Raffaello Matarazzo
Directing
Biography
Largely misunderstood, at best considered a little master of an Italian cinema in full revival after the war thanks to neo-realism, Raffaello Matarazzo is nevertheless the author of some sumptuous melodramas whose success was spectacular in post-fascist Italy. Matarazzo started writing film reviews for the Roman newspaper Il Tevere before re-editing scripts for the Italian film company Cines. His first films were comedies until he shifted to making melodramas. With Catene, produced by Titanus in 1949, he became the most successful director in Italy. Audience loved his melodramas. Critics, however, have tended to disparage his work, saying that Matarazzo films were Neorealismo d'appendice. Since the 1970s, some film critics have tried to restore Matarazzo's reputation. French magazine Positif loved his erotic-historical peplum The Ship of Lost Women.
Known For
A young woman, her sister-in-law and her ten year old daughter are violently traumatised by invading Austrian soldiers. Later, in Verona, both woman discover they are pregnant. After a suicide attempt, one has an abortion the other keeps her child - and both faces struggles with friends and family as they return to their homes.
Guai ai vinti
Anna flees her home, where she has been victimized for years by her spineless father’s mean-spirited second wife, to be with her lover, an honest businessman yet to make his fortune. When he is accused of a murder he didn’t commit, the couple’s domestic tranquillity is upended, and a desperate Anna must rely on her cruel stepmother to help support their child.
Tormento
Cousins James and Robert are in love with Susanna. When Robert and Susanna announce their engagement, James vows to ruin their happiness.
Torna!
A man wants to leave his wife for another woman, but this other woman decides not to live with him.
Amore mio
A young woman is murdered and robbed in broad daylight. A young man is arrested, in possession of some of the jewels of the victim. The passionate protests of his sister arouse the compassion of Za la Mort, who promises to help the girl.
The Opium Den
A doctor saves a girl from suicide and marries her out of pity. Soon the evil man who had pushed her to the limit taking advantage of her re-enters her life. The ensuing crisis will help the newlyweds overcome their differences and start a fresh, better new life.
The Intruder
A family drama involving a wife torn between her husband and her criminal ex-lover.
Chains
The life and loves of great composer Giuseppe Verdi are played against a background of the great operas of the 19th Century. A tender love story of his successful and turbulent life, with more than 20 excerpts from his acclaimed operas.
Giuseppe Verdi
The 19-year-old Elena, who is as pretty as she is bright, works as a rice girl for the landlord Guerrini. Having become aware of her name, he finds out that she is his illegitimate daughter of whom he knew nothing. He tries to secretly help Elena, who has fallen in love with the car mechanic Gianni. But that only creates mistrust. When Guerrini's worthless nephew harasses the girl, the situation is dramatically worse.
Rice Girl
The tragic love story, already narrated by Dante in his Inferno, of Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da Polenta. Francesca is married to Paolo's brother, Gianciotto an old and crippled man and secretly Paolo's mistress. When Gianciotto finds out tragedy ensues.
Paolo e Francesca
In this sequel to Nobody's Children, Guido still longs for Luisa, who has become a nun. Then he meets Lina, a chorus dancer who is a dead ringer for his former lover.
The White Angel
Stefano and Maria have a marriage by proxy while he is working abroad in Canada. When she is mistakenly accused of abandoning her own child and sent to jail, Stefano finds out and decides to annul their marriage.
He Who Is Without Sin...
Cerasella escapes just before her marriage with Alfredo and meets Bruno, the son of a wealthy industrialist.
Cerasella
Lina, a young woman now tired of the constant betrayals from her husband, decides to cheat on him with a mutual friend, Piero.
Adultero lui, adultera lei
Elena, after a date with his boyfriend Guido, comes home finding his father tried to kill himself with gas because he lost a lot of money due to some wrong investments.
Vortice
The tragic love story between Guido, the owner of a marble quarry and Luisa, the humble daughter of one of his employees, ends up in her giving birth to their baby boy. Giulio's mother is against them: first she sends her son abroad and then has the baby kidnapped, making Luisa think the boy died in a fire.
Nobody's Children
A former prostitute and a little Polish girl are survivors of a train crash. The woman wishes to adopt the child, but her past makes that difficult.
The Slave of Sin
Early, proto giallo set in a boarding house for girls.
The Serpent's Fang
A lawyer, married but temporarily alone at home, finds himself in the house a beautiful lady who tries to escape from her jealous husband. Fascinated by the beauty of the unexpected guest, the lawyer is determined to conquer her, in vain. But when the woman leaves, she discovers that she has been stolen some money.
Good night… lawyer!
A lieutenant spends a night of love with a mysterious woman. After a few years he discovers that the woman was married to an invalid and that the meeting had been organized to ensure an heir for the family