Italian Cinema

My Favorite Mario Bava Films

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   Kill, Baby…Kill! (1966)

2.   Blood and Black Lace (1964)

3.   Lisa and the Devil (1973)

4.   A Bay of Blood (1971)
(a.k.a Twitch of the Death Nerve)

5.   Hatchet for the Honeymoon (1970)

6.   Planet of the Vampires (1965)

7.   Danger: Diabolik (1968)

8.   Black Sabbath (1963)
(Anthology Film)

9.   Black Sunday (1960)

10. The Whip and the Body (1963)

11. Hercules in the Haunted World (1961)

12. Erik the Conqueror (1961)

13. Rabid Dogs (1974)
(a.k.a Kidnapped)

14. The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963)

My Favorite Dario Argento Films

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   Deep Red (1975)

2.   Tenebrae (1982)

3.   Suspiria (1977)

4.   Opera (1987)

5.   Inferno (1980)

6.   Phenomena (1985)

7.   The Bird with the Crystal Plummage (1970)

8.   Two Evil Eyes (1990)
8a. Segment: “The Black Cat”
(Anthology Film)

* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)

1.   The Stendhal Syndrome (1996)

2.   Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)

My Favorite Michelangelo Antonioni Films

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   L’Eclisse (1962)

2.   Le Amiche (1955)

3.   La Notte (1961)

4.   Zabriskie Point (1970)

5.   L’Avventura (1960)   

6.   The Passenger (1975)

7.   Red Desert (1965)

8.   Blowup (1966)

9.   Il Grido (1957)

10. Identification of a Woman (1982)

11. Beyond the Clouds (1995)
(co-directed with Wim Wenders)

12. The Mystery of Oberwald (1981)

13. Story of a Love Affair (1950)

14. I Vinti (1952)

15. The Lady Without Camelias (1953)
(I saw it on an old VHS Tape)

My Favorite Pier Paolo Pasolini Films (New)

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   Mamma Roma (1962)

2.   The Canterbury Tales (1972)

3.   Accattone (1961)

4.   A Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights) (1974)

5.   The Hawks and the Sparrows (1966)

6.   The Decameron (1971)

7.   Teorema (1968)

8.   Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)

9.   The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)

10. Medea (1969)

11. Pigsty (1969)

12. Oedipus Rex (1967)

13. The Anger (1963) (co-directed with Giovannino Guareschi)
(Documentary)

14. Love and Anger (1969)
(Segment: “The sequence of the paper flower”)

15. Love Meetings (1964) (Documentary)

16. Notes Towards an African Orestes (1970) (Documentary)

My Favorite Michel Gondry Films (New)

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   The We and the I (2012)

2.   The Science of Sleep (2006)

3.   Microbe & Gasoline (2015)

4.   Human Nature (2001)

5.   Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

* * * * (Out of * * * *) (Music Videos)

1.   The Work of Director Michel Gondry (2003)

* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)

1.   Dave Chapelle’s Block Party (2005) (Concert Film/Documentary)

2.   Be Kind Rewind (2008)

My Favorite Luchino Visconti Films (Revised and Updated)

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   Rocco and His Brothers (1960)

2.   Bellissima (1951)

3.   Senso (1954)

4.   Conversation Piece (1974)

5.   The Innocent (1976)

6.   White Nights (1957)

7.   La Terra Trema (1948)

8.   Death in Venice (1971)

9.   Ludwig (1972)

10. The Damned (1969)

11. The Leopard (1963)

12. Ossessione (1943)

13. Sandra of a Thousand Delights (1965)
(I saw it on an old VHS Tape)

* * * * (Out of * * * *) (Short Cinema)

1.   Boccaccio ’70 (1962)
(Segment: “The Job”)

* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)

1.   The Stranger (1967)
(No relation to the 1946 film)
(I watched it on youtube)

My Favorite Andrei Tarkovsky Films (Revised and Updated)

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   Stalker (1979)

2.   Solaris (1972)

3.   Andrei Rublev (1966)

4.   Ivan’s Childhood (1962)

5.   The Sacrifice (1986)

6.   Nostalghia (1983)

7.   The Mirror (1975)

8.   The Steamroller and the Violin (1961)

9.   Voyage in Time (1983) (Documentary)

My Favorite Francesco Rosi Films (New)

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   Three Brothers (1981)

2.   Salvatore Giuliano (1962)

3.   Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979)

4.   Hands over the City (1963)

5.   The Moment of Truth (1965)

6.   The Truce (1997)

7.   Carmen (1984)

8.   Many Wars Ago (1970)

9.   Lucky Luciano (1974)

* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)

1.   The Palermo Connection (1989)

Note: Some of these I have seen on DVD and ones that are not on Blu-Ray and DVD I have seen on VHS. I have not seen The Mattei Affair but that is because it is not available on either Blu-Ray and DVD or VHS. I have heard great things about it though and since Francesco Rosi died last year, I am hoping that filmmakers or film historians who loved his work will try to get The Mattei Affair available in the USA on either Blu-Ray and DVD or VHS since that one seems to be one of his many highly celebrated films. 

My Favorite Max Ophuls Films (Revised and Updated)

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   The Earrings of Madame de… (1953)

2.   The Reckless Moment (1949)
(I watched it on TCM a few years back)

3.   La Ronde (1950)

4.   Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)

5.   Le Plaisir (1952)

6.   Caught (1949)

7.   Lola Montes (1955)

8.   Liebelei (1933)
(I saw it on an old VHS Tape)

9.   La Signora di Tutti (1934)
(I saw it on an old VHS Tape)

10. The Exile (1947)
(I watched it on TCM a while back)