Vittorio Cottafavi

The Devil in the Hills (1985)

It is in the late 1930s, and Cesare Pavese, a writer, with two of his friends meets a very uninhibited noble couple. ...

Maria Zef (1981)

The story of a peasant girl of fifteen, Mariute, who comes down from the Carnia mountains to the Friulian plains with her mother at the beginning of the summer. ...

Con gli occhi dell'occidente (1979)

The Persians (1975)

An adaptation of the Aeschylus play. ...

Sotto il placido Don (1974)

A film by Vittorio Cottafavi. ...

Napoleone a Sant'Elena (1973)

A reconstruction of Napoleon Bonaparte's years after Waterloo, from his exile to St. Helena until his death under mysterious circumstances: between hopes of escape and illness, the former emperor dictates his memoirs. Directed by Vittorio Cottafavi, the fi ...

L'allodola (1973)

Vittorio Cottafavi's 1973 TV adaptation of Jean Anouih's play on Joan of Arc. ...

Vestire gli ignudi (1973)

A TV movie adapted from a Pirandello play. ...

Antigone (1971)

Cottafavi's adaptation of the Greek tragedy for RAI. ...

Lady of the Camelias (1971)

Based on the novel The Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas fils. ...

I racconti di Padre Brown (1970)

I lupi (1970)

"The wolves" are the commanders of a regiment of revolutionary troops committed to defending France's borders during the Reign of Terror. One of the commanders is probably a traitor, and everyone believes it to be a former aristocrat who joined the revolut ...

Una pistola in vendita (1970)

A film by Vittorio Cottafavi. ...

Oliver Cromwell: Ritratto di un dittatore (1969)

Television movie about Oliver Cromwell. ...

Cristóbal Colón (1968)

A Vittorio Cottafavi minisseries about Christopher Columbus. ...

L'idolo delle scene (1967)

A comedy of misunderstandings caused by words. Walter Chiari is a stage actor who tries to cash a check at a public office. ...

Delirio a due (1967)

A married couple is completely absorbed in their heated argument and does not notice that war is raging outside, until bombs begin to fall on their house, devastating it. ...

La paura delle botte (1967)

A film by Vittorio Cottafavi. ...

The Trial of Saint Therese of The Child Jesus (1967)

The trial of Saint Teresa de Lisieux. ...

The Weisenthal Mission (1967)

TV film based on the search for the nazi Adolf Eichmann by Simon Wiesenthal. ...

Don Giovanni (1967)

Don Giovanni is a handsome gentleman whom women find irresistible; he is equally successful in overcoming his male rivals. Among these, however, is a commander whom he killed in a duel and who returns to torment him in the form of a statue. ...

The July Plot (1967)

The plot by a group of German officers to depose of Adolf Hitler in July 1944. ...

The Trojan Women (1967)

In 1967 the director Vittorio Cottafavi produces the TV movie Le Troiane from Euripides. He uses the classical Italian translation by Enzio Cetrangolo, but creates an original way of film adaptation, inspired by the Brechtian conception of staging the anci ...

Quinta colonna (1966)

A film by Vittorio Cottafavi. ...

La fantarca (1966)

The operetta, which was introduced from the headlines and a preamble, is initiated by a particular ballet, which then gives way to the development of the plot, in the form of operetta-musical. ...

Life of Dante (1965)

3-part biopic of Dante Alighieri made for Italian public television. Mixes reenacted scenes of Dante's public life with readings of his poems, expository narration, footage of modern-day Florence and images of old paintings and documents. ...

Le piccole volpi (1965)

A rich, corrupt Southern family plots a nefarious business deal, whilst Regina debates murdering her husband. ...

Antonio e Cleopatra (1965)

Adaptation of Shakespeare's play for Italian TV. ...

The Power of Darkness (1965)

A film by Vittorio Cottafavi based on the Leo Tolstoy play. ...

Ai poeti non si spara (1965)

A machine that creates poetry causes problems. ...

100 Horsemen (1964)

Don Fernando rallies peasants and townspeople to overthrow Moorish occupiers in medieval Spain. ...

Il giglio di quell'amore (1964)

Actors read and recite passages by Ubaldo Bertoli, Dante Livio Bianco, Piero Calamandrei, Gino de Sanctis, Paul Eluard, Alfonso Gatto, Natalia Ginzburg, Corrado Govoni, Thomas Mann, Ferruccio Parri, Salvatore Quasimodo, Mario Tobino, and Elio Vittorini rel ...

Incontro con il padre (1964)

A man's encounter with his father. ...

The Felling of the Forest (1963)

In the forested slopes surrounding the rural Tuscan village of Tirli, a group of lumberjacks work long hours felling trees in the hopes of making an ample profit. Amongst them, a recently widowed father struggles to overcome the pain of his wife's death, w ...

Il mondo è una prigione (1962)

An adaptation of Guglielmo Petroni's book. ...

Operazione Vega (1962)

In a dystopian future, two superpowers have shared the Earth, and both try to conquer the Solar System. The penal colony of Venus becomes the missile base of one of the two superpowers, but the deportees oppose the project. ...

Colloquio con un uomo disprezzato (1962)

A TV adaptation of Friedrich Dürrenmatt's play. ...

Le notti bianche (1962)

New to Livorno, a man meets a crying woman on a bridge at midnight, in this tale of love and heartbreak. Believed to be lost. ...

La trincea (1961)

On the Carso front in 1915, Italians and Austrians fight each other without mercy in a suffocating battle. In the trenches, soldiers discuss their lives while the war rages on. ...

Hercules and the Captive Women (1961)

King Androcles of Thebes commands a ship in search of a threat to Greece, predicted by an atmospheric oracle. Hercules is part of the crew, but the strongman falls overboard in a thick fog. Washed ashore, he saves a young Ismene from Proteus, an evil, shap ...

Amazons of Rome (1961)

Marching down the Italian peninsula to sack ancient Rome, Etruscan warrior Drusco instead offers to hold back his onslaught if the Romans hand over hostages, including Clelia, the sexy leader of a clan of woman warriors. But before long, intrigue and betra ...

The Revenge of Hercules (1960)

A warrior returning home to his country must battle giant bats, three-headed dogs and a vicious dragon to save his wife, and his people, from the machinations of an evil ruler. ...

Messalina (1960)

Messalina was the Roman noblewoman who inveigled ageing emperor Claudio into marriage. Once ensconced on the throne, Messalina launched a reign of terror that shook the empire to its very foundations. The subject of countless film treatments, Rome's most v ...

Toro bravo (1960)

Two cattle farmers wish to crossbreed their cattle to ensure the continuity of their respective herds. ...

Legions of the Nile (1959)

Octavio secretly sent his consul Curridio to Alexandria in a final attempt to reach peace. In the city, he meets Berenice, a mysterious and beautiful dancer who falls in love. Actually, the dancer is the queen Cleopatra who leads a double life using this n ...

False Steps (1959)

A scientist kills his rival with a perfect alibi and tries to get away with it. ...

Antigone (1958)

Faithful TV adaptation of Sophocles' tragedy. ...

The Warrior and the Slave Girl (1958)

Marcus Numidius, a Roman tribune sent to Armenia to put down a gladiators' revolt, captures the rebels' popular leader, Aselepius. ...

Doll house (1958)

A TV adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's play. ...

Hänsel e Gretel (1957)

A film by Vittorio Cottafavi. ...

L'avaro (1957)

An adaptation of Molière's play. ...

Seven Small Crosses (1957)

Based on the short story "Sept petites croix dans un carnet" by Georges Simenon. "Sette piccole croci" was the first drama, non-series (what is today called a TV movie), as well as the first police thriller to be broadcast on Italian television. The story ...

A Free Woman (1954)

Liana, an architecture graduate, is about to get married until she is confronted with the fact she is sacrificing the rest of her life for a man she barely knows. So begins a series of romantic encounters in which Liana tries to find her freedom and happin ...

In the Eddy of Sin (1954)

After years of detachment Alberto Valli returns to the home of Margherita, his widowed mother, with his mistress Germaine. ...

Jailbirds (1954)

Three jailbirds— a surgeon, a robber, and a wrongly convicted man— must adjust to their lives once released from prison. ...

In amore si pecca in due (1954)

Luisa Galli moves to Rome in search of a respectable job, but instead just finds a job as a waitress for the lawyer Giorgi. ...

Traviata 53 (1953)

An engineer has a romance with the mistress of a rich banker but she sacrifices herself,returning to the rich man, for the best interests of the lover and his family. ...

The Glorious Avenger (1953)

A group of royalists during the French Revolution make several attempts to rescue Marie Antoinette from prison, in this combination of genres: swashbuckler, melodrama, psychological drama, and historical tragedy. Based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas. ...

I Piombi di Venezia (1953)

A young Venetian officer falls in love with a slave girl. ...

Milady and the Musketeers (1952)

An official, betrayed by his lady servant, joins musketeers such as Athos, while she turns into a countess and a spy that will eventually be executed. ...

A Woman Has Killed (1952)

In 1951, two years after the "scandal" of the Fiamma che non si spegne, Cottafavi got the opportunity to work on a film with a small production company, Novissima Film. With little means, a number of technical and financial problems and working Sundays wit ...

The Flame that Never Dies (1949)

Inspired to the real story of the Carabiniere Salvo D'Acquisto. We see how, to save 22 hostages from dead sentence by Nazi, he decided to sacrifice himself. ...

Fantasmi del mare (1948)

Evocation of a dramatic episode of the Second World War told by an old guard. Boarded as a non-commissioned officer on the battleship sailed from Pola and headed south. In time of danger, the man is forced to sacrifice the lives of seven sailors and the so ...

Fire Over the Sea (1948)

A former war captain buys a wrecked ship, fixes it and starts a freight business with some fellow navy members. ...

Unknown Men of San Marino (1948)

A mysterious man, who had lost his memory, arrives in San Marino among other refugees during the Second World War. ...

Our Dreams (1943)

Leo is a young man trying to make a living without any success. Through fortuitous circumstances, he is assigned by the director of a big firm to accompany for one night the daughter of the firm's accountant, Titi. Leo pretends then to be the son of a tyco ...

Abuna Messias - Vendetta africana (1939)

The film takes place at the end of the 19th century. The Cardinal Guglielmo Massaia has spent 20 years in Ethiopia to convert people to the Catholic Church. He comes back to Italy and he tries to get the help of the government of Piedmont. The Count Cavour ...

Kino kolossal - Herkules, Maciste & Co (2000)

The Flame that Never Dies (1949)

Inspired to the real story of the Carabiniere Salvo D'Acquisto. We see how, to save 22 hostages from dead sentence by Nazi, he decided to sacrifice himself. ...

The Gates of Heaven (1945)

Episodic film with flashbacks about the lives of some sick and infirm people travelling on the same train, making a pilgrimage to the shine of Our Lady of Loreto. ...