Suso Cecchi d'Amico

"I saw these movies. They had a powerful effect on me. You should see them." That's Martin Scorsese's message for this doc.

A man and his son search for a stolen bicycle vital for his job (imdb)

The Prince of Salina, a noble aristocrat of impeccable integrity, tries to preserve his family and class amid the tumultuous social upheavals of 1860's Sicily.

A humble clerk courts a woman who night after night awaits for the return of her lover. (imdb)

In 1950, 28-year-old outlaw Salvatore Giuliano is found gunned down in a Sicilian courtyard. Little is as it seems.

Peppe, formerly a boxer, organizes the break-in of a pawnshop. Tiberio, an unemployed photographer, Mario, a receiver, the Sicilian Michele and Capannelle, an ex-jockey, are the other members of the gang (imdb)

Brutish, fortune-hunting scoundrel Pertuchio tames his wealthy shrewish wife, Katharina. (imdb)

Clelia comes from Rome to her native Turin, to set up a new fashion salon. On her first night, the woman in the next room of her hotel takes an overdose of pills. Clelia becomes involved with this woman, Rosetta, and three of her rich women friends, Momina, Nene, and Mariella. Momina is older than the others, and lives apart from her husband. Her current lover is Cesare, the architect of Clelia's salon. Nene is a talented ceramics artist, and lives with her fiance, the painter Lorenzo... (imdb)

A reclusive, retired professor is faced with confronting modernity when a group of vulgar youths, led by an obnoxious marchesa, take up residence in his unused upper residence.

Tullio Hermil (Giancarlo Giannini) is a wealthy Roman married to Giuliana (Laura Antonelli) but lives a double sexual life with a possessive and aristocratic mistress (Jennifer O'Neill). (Wikipedia)

Once upon a time an old woman discovers a baby in her cabbage patch. She brings up the child and, when she dies, the boy, Toto, enters an orphanage. Toto leaves the orphanage a happy young man, and looks for work in post-war Milan. He ends up with the homeless and organizes them to build a shanty town in a vacant lot. The squatters discover oil in the land and Toto sees a vision of the old woman who gives him a magic dove that will grant him anything he wishes. (imdb)

Like every year, everyone is going back to the ancestral family's home for the Christmas holidays. But this time, the old folks have a surprise, a good surprise for them. They have decided to go living with one of their children and make him or her inherit the family house. (imdb)

Tuscany, August 1944: the Allies have just entered Florence, Italy is devasted by the war, and the people are hungry. "Dieci", who claims to have been a boxer and a manager, gathers a group of young men in order to organise boxing matches to get something to eat... (imdb)

This is a dramatization of events in the life of St. Francis of Assisi from before his conversion experience through his audience with the pope, including his friendship with St. Clare. (imdb)

Venezia, spring of 1866, in the last days of the Austrian occupation. A performance of Il Trovatore ends up in confusion due to an anti-Austrian demonstration, organised by Count Ussoni. His cousin Countess Serpieri falls in love with vile Austrian Lieutenant Franz Mahler, but the times are changing. (imdb)

Historical evocation of Ludwig, king of Bavaria, from his crowning in 1864 until his death in 1886, as a romantic hero. Fan of Richard Wagner, betrayed by him, in love with his cousin Elisabeth of Austria, abandonned by her, tormented by his homosexuality, he will little by little slip towards madness. (imdb)

Film director Blasetti is looking for a little girl for his new movie. Along with other mothers, Maddelena takes her daugther to Cinecittà, hoping she'll be selected and become a star. She is ready to sacrifice anything for little Maria, even if her husband would prefer they save their little money for the rent, instead of paying teachers, hairdressers or bribes for her illusions. (imdb)

Sandra comes back to Volterra, in Tuscany, the little town where she spent her childhood. She is with her American husband, Andrew. She wishes to pay homage to her father who died in Auschwitz where she was still a little child. In Volterra, Andrew meets for the first time Gianni, Sandra's brother. He soon realizes that Sandra and Gianni have a secret since their childhood. (imdb)

A reverent depiction of the life of Christ using the Gospel accounts. (imdb)

It is the year 35 of the Vulgar Era. The Emperor Tiberius is troubled by strange phenomena, an earthquake and the sky turning black as an eclipse. His astrologers give him fair warning: their omens indicate that the world is in the throes of a great upheaval and that old gods have been annihilated... (imdb)

Since it was made in 1965, we can assume that Casanova '70 is set five years in the future. Marcello Mastroianni stars as the modern incarnation of the legendary lover. This Casanova is a NATO officer who is sexually aroused only when danger threatens... (All Movie Guide)

In an atmosphere of political tension when the French still control Algiers, an Algerian is killed on the beach and a French man who has lived in Algiers all his life is arrested for the murder... (imdb)

In post-war Rome, poverty is everywhere. A suicidal man, a small time thief, a desperate typist, and a distinguished amnesiac are some of the characters trying to make it through the night, as they drift through bars and gambling dens.

Gabin is a French criminal, Pierre Arrignon, on the run who finds himself in Genoa, Italy, and falls in love with a local girl, Marta Manfredini (played by Isa Miranda). (Wikipedia)

Adaption of the classic novel Carmen which puts the main characters into a Spaghetti Western setting.

A sanitary battalion of Italian Army is sent to Sorman oasis in Lybia during the Africa campaign in 1940. Soon an Italian missionary, living nearby, succeed to transform the occupation by Italian Army in a kind of humanitarian mission. In fact all the battalion is involved to help the local population. The war anyway goes on with no regards to human feelings. The "glorious" Fascist campaign is going to became a fast retreat.

Summer, 1943: wealthy youth in the Riccione district of Rimini play while the war gets closer. Carlo Caremoli, a young man who follows the crowd, has found ways to avoid military service. Then, on the beach, he meets Roberta, a war widow with a child. Roberta's mother warns Roberta to avoid Carlo, but to her, he seems attentive and to her daughter he is kind. Romance develops. Within a few weeks, Roberta is risking everything (imdb)

The story revolves on a handsome man stumbling into the former love of his life, but she doesn't seem to recognise him. The girl, Sandra, suffers from a bad case of amnesia and her overly vain mother protects her from the outside world. Oscar doesn't give up and, with the help of a befriended doctor; he learns that Sandra's condition got caused by the traumatic witnessing of her young son standing next to his father's dead body with a pistol in his hands. (imdb)

When young and attractive Lina Stroppiani, a thief like the rest of her family, tries to steal the taxi of Paolo, together with two accomplices, she can't possibly know that this will have far reaching consequences... (imdb)

Even if Giovanni Episcopo accuses himself of the murder of Giulio Wanzer, his real crime has in fact always been to be too good for his own good (imdb)

During World War II, a plane full of RAF fighter crashes in the Ethiopian desert and they are met upon by an enemy Italian patrol that allows them to go free. But, when the Brits are given orders to attack the Italians, lots of problems ensue. (TCM.com)

Stuck in a dream world of his own, Italian sculptor Albert Saporito (Marcello Mastroianni) sometimes has difficulty separating truth from fiction. When he dreams that his gangster neighbor has been murdered, he reports the crime to the police, only to involve himself in a complicated situation. This film is in Italian with English subtitles. (allmovie.com)

A penniless countess falls in love with a cad, unaware that he is also involved on the side with her beautiful daughter. (imdb)

The story begins in Tuscany. A carpenter Master Antonio, but who everyone calls Master Cherry for his bright shiny red nose, has found a block of pinewood which he plans to carve into a leg for his table. When he begins, however, the log shouts out, "don't chop me!" Frightened by the talking log, Master Cherry does not know what to do until his neighbor Geppetto, known for disliking children who call him "Polendina," drops by looking for a piece of wood to build a marionette... (Wikipedia)

It begins after Mattia leaves his family (his wife and his mother-in-law).The events in Mattia's life suddenly take a soaring run;the casino's villains turn up.Mattia meets Véronique (Caroline Berg).The music is,throughout the film ,alert and powerful,suggesting rather a "giallo" than a satire.There is no transition between Mattia's provincial life and his Monte-Carlo break. (imdb)

"Senza sapere niente di lei" tells a dark story about a young lawyer that falls in love with a strange girl with an unknown past.

Maddalena and Michele fall in love in Italy in the 1960s, while working at a meat factory in Emilia stormed by the workers' protest, but their love can't be, because he is married and Italy has no divorce. So she persuades him to move to the U.S., and joins him four years later, bringing a Mortadella (sort of salami, processed pork anyway) as a present. But Customs do not allow processed meat to enter the U.S. (imdb)

Metello is the son of an anarchist who shares his father's passion for justice. After he is introduced to love by the young widow Viola, he falls in love and marries Ersilia. He tries to balance his family life and remain true to his ideals in the changing political climate. (allmovie.com)

A Roman agent is sent to Palestine to investigate rumors of the resurrection of an executed criminal. (imdb)

Comedy of errors about two film extras involved with a young jewel thief on New Year's Eve in Rome. Based on the short stories by Alberto Moravia. (bfi)

Drama about an innocent housewife falsely convicted of theft. Sent to a women's prison in Rome, she is trying to survive and learn to cope in the company of murderers, thieves and prostitutes. (worldcat)

A journalist undertakes an enquiry into human selfishness. (bfi)

The adventures of two derelicts. They are prisoners in a battleship, then, after a mutiny, they succeed to become officers. They leave the boat and start to drift all around the Spain with the mere goal to reach something to eat. A prostitute could set their life. (imdb)

The Razzi family owns a small factory of sweets in Macerata. Their desire to enlarge their business to cope with the new Unified European Market brings to a string of fatal mistakes that will ultimately doom their wealth. (imdb)

The life and times of Claudia Bertelli, born in Milan in 1949 from bourgeois parents, educated in England, rebel and single mother, then feminist and married woman and again doctor in the developing countries and mystical nun who dies peacefully in 2011. (imdb)

Film commemorating Rossini, looking into his personality and aspects of his character ranging from a precarious childhood to his loves, humour, manic-depression, obssessions and his genius. (imdb)

Autobiographical fantasy about a mediocre writer under analysis, obsessed by a life-long love-hate relationship with his father, and an unsatisfying marriage to a girl many years his junior. (bfi)

The story of a farmer that succeeded to contest the king Alboino in front of all his Royal court, in the Verona (Italy) of the 12th century, using just his cunning. He will risk several times his own life, but the king won't win any dispute at all. (imdb)

Don Paolo, a young parson troubled by his love for Agnese, tries to make peace in a little village in Sardinia where two families are at war. (imdb)

Four episodes satirising Italian women, their manners and their morals. (imdb)

Five episodes,each illustrating an aspect of post-war Italian life: 1. Mara 2. Il pupo 3. Scena all'aperto 4. Casa d'altri 5. Don Corradino (bfi)

A number of different segments taken from 19th century Italian stories. (imdb)

The action takes place in Naples at the turn of the century and shows the different methods used by the police and the District Attorney to discover the real authors of a double murder. (bfi)

Story of an industrialist who is killed by a truck and gets a 12 hour reprieve t o return to earth and right two wrongs. From a story by Cesare Zavattini. (bfi)

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. (imdb)

In the Roman countryside during the Second World War, two American soldiers are hidden in a country house. One evening one of the soldiers, while drunk, meets a German soldier, equally drunk, and the two strike up a friendship. However the next day, when the drink has worn off, the war makes its presence felt once again as the Germans shoot the landlord who has been hiding the two Americans. (bfi)

Michael, the younger son of a middle-class family, is off in a distant country fighting for a revolutionary cause. Everyone in the family writes to him, describing the events of their lives, as they drift into a kind of conventionality which would perhaps have horrified them earlier. Only Michael's girlfriend Mara (Mariangela Melato), the mother of his child, retains her independence, even though it is through the help of Michael's increasingly conventional friends and family that she survives. (allmovie)

On his way to Africa, Don Pietro, a young missionary priest has his suitcase stolen in the station of Naples. While making every effort to retrieve his baggage he finds out how devastated and miserable the city of Naples is. Learning that he has been the victim of gang of local street urchins, he decides that is mission is here in Naples, not under distant skies. He creates a home for poor kids, assisted by Maddalena, the cook... (imdb)

Through the childhood and the adolescence of Giacomo Casanova (from his memoirs), this is a description of how people live in the Venice of the 18th century: customs, habits, medecine, religion and most of all - the omnipresence of hypocrisy. (imdb)

Mario is in Hannover to work as a miner but after loosing his job he decides to go back to Italy. When Totonno steals his passport to avoid the police and later on he offers him a new job as "magliaro" (cloth seller), Mario changes his mind and decides to follow Totonno to Hamburg. In Hamburg, Totonno and his friends have to sell Mayer's cloth but they meet with the hostility of a Polish gang and Mario falls in love with Paula Mayer. (imdb)

Story of the double-dealing tactics in love and business of an unscrupulous bookie. (bfi)

A young girl living with her family in the Pontine murdered is raped and murdered. Before she dies, she forgives her assailant. After her death she is canonised as a saint. (bfi)

1943, an estate north of Firenze. The weight of the world is on the shoulders of Penny, who's about 10. An orphan, she must watch over her little sister when they go to live with her aunt and uncle. Penny's a Catholic, and worries about her uncle's soul. He's Jewish, progressive and a free thinker, a fair boss, and devoted to his family. He can be stern, so Penny also worries that she'll never please him and that he won't love her. (imdb)

Vito Polara (Suarez) is ambitious and wants to get as more power and money as possible. He decides to leave the cigarette smuggling and try to get the total control of the regional fruit and vegetable distribution considered more profitable. He looks for the help of a rural crime Boss. He sets up a challenge to the local Camorra (Neapolitan Mafia) chieftains that could show soon who is the real powerful Boss. (imdb)

A janitor (Aldo Fabrizi) seeks the social redemption allowing the child, to the sound of sacrifices, to study until becaming a teacher right in the school where he works. (Wikipedia)

The team reunites after 20 years to commit another robbery.

A wealthy and self-serving man, sets out on a perilous ocean voyage with his son. An unexpected incident with the vessel causes him to reflect on his not so perfect life. (imdb)

A young lawyer returns home and discovers that a man has committed suicide jumping through a window of his house. His wife, Maria, says that she let the unknown man enter because he said the lawyer was the only one who could help him. Bernardo start to investigate about the man and about the reasons of his suicide. Sembola (IMDB).

A photographer named Corrado snaps a picture of Antonietta. When it shows up on the front page of a magazine, she wants to take him to court over it. (imdb)

A man has problems connecting with his son after coming home from work in Africa, after his wife's death. (imdb)

Enrico Bottini, an engineering student, prepares to serve as an officer when Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary. At the train station, he meets Garrone, an old friend from elementary school, and begins to reminisce on the values instilled to him by both school and his father.