1940-1949 Best Italian Movies
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- DirectorVittorio De SicaStarsLamberto MaggioraniEnzo StaiolaLianella CarellIn post-war Italy, a working-class man's bicycle is stolen, endangering his efforts to find work. He and his son set out to find it.
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsAnna MagnaniAldo FabriziMarcello PaglieroDuring the Nazi occupation of Rome in 1944, the Resistance leader, Giorgio Manfredi, is chased by the Nazis as he seeks refuge and a way to escape.
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsEdmund MoeschkeErnst PittschauIngetraud HinzeA young German boy faces the problems of the tough life in the immediate post-WWII Berlin.
- DirectorVittorio De SicaStarsRinaldo SmordoniFranco InterlenghiAnnielo MeleTwo shoeshine boys in postwar Rome, Italy save up to buy a horse, but their involvement as dupes in a burglary lands them in juvenile prison; the experience take a devastating toll on their friendship.
- 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.
- DirectorLuchino ViscontiStarsClara CalamaiMassimo GirottiDhia CristianiGino, a drifter, begins an affair with inn-owner Giovanna, and they plan to get rid of her older husband.
- 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.
- DirectorGiuseppe De SantisStarsVittorio GassmanDoris DowlingSilvana ManganoTwo criminals on the run end up working in a rice field and decide to recruit other workers for their next robbery.
- DirectorVittorio De SicaStarsEmilio CigoliLuciano De AmbrosisIsa PolaFour-year-old Pricò becomes the subject of emotional folly by his capricious parents and negligent relatives.
- 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.
- DirectorRené ClémentStarsJean GabinIsa MirandaVera TalchiA French fugitive arrives in Genoa, where he becomes entangled with an Italian woman and her daughter.
- DirectorAmleto PalermiGiorgio BianchiStarsTotòTitina De FilippoSilvana JachinoMastr'Antonio Miciaccio, caretaker and shoemaker devoted to Saint John Beheaded, is trying to find out who has been stealing the oil that keeps the candle to the saint burning. He also does not approve of his daughter's boyfriend and he does not want him to marry her.
- 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.
- DirectorMario SoldatiStarsAlida ValliMassimo SeratoAda DondiniA woman of humble origins who marries a nobleman in the mid-19th century. Unfortunately, the unstoppable force of their love hits an immovable object: his grandmother.
- DirectorMarcello PaglieroStarsValentina CorteseAndrea ChecchiNando BrunoAgainst the background of Rome freed from Nazi-fascism in 1945, two personal dramas interweave between a young man, reduced to despair by his girlfriend and a still underage girl, who tries to prostitute herself to survive.
- DirectorCarlo Ludovico BragagliaStarsTotòGianna Maria CanaleCarla CalòMobster Pepé Le Mokò dies during a shootout with the police. His gang decide that his successor will be a relative of his from Naples: Antonio Lumaconi (Totò Le Mokò), a street musician.
- DirectorAlessandro BlasettiStarsMichèle MorganHenri VidalMichel SimonIn ancient Rome a love story blossoms between Fabiola, daughter of a senator, and Rhual, a Gallic gladiator. After Fabiola's father is killed, the Romans blame the Christians and the persecution begins. Rhual confesses to being a Christian, is accused of the murder and sentenced to fight to the death in the arena.
- DirectorRaffaello MatarazzoStarsAmedeo NazzariYvonne SansonAldo NicodemiFirst in a series of Matarazzo melodramas: A happily married Naples woman, with two children ,is threatened by the reappearance of a man from her past. Her husband takes a drastic action which results in the family members being separated.
- DirectorPietro GermiStarsMassimo GirottiCharles VanelJone SalinasA young, by-the-book judge is appointed to a Sicilian village controlled by corrupt leaders and the Mafia.
- 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.
- DirectorMario BonnardStarsLuigi TosiBarbara CostanovaGianni RizzoThe city of Pola is being evacuated after the peace conference of 1947 decided to assign the sovereignty to Tito's Jugoslavia. However the main character decides to stay, thinking that communism might bring him a better future. Life turns to be hard for him and his family until he changes his mind, but he is killed before he can leave the country.
- DirectorMario MonicelliStenoStarsTotòAlda ManginiLia AmandaBeniamino and his family have lived in a school since the end of World War II, but five years have passed and they are compelled to move, but finding an apartment in Rome is difficult. First he gets a job as keeper of a graveyard but during the night they mistake Checchino for a ghost and flee. Then they try lo live in the Coliseum. Lastly they find a fine, large apartment, only to find out that the same apartment has been rented to other people.
- DirectorMario MattoliStarsAnna MagnaniAntonio CentaMaria DoniniAssunta, a commoner of Naples, is scarred by her lover Michele for jealousy.
- DirectorLuigi ZampaStarsUmberto SpadaroAve NinchiEnzo BiliottiAldo 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.