Leone d'Oro 1940-1949
Movies to watch awarded or nominated in Venice Festival in the '40s
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- DirectorGustav UcickyStarsHeinrich GeorgeHilde KrahlSiegfried BreuerA troubled father, working as a postmaster in province, worries about his daughter taken to the capital by a rich officer.
- DirectorVeit HarlanStarsFerdinand MarianKristina SöderbaumHeinrich GeorgeInfamous anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda historical drama about Duke Karl Alexander of Württemberg and his treasurer Süß Oppenheimer.
- DirectorCarmine GalloneStarsAlida ValliAmedeo NazzariCamillo PilottoThis movie takes place in the Papal State in the first half of the 19th century. Roman countess Vanina Vanini falls in love with revolutionary Pietro Mirilli.
- DirectorAmleto PalermiStarsPaola BarbaraVittorio De SicaFosco GiachettiBrutalized by urban life, a woman who has sinned returns to her mother's home in the countryside.
- DirectorAugusto GeninaStarsFosco GiachettiMireille BalinMaria DenisSet during the Spanish civil war, the story of a commander of a fort Alcazar in Toledo, faithful to general Franco.
- DirectorGustav UcickyStarsPaula WesselyPeter PetersenAttila HörbigerThis Nazi propaganda film attempts to justify the invasion of Poland--and thus the start of World War II--by "showing" how the ethnic Germans in Poland were discriminated against and oppressed by the Poles, and how they were rescued from extinction only by the intervention of the German army.
- DirectorHans SteinhoffKarl AntonHerbert MaischStarsEmil JanningsLucie HöflichWerner HinzRousing biopic of Paul Kruger, the Boer guerilla fighter turned statesman and first president of South Africa.
- DirectorWolfgang LiebeneinerStarsHeidemarie HatheyerPaul HartmannMathias WiemanIn this pro-euthanasia melodrama, a successful doctor is forced to make a heart-wrenching decision after his beautiful young wife is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsAugusto BassoElena FondiNon professional actors, filmed in a semi documentary style, show the lives of sailors and their officers ,some of whom are transferred to a hospital ship ,during WWII in Italy .
- DirectorAlessandro BlasettiStarsElisa CeganiLuisa FeridaRina MorelliA crown, supposedly made from a nail out of the Cross of Christ and the metal of Roman swords, becomes a legend and a symbol of justice.
- DirectorVeit HarlanStarsOtto GebührKristina SöderbaumGustav FröhlichA story of Prussian king (from 1740 to 1786) Frederick II the Great.
- DirectorPaul VerhoevenStarsHeinrich GeorgeHeidemarie HatheyerWill QuadfliegDuring the rehearsals for their new play, Robert Jürgensen (Will Quadflieg) and his wife Gisela Ahrens (Heidemarie Hatheyer) recognize their former theater manager Conrad Schroeter (Heinrich George) in the prompt box as the new prompter. Jürgensen once ruthlessly seduced Schroeter's only daughter Inge, even though he already was bound to Gisela, who yet was pregnant at that time. In great desperation Inge committed suicide. In the midst of a performance with Jürgensen, Schroeter was informed about the death of his child. Horrified, he attacked Jürgensen and accused him for murder. Schroeter then was committed into a mental clinic. Now, Robert and Gisela are afraid, if Schroeter can handle the new re-encounter.
- DirectorGoffredo AlessandriniStarsFosco GiachettiAlida ValliRossano BrazziThe time is the Russian Revolution. The place is a country burdened with fear - the midnight knock at the door, the bread hidden against famine, the haunted eyes of the fleeing, the grublike fat of the appeasers and oppressors. In a bitter struggle of the individual against the collective, three people stand forth with the mark of the unconquered in their bearing: Kira, who wants to be a builder, and the two men who love her - Leo, an aristocrat, and Andrei, a Communist. In their tensely dramatic story, Ayn Rand shows what the theories of Communism mean in practice. We the Living is not a story of politics but of the men and women who have to struggle for existence behind the Red banners and slogans. It is a picture of what dictatorship - of any kind - does to human beings, what kind of men are able to survive, and which of them remain as the ultimate winners. What happens to the defiant ones? What happens to those who succumb? Who are the winners in this conflict? Against a vivid panorama of political revolution and personal revolt, Ayn Rand offers an answer that challenges the modern conscience.
- DirectorGoffredo AlessandriniStarsAlida ValliFosco GiachettiRossano BrazziAfter having been captured in Crimea during a failed attempt to flee overseas, Leo returns in Petersburg for Kira.
- DirectorAugusto GeninaStarsFosco GiachettiMária Tasnádi FeketeAmedeo NazzariThe fate of several men in a Libyan city briefly captured from Italy by the invading British in 1941, includes a focus on the role of women during these hard times.
- DirectorCarmine GalloneStarsMaria CebotariCarlo NinchiFilippo ScelzoThe occupation of Bessarabia by the Russians in 1940 separates an opera singer from her family, leaving her under Bolshevik rule until Romanian troops enter Odessa.
- DirectorMario CameriniStarsAssia NorisPiero LulliCarlo CampaniniA simple and honest working class man marries a woman with a troubled past.When another man who knows her past confronts her, she decides to commit murder.
- DirectorClaude Autant-LaraStarsOdette JoyeuxFrançois PérierPierre LarqueyOn the eve of her 16th birthday, Sylvie's father needs cash to stay in his castle so he sells Sylvie's favorite thing, a painting of Alain, the lover of Sylvie's grandmother, killed in a duel. Alain's ghost lives in the castle and Sylvie senses his presence, thinks she loves him, and fears that romance from the living will never come her way. Dad prepares a midnight surprise for Sylvie and her party guests: the appearance of the phantom. He's hired an actor, but two young men in love with Sylvie also volunteer to don white robes: Fred, the rich kid who bought the painting, and Ramure, a jewel thief in hiding. The youths declare their love, and Alain's ghost helps resolve all.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsViviane RomanceMichel SimonMax DalbanAfter an elderly maid is murdered, opinions are manipulated, evidence is planted, violence erupts, and panic ensues.
- DirectorAldo VerganoStarsElli ParvoMassimo SeratoLea PadovaniItalian resistance fighters take on the Germans
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsCarmela SazioGar MooreWilliam TubbsAmerican military personnel interact warily with a variety of Italian locals over a year and a half in the push north during the Italian Campaign of WWII as German forces make their retreat.
- DirectorEdward A. BlattStarsJohn GarfieldPaul HenreidSydney GreenstreetPassengers on an ocean liner can't recall how they got on board or where they are going yet, oddly enough, it soon becomes apparent that they all have something in common.
- DirectorAnthony AsquithStarsMichael RedgraveJohn MillsRosamund JohnThe wartime daily routine on a British bomber base in southeastern England is revealed through the eyes of newly arrived Flying Officer Peter Penrose (Sir John Mills).
- DirectorLudwig BergerMichael PowellTim WhelanStarsConrad VeidtSabuJune DuprezAfter being tricked and cast out of Bagdad by the evil Jaffar, King Ahmad joins forces with a thief named Abu to reclaim his throne, the city, and the Princess he loves.
- DirectorArturo GemmitiStarsAlberto LolliUbaldo LayGilberto SeveriSemi-documentary, made with Vatican cooperation, about the battle over a medieval abbey, exfluncticated during US General Mark Clark's drive through Italy because American military intelligence was convinced it was occupied by the Germans.
- DirectorRolf HansenStarsZarah LeanderGrethe WeiserViktor StaalDuring a leave in Berlin, Lieutenant Paul Wendlandt, a young Luftwaffe pilot, falls for Anna Holberg, a famous singer, who returns his love. But in time of war it is hard to live on love only. The lovers keep being separated on account of Paul's missions and their intended marriage ceremony is constantly postponed. To cap it all, misunderstanding sets in between Paul and Anna. Will they ever become the happy couple they deserve to be?
- DirectorRouben MamoulianStarsTyrone PowerLinda DarnellRita HayworthIlliterate peasant Juan Gallardo rises meteorically to fame and fortune in the bullfight arena only to sow the seeds of his own fall.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsEdward G. RobinsonJoan BennettDan DuryeaA man in mid-life crisis befriends a young woman, though her fiancé persuades her to con him out of the fortune they mistakenly assume he possesses.
- DirectorVincent ShermanStarsBette DavisMiriam HopkinsGig YoungOld friends Kit Marlowe and Millie Drake adopt contrasting lifestyles: Kit is a single, critically acclaimed author while married Millie writes popular pulp novels.
- DirectorSergey VasilevGeorgi VasilyevStarsBoris BabochkinBoris BlinovVarvara MyasnikovaThis film is based on the book about Vasili Ivanovich Chapaev (1887 - 1919) who was in real life the Commander of the 25th Division of the Red Army. Chapaev is an uneducated peasant and a decorated hero in the World War I and later in the Russian Civil War, that followed the Russian revolution. This man of action is fighting on the side of the poor people. His troops consist of peasants, just like him. Unable to write, he can brilliantly demonstrate various battle tactics by moving potatoes on the table. He is street smart. He never lost a battle against the experienced Generals of the Tzar's Army.
- DirectorMark DonskoyStarsAmvrosi BuchmaVenyamin ZuskinLidiya KartashyovaTaras Yatsenko and his family lead an underground battle against Nazis in Donbas.
- DirectorMikheil ChiaureliStarsMikheil GelovaniA. MansvetovAleksey GribovIn 1924, veteran Bolshevik Petrov, a resident of Tsaritsyn, carries a letter to Vladimir Lenin, to inform him of the Kulak brigands that roam the land, spreading death and misery. The Kulaks murder him. His widow, Varvara, continues his quest, joining a group that travels to Moscow. When they arrive, they discover that Lenin is dead. In the Kremlin, Vyacheslav Molotov tells Anastas Mikoyan that now, Grigory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev and Nikolai Bukharin will attempt to subvert the party by attacking Stalin, Lenin's devout disciple. Stalin, mourning his teacher's passing away, carries a eulogy in the funeral, calling for all attendants and all the people of the Soviet Union to vow to maintain his legacy. The people swear. Varvara sees Stalin and hands him over the blood-stained letter entitled "To Lenin". Varvara's son, Sergei, becomes an inventor, developing the first Soviet tractor with Stalin's encouragement. Her other son, Alexander, becomes manager of the Stalingrad Tractor Factory. Stalin leads the people of the USSR in implementing the Five-Year Plans and in industrializing their country, in spite of Bukharin's resistance. American saboteurs burn the Tractor Factory, killing Varvara's daughter, Olga. As the Germans threaten world war, Sergei travels to Paris, to warn of the impending danger. The French and the British reject Soviet warnings. As the Second World War begins, the two sons volunteer for the front. At the end of the war, Varvara and Stalin meet again in the Kremlin. Stalin kisses her hand, in recognition of the Soviet mothers' contribution to victory, telling her that soon, all that Lenin has foreseen would be fulfilled.
- DirectorKarel SteklýStarsMarie VásováLadislav BohácOleg ReifAfter a strike by underpaid, poorly housed metal workers in a Prague suburb is suppressed by the police, an angry mob attacks the luxurious home of the industrialist.
- DirectorClaude Autant-LaraStarsMicheline PresleGérard PhilipeDenise GreyDuring World War I, the star-crossed affair of an underage French student with a woman engaged to a soldier.
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsLouis JouvetSimone RenantBernard BlierA flirtatious wife runs off to meet an older man and the husband closes in with intend to murder him, but finds the deed already done.
- DirectorAlberto LattuadaStarsAldo FabriziRoldano LupiYvonne SansonGiovanni used to be a humble, mild-mannered government clerk, but his life was turned upside-down when he met Giulio. a notorious forger who at once set about manipulating the overconfident man. Giovanni did what he never should have: associated himself with the crook. Giulio soon got hold of Giovanni's money, ruined his career, and manhandled him into marrying his own mistress, the beautiful Ginevra. The marriage was unhappy, but Giovanni found a little solace when his son Ciro was born. Seven years later, Giulio returns.
- DirectorLuigi ZampaStarsAnna MagnaniNando BrunoAve NinchiA 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.
- DirectorGiuseppe De SantisStarsVivi GioiAndrea ChecchiCarla Del PoggioImmediately after the war, bandits attack a truck that is transporting newlyweds Michele and Giovanna and the accountant of an agricultural cooperative charged with bringing four million lire into office.
- DirectorWolfgang StaudteStarsHildegard KnefElly BurgmerErna SellmerAfter returning from a concentration camp, Susanne finds an ex-soldier living in her apartment. Together the two try to move past their experiences during World War II.
- DirectorBasil DeardenStarsDavid FarrarGlynis JohnsMai ZetterlingA Royal Air Force pilot who was shot down during World War II returns home to his English village with his new bride. The trouble is that she is the German lady who helped him escape. Then her brother arrives.
- DirectorViktor EysymontStarsNina IvanovaNatalya ZashchipinaAda VoytsikWoven around the daily lives of two children, nine-year-old Nastenka and five-year-old Katia, this is a story of the 17 months' siege of Leningrad and of the people and families shattered by the war, their homes bombed and destroyed, their lives in a constant anticipation of the advancing German army and air raids.
- DirectorLance ComfortStarsRobert NewtonSimone SimonWilliam HartnellA signalman on a quay sees a fight between two men. One of the men is deliberately pushed into the water and the signalman cannot save him, but decides to keep his suitcase which he later finds is full of banknotes with a value of £5000.
- DirectorAlberto CavalcantiStarsSally GrayTrevor HowardGriffith JonesAfter WW2, former RAF airman Clem Morgan joins a gang of black-market smugglers-thieves but when a robbery goes wrong, Clem is caught , framed for a policeman's murder, and is sent to prison where he plots his escape and revenge.
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsJames MasonRobert NewtonCyril CusackA wounded Irish nationalist leader attempts to evade police following a failed robbery in Belfast.
- DirectorIrving PichelStarsClaudette ColbertOrson WellesGeorge BrentAn American World War I soldier whose disfigured face is reconstructed by Austrian plastic surgeons returns home after 20 years, but no one recognizes him, his widow is married to another man, and his son is a grown young man.
- DirectorJean CocteauStarsEdwige FeuillèreJean MaraisSilvia MonfortA poet plans to assassinate an unpopular queen but falls in love with her instead.
- DirectorYves AllégretStarsBernard BlierSimone SignoretMarcello PaglieroDedee is a prostitute who works in Monsieur Rene's nightclub on Antwerp's harbour. The porter is Marco, her pimp. Dedee is not happy until she meets Francesco, an Italian sailor. They fall in love and Dedee starts to dream about escaping her daily dull grind.
- DirectorJean DrévilleTitus Vibe-MüllerStarsRaoul DautryFrédéric Joliot-CurieLew KowarskiA factual reconstruction of the sabotage which took place to prevent Germany from getting the heavy water needed to make an atomic bomb during World War II.
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsAnna MagnaniFederico FelliniPeparuoloIn part one, a heartbroken woman talks to her ex-lover on the phone. In part two, a pregnant woman believes she is carrying the child of Saint Joseph.
- DirectorRenato CastellaniStarsOscar BlandoLiliana ManciniFrancesco GolisanoA story of teenager from Rome during World War II.
- DirectorAlberto LattuadaStarsCarla Del PoggioJohn KitzmillerGiulietta MasinaAn African-American soldier stationing in Italy refuses to make a deal with local gangsters. However, when a girl he loves turns desperately to prostitution, Jerry is forced to change his mind to save her.
- DirectorLuchino ViscontiStarsLuchino ViscontiAntonio PietrangeliAntonio ArcidiaconoIn rural Sicily, the fishermen live at the mercy of the greedy wholesalers. One family risks everything to buy their own boat and operate independently.
- DirectorMario SoldatiStarsFolco LulliEnrico OlivieriRosi MirafioreA former Fascist takes his son and escapes across the border into France, where he tries to avoid being recognized and having to pay for his wartime crimes.
- DirectorLuigi ZampaStarsMassimo GirottiUmberto SpadaroAve NinchiAldo 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.
- DirectorJohn FarrowStarsRay MillandMaureen O'SullivanCharles LaughtonA magazine tycoon commits a murder and pins it on an innocent man, who then tries to solve the murder himself.
- DirectorRobert StevensonStarsDick PowellSigne HassoMayliaAfter witnessing an incident on a foreign ship off California coast, a U.S. Treasury agent aboard a Coast Guard vessel decides to further investigate the matter by following a crime trail leading to China, Egypt, Lebanon and Cuba.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesJeanette NolanDan O'HerlihyMacbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.
- DirectorGustaf MolanderStarsAlf KjellinGunn WållgrenAnita BjörkMartin and Frida married solely because she was pregnant. Later he would have a passionate side-affair with Rut. Rut's sexual feelings were highly neurotic because she had been sexually abused by her stepfather. When the chimney sweep came, she seduced him and afterward felt dirty and desperate. She found and seduced Martin. From the beginning she interspersed mean attacks. During the war he was drafted, but deserted. He and Rut hired a room by the chimney sweep. Soon Rut seriously stabbed Martin's hand with a fork and they were thrown out. But whatever Rut did, she could always "make it undone" by one word. Eventually they lived at the loft of an empty storehouse. On New Year's Eve Rut went to her mother and stepfather and demanded all cash the latter had. He gave her what was equal to four months salary for an unskilled worker. Martin believed she had got the money by prostitution. He left her and reported himself to the police. Rut promised to revenge herself. Martin was acquitted because a friend testified that he was mentally ill when he deserted. He and Rut reconciled, but she did not forget her promise. She left him when it would hurt most. He tried to kill himself, but was saved.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsMai ZetterlingBirger MalmstenOlof WinnerstrandA blind musician falls in love with a kindhearted girl.
- DirectorJacques TatiStarsJacques TatiGuy DecomblePaul FrankeurA village postman with no sense of humour delivers his mail via bicycle on the day the travelling fair comes to town. He is disrupted by a short film about US speed and efficiency and the playful teasing of the village folk.
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsSerge ReggianiMichel AuclairCécile AubryA classic tale about bitter relationships between a frivolous girl and a soldier is adapted for the post-World War II time.
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsDavid NivenMargaret LeightonCyril CusackA British aristocrat goes in disguise to France to rescue people from The Terror of the guillotine.
- DirectorAlberto LattuadaStarsCarla Del PoggioJacques SernasMario BesestiBerta Scarceni is betrothed to Orbino Verginesi and the engagement is celebrated on the floating mill of the Scarceni.
- DirectorAugusto GeninaStarsRubi DalmaMichele MalaspinaDomenico Viglione BorgheseIn 1902 in the disease-ridden Pontine Marshes, a disease-ridden region, 12-year-old Maria Goretti lives with her parents, poor farmhands, in the house of Serenelli, a heavy-drinking farmer who offered them board and lodging. Serenelli's 18-year-old son Alessandro is sexually attracted to the pious Maria, who resists his advances. One day the young man murders her because she won't give in to him. Before she dies, Maria forgives her assailant. After her death she is canonized as a saint.
- DirectorGustaf MolanderStarsBirger MalmstenEva StibergEva DahlbeckA young sailor during WWII is haunted by his past and struggles to find deliverance in his new relationship with Eva.