Combining the immediacy of Italian neorealism with potent criticism of post-war Italian society, Mamma Roma is one of Pier Paolo Pasolini's most accessible and satisfying films. This was only his second feature, but Pasolini (who was mysteriously murdered in 1975) was already demonstrating a powerful affinity for cinema as a forum for his anti-Fascist ideology. To express his outrage at the spiritual vacancy of vulgar consumerism, Pasolini cast the great Anna Magnani in the title role, a former prostitute struggling to transcend her sordid past in a desperate attempt to give her estranged teenage son the better life she never had. In Pasolini's worldview, Mamma's petit bourgeois idealism can only be doomed, and the film assumes the melodramatic thrust of tragic opera. Like... Learn More
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I wonder how Magnani won the Oscar when so much of her dialogue has been redubbed? Half the time it's her real voice, the rest of the time I guess she spoke so harshly test audiences couldn't understand her, probably Marni Nixon took over. Tennessee Williams wanted to tell the story of how love, once betrayed, can bloom again like a phoennix shot down in flames, if the right man comes along with his hair smelling like roses. I agree with this so watching this movie was like preaching to the converted. Magnani is out of this world, though she looks appalled throughout, as though this was her first glimpse of America and she didn't like what she was seeing, and Burt Lancaster, well, he certainly showed none of the finesse of THE LEOPARD in this role. And yet they say Visconti picked... More Info About This DVD Actor(s): Anna Magnani - Burt Lancaster Director(s): Daniel Mann DVD Release Date: Released the 21 September 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Combining the immediacy of Italian neorealism with potent criticism of post-war Italian society, Mamma Roma is one of Pier Paolo Pasolini's most accessible and satisfying films. This was only his second feature, but Pasolini (who was mysteriously murdered in 1975) was already demonstrating a powerful affinity for cinema as a forum for his anti-Fascist ideology. To express his outrage at the spiritual vacancy of vulgar consumerism, Pasolini cast the great Anna Magnani in the title role, a former prostitute struggling to transcend her sordid past in a desperate attempt to give her estranged teenage son the better life she never had. In Pasolini's worldview, Mamma's petit bourgeois idealism can only be doomed, and the film assumes the melodramatic thrust of tragic opera. Like... More Info About This DVD Actor(s): Anna Magnani - Ettore Garofolo - Franco Citti - Silvana Corsini Director(s): Pier Paolo Pasolini DVD Release Date: Released the 22 June 2004 Usually ships within 24 hours
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It is almost a quarter of a century since Maria Callas died. But the years have done little to diminish interest in this most iconic of divas. The debate surrounding the real quality of that voice continues to be fanned by her devotees and detractors, intermittently reaching fever pitch with the arrival of another biography or the commercial release of a newly discovered live recording. Tony Palmer's 1987 film portrait, now available on DVD, towers over the bulk of contributions to the Callas industry because it manages to be both passionate about its subject and objective about the forces that shaped a great musical talent and then left it in ruins.
Lengthy interviews with colleagues and confidants embrace both Callas's undoubted theatrical genius and the emotional traumas... More Info About This DVD Actor(s): Maria Callas Director(s): Tony Palmer - Anna Magnani DVD Release Date: Released the 15 August 2000 THIS TITLE IS CURRENTLY NOT AVAILABLE. If you would like to purchase this title, we recommend that you occasionally check this page to see if it has become available.
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The Allies had barely driven the Nazis out of Rome when Roberto Rosselini went to work on Open City, considered by most to be his greatest work. Shot on bits and short ends of scavenged film, this film helped define Italian neorealism. Audiences were convinced that the actors were all amateurs (they weren't) and the whole film was improvised (it wasn't; the three screenwriters included Federico Fellini). With its semidocumentary camera style and use of actual locations, the film does feel very real. Of course, so does the opening half-hour of Saving Private Ryan, and like that film Open City is at its heart a classic war yarn any Hollywood studio would feel at home with. The story involves members of the Italian underground trying to smuggle badly needed cash out... More Info About This DVD Actor(s): Aldo Fabrizi - Anna Magnani Director(s): Roberto Rossellini DVD Release Date: Released the 29 October 1997 Usually ships in 24 hours
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