Italian

from the imdb comments:

The second in a series of historical films begun by Roberto Rossellini in the late 1960’s was this sublime movie for Italian television which traces the spread of Christianity in the thirty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, according to the accounts of Luke. Most of the first part deals with the successes and failures of Peter in spreading the good news of Jesus and presents an almost documentary view of the first Christian community, the trials before the Sanhedrin, the martyrdom of Philip and Stephen. Most of the second half of this five-hour+ film follows Paul from his conversion en route to Damascus, his work with Barnabas in Antioch of Syria, his debates on the old law versus the new, his arrest. The film ends with his imprisonment in Rome. Read More »

Synopsis:
Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco E. Prosperi, best-known for the groundbreaking shockumentary Mondo Cane, directed this bizarre and shocking look at slavery in America. Set in the deep South prior to the Civil War, Zio Tom finds Jacopetti and Prosperi travelling back in time aboard a helicopter to investigate the nuts and bolts of slavery as it happened in the United States prior to abolition. Along the way, the filmmakers go aboard a slave ship as frightened Africans are brought to America under inhuman conditions; they witness the dangerous and degrading process by which slaves were made ready for market; and they visit a “breeding farm” for slaves after laws prohibit the importation of slaves from abroad. Read More »

The art film by Luciano Emmer: the camera explores the figurative worlds of Giotto, Bosch, Carpaccio, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Picasso. First edition on DVD of a valuable asset for art history and Italian cinema.
This two-DVD boxset presents, collected for the first time, a wide selection of art films made by Luciano Emmer (1918-2009). Emmer, screenwriter and director, is the author of films that told with delicacy and humor about Italy in the Fifties (Domenica d’agosto, Terza liceo) and one of the inventors of TV commercials; especially personal and meaningful is his work on art documentaries, awarded all over the world.Read More »

Synopsis:
A documentary that shocked many viewers at the time of its release, this film presents scenes from across the globe that feature strange rituals. Animal slaughter and bizarre religious ceremonies are among the many events in the movie, which also exhibits cuisine that is highly unconventional to the Western palate. The collage-like production covers a lot of ground, both literally and figuratively, in depicting unusual cultural practices from around the world.Read More »

Synopsis:
In “The Scientific Cardplayer” (Lo scopone scientifico), Bette Davis played an eccentric millionaire, addicted to playing cards and winning from players who could not afford to gamble. Every year, she visits Rome with her secretary and ex-lover, George (Joseph Cotton), to play with Peppino (Alberto Sordi), the ragman, and Antonia (Silvana Mangano), a cleaning lady who lived in a slum near her villa with their five children.Read More »

A young model is murdered by a masked, black-gloved figure in the grounds of a high-class fashion house. When the victim’s diary, which apparently contains secrets of people connected to the fashion house, appears, the killer goes on a killing spree trying to hide his tracks and keep the diary from falling into wrong hands.Read More »

Synopsis:
A psychedelic re-telling of the biblical story. Salome is the daughter of the second wife of King Herod. The King is infatuated with her and after she fails to seduce the prophet John (The Baptist) she dances for the King in order to ask for his execution. The story is told in a bizarre way of fast cuts, repetitive dialogue and extreme satire.Read More »

From Time Out Film Guide
There is something to be said for Liliana Cavani, but it is difficult to remember what it is. The cruelty of her Night Porter was ruined by sentimentality, and Beyond Good and Evil managed to conflate Nietzsche and Robert Powell in a ménage à trois. Beyond the Door is the usual mix of cheapjack sentiment, cutprice Freudian familial relations, and a baffled cast running way over boiling point. Giorgi (a madonna face) keeps her stepfather Mastroianni (or maybe he’s her father) in a Moroccan prison after faking evidence against him over her mother’s death, so that she can keep her claws on his body, which she desires far more than the American oilman (Berenger, looking like a young Paul Newman) who desires her like mad but can’t understand what’s going on here. Read More »

Synopsis
Susy and Angela, two unprejudiced Milanese girls, meet by chance in a “toilet”, where a distracted bourgeois lady has just forgotten a two million ring; together they take and try to sell it. For this purpose they rely on a young taxi driver, Vito, of southern origin. He first leads them to a receiver, who they find dead; and then, in the house of a transvestite, where a jeweler buys the ring at a fraudulent price. But, after leaving the house, they realize that the money has disappeared. Then all three come across with Marta and Davide, a rich vicious couple that involve them in erotic games. They follow and Vito follows the trends for a while. At dawn, after a momentary quarrel, Susy and Angela separate. Angela spends a disappointing night with Piero, another boy they met in the elegant villa of the spouses, while Susy went to the station to leave Milan. In the morning the two meet again, confessing each other that it was Angela who took the money that seemed gone, while Susy had managed to steal the ring back from the jeweler.(imdb.com)Read More »