Germana Paolieri

Italian filmmaker Carmine Gallone was still in his "operetta" mode when he helmed 1938's Il Sogno di Butterfly (Dream of the Butterfly) Maria Cebotari plays opera diva Rosa Belloni, currently starring in a production of Puccini's Madama Butterfly. The plot thickens when Rosa's backstage life begins to mirror the travails of the character she is portraying. The climax comes when Harry Peters (Fosco Giachetti), the American father of Rosa's illegitimate child, returns after four years with his new wife in tow, leading inexorably to a doleful ending both on- and offstage. Critics complained about the substandard photography in Il Sogno di Butterfly, but this might have been due to poor laboratory work.

The great Italian opera composer recalls his eventful life on his deathbed: his childhood in Busseto, his studies in Milan, his first opera "Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio", the death of his wife and his children killed by smallpox.

Lawyer Federico Fendi has reasons to suspect that his fashion model wife Carla is secretly one of Rome's highest paid call-girls.

Villa Borghese, Rome's biggest urban park, is the place where everyday laughs and dramas are consumed. The movie is made of six vignettes set there.

An acid portrait of Italian youth at the time, I DELFINI follows a dreary season of discontent and viciousness in the lives of a thoroughly unpleasant group of mostly rich youngsters in a small Adriatic coast city.

A man and a woman struggle to stifle their love for each other, even after he moves away to travel the world and she marries a suitor.

An Italian government agent is assigned to break up a drug smuggling ring on the island of Ischia but his daughter is kidnapped by the gang.

Successful WWI pilot Luciano Serra has problems adjusting to an ordinary life in peace, so he leaves his family and becomes a pilot in America. In the 30s, his son in Italy wants also to become a pilot, and Luciano accepts an offer of a double dealing agent for a flight from Rio to Rome, but his plane crashes in the Atlantic. For the world Luciano Serra is missing, but he has entered the Italian army under a new name to fight in Ethiopia. The train in which his unit travels is attacked by Ethiopian soldiers, his son flying a reconasaince mission is shot down and wounded by the same attacking enemies. Will Luciano be able to fly the plane back, to get close air support for the outnumbered Italian troups?

Cottafavi's adaptation of the Greek tragedy for RAI.

In a sea port, where he has landed after a long voyage, a sailor meets a girl. To overcome her reluctance, he gives up on leaving again and works as a barker in a fair booth where she works and takes her with him.

Luisa Galli moves to Rome in search of a respectable job, but instead just finds a job as a waitress for the lawyer Giorgi.

"Black Crossing" - In an Oriental port a group of people embarks a trader designated for Europe. One of them, a shady individual, entrusts the captain with a box of valuables to be kept until the end of the journey.

For the past few weeks, revolt has been brewing in the Kingdom of Naples. The handsome Castelli is at the head of the conspiracy that wants to put an end to the reign of King Murat. To carry out his plan, he decides to infiltrate the court in order to become an intimate of the king. But his ploy works too well: he manages to enter the court thanks to his talents as a singer and very quickly seduces Queen Geneviève. But this imprudence costs him a lot. He is soon arrested by the king's men and immediately condemned to death.

The story takes plays during the annual Good Friday pageant in a tiny Italian village. Local priest Don Vincenzo faces a crisis when the girl selected to play the Virgin Mary shows up pregnant.

A film directed by Luigi Latini de Marchi

Lorenzino de 'Medici manipulates Alessandro ruler of Florence to save his beloved Bianca.

A widow is unjustly imprisoned for theft and her daughter is sent to live with her grandmother.

Old fashioned opera adaptation: A feisty and free spirited woman of the Tyrol withdraws to a mountain peak when she is separated from the man she loves. When he later attempts to rejoin her, disaster results.

Ten episodes, one for each of the Ten Commandments. Lost film.