Directors More Directors' Checklists - The Films of VITTORIO COTTAFAVI (1 Viewer)

[Mario Gauci]

Rank ‘em, rate ‘em, review ‘em or whatever:


Nostri sogni, I (1943)
... aka Our Dreams (International: English title)
Grande strada, La (1948)
Fiamma che non si spegne (1949)
Donna ha ucciso, Una (1952)
Boia di Lilla, Il (1952)
... aka Milady and the Musketeers (USA)
... aka Milady et les mousquetaires (France)
... aka Vengeance of the Musketeers (USA: TV title)
Traviata '53 (1953)
Cavaliere di Maison Rouge, Il (1953)
... aka The Glorious Avenger (USA: TV title)
Ewige Lied der Liebe, Das (1954)
... aka Due amori, I (Italy)
... aka Eternal Song of Love (International: English title: informal literal title)
In amore si pecca in due (1954)
Avanzi di galera (1954)
... aka Jailbirds (International: English title)
... aka Repris de justice (France)
Nel gorgo del peccato (1954)
Donna libera, Una (1956)
... aka A Free Woman (International: English title)
... aka Femmes libres (France)
Sette piccole croci (1957) (TV)
Via Belgrado (1957) (TV)
L’avaro (1957) (TV)
Hansel e Gretel (1957) (TV)
Casa di bambola (1958) (TV)
Umiliati e offesi (1958) (TV)
La spada di Damocle (1958) (TV)
Antigone (1958) (TV)
Rivolta dei gladiatori, La (1958)
... aka Révolte des gladiateurs, La (France)
... aka Rebelión de los gladiadores, La (Spain)
... aka The Warrior and the Slave Girl
Passo falso (1959) (TV)
Processo di famiglia (1959) (TV)
Quando amor comanda (1960) (TV)
Vendetta di Ercole, La (1960)
... aka Goliath and the Dragon (USA)
... aka Hercules' Revenge (USA)
... aka Vengeance d'Hercule, La (France)
... aka Vengeance of Hercules (USA)
Legioni di Cleopatra, Le (1960)
... aka Légions de Cléopâtre, Les (France)
... aka Legiones de Cleopatra, Las (Spain)
... aka Legions of the Nile (USA)
Toro bravo (1960)
... aka Fiesta brava (Spain)
Messalina Venere imperatrice (1960)
... aka Messalina (USA)
La trincea (1961) (TV)
Ercole alla conquista di Atlantide (1961)
... aka Hercule à la conquête de l'Atlantide (France)
... aka Hercules Conquers Atlantis (UK)
... aka Hercules and the Captive Women (USA)
... aka Hercules and the Conquest of Atlantis (International: English title)
... aka Hercules and the Haunted Women
Vergini di Roma, Le (1961)
... aka Amazons of Rome (USA)
... aka Vierges de Rome, Les (France)
Le notti bianche (1962) (TV)
Operazione Vega (1962) (TV)
Il mondo è una prigione (1962) (TV)
Colloquio con un uomo disprezzato (1962) (TV)
Il piccolo caffè (1963) (TV)
Lo zoo di vetro (1963) (TV)
Nozze di sangue (1963) (TV)
Mille franchi di ricompensa (1963) (TV)
Il taglio del bosco (1963) (TV)
Gli spettri (1963) (TV)
Cosè è (se vi pare) (1964) (TV)
L’uomo (1964) (TV)
Cento cavalieri, I (1964)
... aka 100 Horsemen
... aka Cien caballeros, Los (Spain)
... aka Hundert Ritter, Die (West Germany)
... aka Hundred Horsemen
... aka Son of El Cid
Ai poeti non si spara (1965) (TV)
La potenza delle tenebre (1965) (TV)
Antonio e Cleopatra (1965) (TV)
Il giglio di quell’amore (1965) (TV)
Le piccole volpi (1965) (TV)
Vita di Dante (1965) (TV)
Quinta colonna (1965) (TV)
La Fantarca (1966) (TV)
Knoch, o il trionfo della medicina (1967) (TV)
Le Troiane (1967) (TV)
Il processo di Santa Teresa del Bambino Gesù (1967) (TV)
Missione Wiesenthal (1967) (TV)
Don Giovanni (1967) (TV)
Il complotto di luglio (1967) (TV)
La paura delle botte (1967) (TV)
Delirio a due (1967) (TV)
Cristoforo Colombo (1968) (TV)
Oliver Cromwell (1969) (TV)
Ritratto di un dittatore (1969) (TV)
I lupi (1969) (TV)
Una pistola in vendita (1970) (TV)
I racconti di Padre Brown (1970) (TV)
La signora delle camelie (1970) (TV)
Antigone (1971) (TV)
A come Andromeda (1972) (TV)
Rosmersholm (1972) (TV)
La follia di Almayer (1972) (TV)
Vestire gli ignudi (1973) (TV)
L’allodola (1973) (TV)
La scuola delle mogli (1973) (TV)
Napoleone a Sant’Elena (1973) (TV)
Sotto il placido Don (1973) (TV)
Gente delle Langhe (1973) (TV)
La torta di Riccio (1973) (TV)
Incontro con il padre (1973) (TV)
I Persiani (1975) (TV)
Con gli occhi dell’Occidente (1979) (TV)
Maria Zef (1981) (TV)
... aka Maria Zeff (International: English title)
II diavolo sulle colline (1985) (TV)


First of all, the IMDB listing for Cottafavi is hopelessly incomplete since he worked a lot in Italian TV. Therefore, I did not glean the above list from that source and is about as complete as I could make it. Besides, I hate it when lists are in descending order i.e. with the most recent film at the top!

 

[Mario Gauci]

In order of merit:


1.I Cento Cavalieri aka The Hundred Horsemen (1964) ***1/2
2.Le Vergini Di Roma aka Amazons Of Rome (1961) ***
3.Ercole Alla Conquista Di Atlantide aka Hercules And The Captive Women (1961) **1/2
4.Nel Gorgo Del Peccato (1954) **1/2
5.La Vendetta Di Ercole aka Goliath And The Dragon (1960) *1/2


For the uninitiated, here are some quotes from my HTF/IMDB comments on Cottafavi's masterpiece - THE HUNDRED HORSEMEN - posted after my recent second viewing of the film via an Italian R2 DVD:


"I first heard of this film when I chanced upon a five-star review of it on an Italian TV listings magazine so I was very grateful to the organizers of the “Italian Kings of the Bs” retrospective at the 61st Venice Film Festival in September 2004 for including it; as it happened, despite tough competition from a couple of its contemporaries, when I finally watched the film on the big screen (with leading man Mark Damon in attendance), I loved it so much that I had no trouble naming it the best film (out of a total of 37) I had seen during that unforgettable fortnight.

Frustratingly, I subsequently found very little reading material on director Cottafavi and the film itself (which is unanimously considered his masterpiece) even in this day and age of the Internet and, in fact, the most substantial piece was an essay written by the late Tom Milne on Cottafavi and two of his contemporaries, Riccardo Freda and Mario Bava, and included in the New York Film Festival’s co-founder Richard Roud’s indispensable two-volume book, “Cinema: A Critical Dictionary – The Major Film-Makers”, which I purchased during my first trip to London in 1999; an even shorter piece is to be found in David Thomson’s controversial tome, “A Biographical Dictionary Of The Cinema”, in which he references a Cahiers Du Cinema critic naming Cottafavi one of the world’s four greatest directors along with Fritz Lang, Joseph Losey and Otto Preminger!! Luckily, the afore-mentioned 2004 screening of THE HUNDRED HORSEMEN, ensured that the film be released on R2 DVD in Italy later on and, despite the lack of supplements and online reviews, I eagerly awaited the disc to get discounted so that I would finally add it to my collection. Thankfully, the video quality is great (even if the sound is overly discreet) and the film itself is every bit the masterpiece I remembered it to be.

The amusing trailer (the sole extra on the Italian DVD) has Foa` describing the film to its prospective audience as an “epicaresque” i.e. a picareqsque epic; as it happened, despite the film turning out to be stylistically ahead of its time – and, in hindsight, the zenith of that most disreputable of genres, the peplum – it was a commercial flop on release ensuring that Cottafavi spend the remainder of his career as a distinguished TV director helming such adaptations as Graham Greene’sTHIS GUN FOR HIRE (1970; which was shown on Italian TV last month) and Joseph Conrad’s UNDER WESTERN EYES (1979; ditto). Personally, I’ve only watched 4 other Cottafavi films so far – the melodramatic NEL GORGO DEL PECCATO (1954) and 3 consecutive peplums, the very silly GOLIATH AND THE DRAGONS (1960), the vastly underrated AMAZONS OF ROME (1961; which I caught up with earlier this year) and one of the most renowned examples of the genre, HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN (1961)."

 

[SteveGon]

Nada.

 

[Mario Gauci]

Steve,


I'm afraid your reply is going to be the standard one which we'll be seeing posted in this thread if, indeed, any more will be forthcoming at all:frowning:!!

Still, it might uplift you somewhat to know that GOLIATH AND THE DRAGON (1960) is available on DVD in two editions - from Something Weird/Image and Alpha. The latter is, no doubt, dubbed in English, pan-and-scanned and totally washed out color-wise; I've been tinkering with the idea of renting it (since my local DVD rental store unaccountably has it) for some time now...but, since I found it to be a hoot (for all the wrong reasons, of course) in its original Italian-language version, I shudder to think what my impressions will be after watching the English version!

Furthermore, however, Image will be releasing HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN (1961) as a double-feature DVD - along with Antonio Margheriti's HERCULES, PRISONER OF EVIL (1964) - on 02/13/07:


http://www.image-entertainment.com/d...roductID=34708

 

[Bill McA]

Rated from :star: to :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:
Titles in RED are theatrical screenings

Vittorio Cottafavi
Jan 30, 1914 - Dec 14, 1998

II diavolo sulle colline (1985) (TV)
Maria Zef (1981) (TV)
Con gli occhi dell’Occidente (1979) (TV)
I Persiani (1975) (TV)
Incontro con il padre (1973) (TV)
La torta di Riccio (1973) (TV)
Gente delle Langhe (1973) (TV)
Sotto il placido Don (1973) (TV)
Napoleone a Sant’Elena (1973) (TV)
La scuola delle mogli (1973) (TV)
L’allodola (1973) (TV)
Vestire gli ignudi (1973) (TV)
La follia di Almayer (1972) (TV)
Rosmersholm (1972) (TV)
A come Andromeda (1972) (TV)
Antigone (1971) (TV)
La signora delle camelie (1970) (TV)
I racconti di Padre Brown (1970) (TV)
Una pistola in vendita (1970) (TV)
I lupi (1969) (TV)
Ritratto di un dittatore (1969) (TV)
Oliver Cromwell (1969) (TV)
Cristoforo Colombo (1968) (TV)
Delirio a due (1967) (TV)
La paura delle botte (1967) (TV)
Il complotto di luglio (1967) (TV)
Don Giovanni (1967) (TV)
Missione Wiesenthal (1967) (TV)
Il processo di Santa Teresa del Bambino Gesù (1967) (TV)
Le Troiane (1967) (TV)
Knoch, o il trionfo della medicina (1967) (TV)
La Fantarca (1966) (TV)
Quinta colonna (1965) (TV)
Vita di Dante (1965) (TV)
Le piccole volpi (1965) (TV)
Il giglio di quell’amore (1965) (TV)
Antonio e Cleopatra (1965) (TV)
La potenza delle tenebre (1965) (TV)
Ai poeti non si spara (1965) (TV)
100 Horsemen (1964)
L’uomo (1964) (TV)
Cosè è (se vi pare) (1964) (TV)
Gli spettri (1963) (TV)
Il taglio del bosco (1963) (TV)
Mille franchi di ricompensa (1963) (TV)
Nozze di sangue (1963) (TV)
Lo zoo di vetro (1963) (TV)
Il piccolo caffè (1963) (TV)
Colloquio con un uomo disprezzato (1962) (TV)
Il mondo è una prigione (1962) (TV)
Operazione Vega (1962) (TV)
Le notti bianche (1962) (TV)
Amazons of Rome (1961)
Hercules and the Conquest of Atlantis (1961)
La trincea (1961) (TV)
Messalina (1960) :star: :star:
Toro bravo (1960)
Legions of the Nile (1960)
Hercules' Revenge (1960) :star:
Quando amor comanda (1960) (TV)
Processo di famiglia (1959) (TV)
Passo falso (1959) (TV)
The Revolt of the Gladiators (1958)
Antigone (1958) (TV)
La spada di Damocle (1958) (TV)
Umiliati e offesi (1958) (TV)
Casa di bambola (1958) (TV)
Hansel e Gretel (1957) (TV)
L’avaro (1957) (TV)
Via Belgrado (1957) (TV)
Sette piccole croci (1957) (TV)
A Free Woman (1956)
In the Pit of Sin (1954)
Jailbirds (1954)
In amore si pecca in due (1954)
Eternal Song of Love (1954)
The Glorious Avenger (1953)
Traviata '53 (1953)
Milady and the Musketeers (1952)
Una Donna ha ucciso (1952)
Fiamma che non si spegne (1949)
La Grande strada (1948)
Our Dreams (1943)

Seen 2
Own 0

 

[SteveGon]

A shame that more films from this director aren't available - I'm always up for exploring new/unheralded filmmakers, but I hope he's done more than cheesy Hercules films which probably wouldn't be my cup o' tea.

Now cheesy zombie films are a different story...

 

[Mario Gauci]

Bill,


Just for the record, I noticed a mistake in my original list (which I've now corrected) since the English title for UNA DONNA LIBERA (1956) i.e. A FREE WOMAN was erroneously listed as being the English title for NEL GORGO DEL PECCATO (1954) which would roughly translate to IN THE PIT OF SIN.

 

[Bill McA]

Thanks Mario!!

 

[Michael Elliott]

None but I've got a 50-pack of Hercules films here with a few of his pictures in it.


Don't feel bad. I'm going to post a couple later tonight and I'm sure I'll be the only one to reply (although you might have seen a couple).