A lucky letter for the history of cinema: among the Italian films Bicycle Thieves by Vittorio De Sica from 1948, based on a story by Cesare Zavattini and The Legend of the Holy Drinker, by Ermanno Olmi from 1988, based on a story by Joseph Roth . Among the international ones we propose Red Lanterns by Zhang Yimou from 1991, Lawrence of Arabia by David Lean from 1962, Leon by Luc Besson from 1994 and Limelight by Charlie Chaplin from 1952. Each of these has left an indelible mark: the film by De Sica deserves him the second Oscar after Sciuscià and makes him known throughout the world as the author of one of the manifestos of Italian neorealist cinema; for Olmi, on the other hand, it is his first film after Albero degli zoccoli with a subject not of his own conception.
For others, Chinese director Yimou's film marks an important point in the contemporary film panorama of the Far East, while the story of the English officer in Arabia allowed Lean to win 7 Oscars. Besson, on the other hand, has proposed a film that is as tough and violent as it is charged with humanity as it rarely happens to see. On Chaplin's last important film, on the other hand, there is only the problem of finding the right place in the home film library: just remember the sequence of him playing the violin and Buster Keaton at the piano.
As for the directors, we propose Fritz Lang, a great signature of German expressionism. Among his debut films Doctor Mabuse of 1922 where he exposes the difficulties of men in that period and of Germany in particular on the eve of the advent of Nazism. In the same vein, he will sign his last work in 1960 with The Testament of Doctor Mabuse. In 1926 he created his masterpiece: Metropolis which, in 1982, will be re-edited with the soundtrack by Giorgio Moroder. In the following years he will be the director of many other films, among which M. The Dusseldorf monster of 1929 deserves to be remembered.
Considered the father of the Italian Western, Sergio Leone is among the most representative directors for innovation and talent. In 1964 he began his career with the trilogy that will give him international success: A Fistful of Dollars from 1965 followed by For a Few Dollars More and the following year The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. His very original style, his way of making cinema and telling the great epic of the conquest of the west with images, together with the soundtrack often signed by Ennio Morricone, fully enrolls him among the most important signatures of Italian cinema. Once upon a time in the West of 1968 will follow, then Giù la testa and finally he closes with his cinematic testament in 1984 with Once upon a time in America, where he paints the end of the legendary era told in the previous films.
Carlo Lizzani made his debut in the wake of Italian neorealism in 1951 with Acthtung! Bandits where his cut of cinema emerges which looks to the documentary and to the chorus of the protagonists. From a subject by Vasco Pratolini, he also signed Chronicles of poor lovers in that period. In the vein of news and current affairs, he concludes his career with titles such as Mamma Ebe and Caro Gorbachev to then pay homage to his maestro Roberto Rossellini of Rome, an open city with Celluloid.
Finally, two legendary figures of national cinema: Sofia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida. The first begins with small parts where it emerges for the sunny and overbearing Mediterranean beauty to get to the big limelight with Vittorio De Sica in 1954 with L'oro di Napoli. He finds great success after an American break, again with De Sica in La ciociara of 1960, based on a story by Alberto Moravia, with which he wins the Oscar and Cannes. To remember A particular day by Ettore Scola from 1977 with Marcello Mastroianni. In 1994 he won the Oscar for his career.
Lollo, the same age and contemporary of Sofia, is also a "victim" of her beauty and character. The films that made her known to the general public are first Pane amore e fantasia by Luigi Comencini from 1953 and then La romana from 1954 by Luigi Zampa. Other lesser-known films will follow but which will keep her style and her iconic image of Italian cinema unchanged.
