Luigi Uzzo

In 1914, a cruise ship sets sail from Naples to spread the ashes of beloved opera singer Edmea Tetua near Erimo, the isle of her birth. During the voyage, the eclectic array of passengers discovers a group of Serbian refugees aboard the vessel. Peace and camaraderie abound until the ship is descended upon by an Austrian flagship. The Serbians are forced to board it, but naturally they resist, igniting a skirmish that ends in destruction.

An episodic satire of the political and social status of Italy in the seventies, through the shows of one day of a television channel.

After losing a finger in a work accident, an Italian worker becomes increasingly involved in political and revolutionary groups.

A story about a singer/showgirl who poses as a nurse to recover some stolen paintings, which for some reason are hidden in a military insane asylum.

After thirty years in the big corporation, Ugo Fantozzi retires. Suddenly, he needs things to do in everyday life and he tries a number of activities: helping Pina shopping; babysitting grand-daughter Uga; a trip to Venice; learning golf. He then fakes documents to get a new job, but in the end he becomes a hypochondriac and doesn't even take a long-awaited chance with Miss Silvani.

An orchestra assembles for a rehearsal in an ancient chapel under the inquisitive eyes of a TV documentary crew, but an uprising breaks out.

The Roman Catholic Pope is planning a reconciliatory meeting with the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, an event awaited for many generations. But suddenly, right while the Pope is addressing the crowds gathered in the Piazza Navone, a nun is assassinated by a Ukrainian, placing the upcoming talks between the two leaders in jeopardy. And the head of the American diplomatic corps (the nun was an American) assigns the investigation of the killing to one of his underlings, which leads the young man to investigate the Russicum, a center for the study of Russia within the Vatican city. And from there he finds himself caught up in an intrigue of international proportions, filled with agents and double agents, and ending with a revelation most unexpected.

An anthology film in which a guardian angel falls in love with a beautiful dancer a policeman must keep an eye on an arrested transvestite, and a dental technician sells his soul to the devil but is not satisfied with the results.

Set during a retreat of Christian Democrat politicians who practice spiritual exercises together, it is an allegory of corrupted power. Disturbing, claustrophobic settings are the background to a series of mysterious crimes.

The film is divided into two episodes, The Hair of Disgrace and The Magician, both focusing on the theme of the occult and beliefs. The title translates as "Eye, Evil Eye, Parsley and Fennel".

At the local cinema, an audience watches a Spaghetti Western matinee. During the film's on-screen climactic duel, a bullet is fired into a patron. With no leads and a theater full of suspects, police investigators lock the doors, put everyone back in their seats, and run the movie again. But will this shot in the dark reveal the real killer?

A judge on crusade to take down the Italian Mafia uses a gangster turned state's witness (a so-called "repenter") and a New York banker to do it. But things aren't quite what they seem.

In Naples, Professor Bellavista is a retired man, passionate about the philosophy and thought of Ancient Greece. Every day, in his luxurious apartment, he teaches his lessons of life to the poor-nothing (his friends), who are dazzled by his reasoning. One day, however, the quiet life of the building of Bellavista will be disturbed by the arrival of a director of Milan. Between Naples and Milan there contrast, because the Neapolitans are accustomed to enjoy a quiet life, always based on the "philosophy of pleasure and delay", while the northern Italians are very strict and punctual.

A doorman and a street cleaner, intrigued by the passage of Halley's Comet, ask Professor Bellavista if they can observe the sky through his telescope. The two, instead of observing the comet, end up framing a window of the apartment opposite and believe they have discovered a crime. So they set out in search of the body.

A retired actor's search for his stray pet strings together this episodic portrait of the ancient Roman quarter.

Don Salvatore Savastano, a boss involved in the smuggling of contraband cigarettes, is forced to watch four masked robbers kill his wife and his only son in a restaurant where he and his family are celebrating the young boy's first Holy Communion. From that moment on Don Salvatore has no other purpose in life but to get his revenge on the four assassins.

A young fisherman from Pozzuoli, Gino Esposito, is in love with the sixteen-year-old Laura who reciprocates him with passion; but her family is opposed to the idyll and even goes so wildly to beat the young man. The two pigeons, however, on the advice of the common friend Tito, flee to Venice but are immediately resumed; she is brought back home, he in prison for a minor rat. Laura marries Tito to save Gino from prison. So they spend about ten years, the two lovers meet again by chance in the record store that he has opened and they discover they still love each other. Gino remained a widower with a lively little boy, Duccio; Laura has a daughter Lisa, whom her father Titus adores. The marriage without love of Laura, after the meeting with Gino, goes into crisis. Tito is jealous of his wife who now hates him; so to take revenge on his rival he decided to have a bomb put in Gino's shop.

Luca Cupiello, like every Christmas, prepares the crib, amid the disinterest of his wife Concetta and his son Tommasino. Ninuccia, the other daughter, writes a letter to her husband in which she communicates that she leaves him for her lover. The letter happens in the hands of Luca who hands it over to his son-in-law, who thus learns of his wife's betrayal. During lunch on Christmas Eve, the two rivals, who were confronted by Luca's carelessness, clash violently.

A small town has its placid waters rocked when a 120-piece orchestra is slated to visit on a regular basis to offer special concerts to the community and its environs. The honor of conducting the orchestra seems like it will fall to Francesco (Michele Placido), the community's most well-established music teacher, and to insure his success, his ambitious wife starts sleeping with one of the organizers of the future concerts. Meanwhile, a disgruntled member of the organizing committee decides to muddy the waters by suggesting that another conductor (Andrea, a friend of Francesco's) be hired. Andrea is also a native son who went to the big city to find conducting work but ended up doing television jobs instead. When he receives the call about the prestigious job opportunity, he enthusiastically goes to the town but his wife refuses to join him.

Everything revolves around a musical theater production staged by a modest Sicilian director who has to direct young inmates at the juvenile detention center in Nisida. However, the rehearsals, the performance at the San Carlo Theater in Naples, and the real and touching events of the city alternate without any consistency.

La Sciantosa is part of a project created by writer/director Alfredo Gianetti for the Italian TV. The objective was to portrait a hundred years of Italian history through three movies, all of them with Anna Magnani. The other two are "1943: un incontro" and "L'autmobile". In this first movie, La Magnani is Flora Torres, a "sciantosa" (kind of a small stage diva) who is forgotten during the WWI, living only to remember her past glory. One day she receives a letter to present herself to the high command. There, Flora is called to go to the front and entertain the troops. Along with her maid Cristina, Flora goes to the front. There they are welcomed by the young private Tonino (Massimo Ranieri). Flora starts to act like a prima donna, making absurd demands to everyone. But when she is about to present herself, the vision of the wounded soldiers makes her change her way

Journey back more than 400 years to 16th century Sicily, where the small Italian islands have fallen victim to corruption, intimidation, extortion, and brutality.