappa, Anthony
LaPaglia, Betsy's Wedding story.
Visit my Thrillers Set in Italy
page Visit my Top Italian Writers
Today page
Italian
Cinema, History, Recent Films, Dubbing...
Recent Internationally Released
Italian Films
Italian Films and
Films Set in Italy
Italian Film History
Scorsese and His Critic
Filming the Bible
Dubbing
Films
at Amazon.com
