Luigi Zampa

Hospitals: The White Mafia

A famous surgeon earns enormous amounts of money by speculating on patients, although he is generally considered a great man and an excellent doctor. Only one of his colleagues rebels against the situation and tries to reveal the truth. But during a dramatic operation, the famous surgeon forces him to turn accomplice and the doctor must keep quiet. Not for long, however.

He Thief, She Thief

Cencio, a roman pilferer, periodically is in prison. He meets Cesira that soon become his partner in crime. With Cesira's help Cencio try the big hit to a jewelery. But the lucky break is over.

The City Stands Trial

Turn-of-the-century Naples. Salvatore Ruotolo and his wife are murdered and their bodies are found in different locations. Since the evidence points to a crime by the Neapolitan crime organization, the Camorra, fear and corruption cause serious hindrances to the investigation by police authorities. In charge is a young and courageous judge who, using evidence discovered by chance, tries to reconstruct the story of the double murder. The plot that the judge must unravel is very complicated.

Tigers in Lipstick

8 comic sketches set in Italy, with 4 of the most famous European sex symbols of the 70's playing 2 roles each.

A Matter of Honor

Efisio Mulas is a meek laborer who lives with occasional work, especially in Don Leandro Sanna's salon, and rounds up the slim balance by betting with colleagues in strength with the game "head against head". In the village the Sanna and Porcu families' conflict has lasted over a century.

Be Sick… It's Free

Comedy about the flawed Italian healthcare system of the time and a doctor's expeirence with it.

Roaring Years

In this satire inspired by Nikolai Gogol’s The Government Inspector (aka The Inspector General) and transported to fascist era Italy, the (supposed) incognito visit of a Roman fascist official to a tiny country town shakes deeply the ruling class and their lack of integrity.

Summer Frenzy

Five episodes: a mature model makes his lover jealous; lovers quarrel; a clumsy Don Juan in business; a dancer and a captain; a beauty falls in love with a Spanish cyclist. The characters in the episodes intertwine, but the stories are not always treated with a light touch.

The White Line

Following World War II, the Allies designate that an unidentified town in the Trieste area as being partly Yugoslavian and partly Italian. A white line of demarcation splits the town in half and the townspeople are given just a short time to decides on which side of the line they will live. This leads to the dividing of homes, friends, families and the church and tensions run high.

Let's Have a Riot

Episodes centering on different aspects of early-1970s Italian life, set in a television studio, a factory, a university, and a Catholic parish.

The Fiend

A low rank journalist at Tribuna Sera newspaper receives a letter one day. His correspondence contains a serial killer's letters, which he exploits.

A Girl in Australia

The film is about an old fashioned Italian with moral values of the 1930/40's , who has to find a wife in the modern, woman's liberated society of Australia of the 1960/70's.

Woman of Rome

During the fascist era, Adriana a beautiful young model, becomes a prostitute after a love affair gone wrong. She meets Mino, a partisan who falls in love with her and wants to redeem her.

The Traffic Policeman

An unemployed man gets a job as traffic policeman but the traffic in the big city creates innumerous problems for the poor guy.

Passionate song

Lucia Spinelli, orphaned by both parents, is taken as a housekeeper in the house of Mrs. Carla Parodi, when she reaches the age of majority, the young woman is almost forced to marry Mrs. Carla's brother. After the marriage and the birth of the first child, Parodi's intrusions on the life of the two spouses continue.

Angelina

A rowdy woman is so forceful that she outdoes her husband in a loud cry against speculators who refuse poor people entrance to a block of new apartments, built after WW2. Without noticing it, she starts a people's movement, and leads a march to the capital. She returns to her village a winner, an honourable MP. Yet, she is still the same simple, fiery woman, able to get in a hair-pulling brawl with the local barmaid for the affection of her man.

We, the Women

Five portraits of actresses in their "common" life, seen as women rather than movie stars.

The Love Specialist

A Texas girl wins a trip to Italy where she meets a prince who's afraid to admit that he's flat broke (so is she). They strike up an affair, but things come to a crazy conclusion when he tries to bribe a horse to win a race at the Palio racing grounds.

Campane a martello

Agostina is a maid turned prostitute during World War II. She sends all the money she makes to the local priest in her home village for safekeeping. After the war is over Agostina and her friend Australia plan to open a clothing store so they return to her home island to collect the money from the priest. But after arriving there Agostina learns in shock that the priest has been dead for more than a year and that his eccentric successor mistook the received money for donations and spent all of it on building a new orphanage for war orphans. To make matters even worse, other islanders think that Agostina is now a millionaire and beg her to help them financially.

The Flower in His Mouth

A female school teacher is implicated in a murder in a Sicilian town only hours after her arrival. The dead man insulted her on the bus on the way into town. As the mystery unfolds, it becomes clear that the town is hiding some very sinister secrets.

Difficult Years

Aldo Piscitello, a minor government clerk, is forced in 1934 to join the Fascist party. When the war comes, he finds himself able only to talk ineffectually in secret against Mussolini, even as his own son Giovanni is sent into battle. By the end of the war, Aldo has found the courage to stand up for his beliefs, but by then it is too late.

To Live in Peace

An American prisoner, hidden by some Umbrian farmers, meets, drunk, with a German soldier who is also drunk. The two believe that the war is over and embrace each other emotionally. But it is not so and soon the cannon will thunder. Uncle Tigna, who was hiding the prisoner and two of his companions, will fall victim to the Nazis.

The Magistrate

Emilia Bonelli is an overly ambitious and driven woman. This dominant personality trait has its effects on her henpecked husband Luigi, and her daughter Carla. Circumstances ultimately lead to the courtroom and an aloof judge in the persona of Andrea Morandi.

Of Life and Love

A film made up of four episodes: a jar repairer gets trapped in a vat because of his hunch; a young unmarried mother is forced to beg to buy herself a fan; Rosario Chiarchiaro appears before a law court for casting spells; the discomfort of an overtight jacket gives a wedding witness the strength to persuade the bridegroom's reluctant parents to bless his union.