35 Films from the Golden Age of Italian Cinema
Following the end of WWII, the period roughly from the mid-1940s to the mid-1950s is regarded by most film historians as the 'Golden Age' of Italian cinema. Some of the most critically acclaimed Italian films of all time were produced during this period.
These are the top 35 most popular films from the Golden Age of Italian Cinema. Which one would you most like to discover?
After voting, you may discuss the poll here.
These are the top 35 most popular films from the Golden Age of Italian Cinema. Which one would you most like to discover?
After voting, you may discuss the poll here.
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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.
- DirectorVittorio De SicaStarsCarlo BattistiMaria Pia CasilioLina GennariAn elderly man and his dog struggle to survive on his government pension in Rome.
- 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.
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsGiulietta MasinaFrançois PérierFranca MarziA waifish prostitute wanders the streets of Rome looking for true love but finds only heartbreak.
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsAnthony QuinnGiulietta MasinaRichard BasehartA care-free girl is sold to a traveling entertainer, consequently enduring physical and emotional pain along the way.
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsEdmund MoeschkeErnst PittschauIngetraud HinzeA young German boy faces the problems of the tough life in the immediate post-WWII Berlin.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesMicheál MacLiammóirRobert CooteThe Moorish General Othello is manipulated into thinking that his new wife Desdemona has been carrying on an affair with his Lieutenant Michael Cassio when in reality, it is all part of the scheme of a bitter Ensign named Iago.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorVittorio De SicaStarsEmma GramaticaFrancesco GolisanoPaolo StoppaAn open-hearted, unrelentingly energetic orphan struggles to make the best of his life on the streets of Milan.
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsIngrid BergmanMario VitaleRenzo CesanaKarin, a young woman from the Baltic countries, marries fisherman Antonio to escape from a prison camp. But she cannot get used to the tough life in Antonio's volcano-threatened village, Stromboli.
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsAlberto SordiGiulietta MasinaBrunella BovoDuring a day of their honeymoon, newlyweds are separated by the city's lust and the desires it produces.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsFernandelGino CerviVera TalchiA determined priest and a Communist mayor develop a grudging friendship in spite of their official rivalry.
- 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.
- DirectorLuchino ViscontiStarsAnna MagnaniWalter ChiariTina ApicellaA woman from the lower class desperately tries to get her daughter into the movies.
- 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.
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsAldo FabriziGianfranco BelliniPeparuoloA series of vignettes depicting the lives of the original Franciscan monks, including their leader and the bumbling Ginepro.
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsIngrid BergmanAlexander KnoxEttore GianniniA wealthy woman becomes obsessed with humanitarianism when her young son dies after committing suicide.
- DirectorFederico FelliniAlberto LattuadaStarsPeppino De FilippoCarla Del PoggioGiulietta MasinaA beautiful, ambitious young woman joins a traveling troupe of third-rate vaudevillians and inadvertently causes jealousy and emotional crises.
- DirectorChristian-JaqueStarsGérard PhilipeGina LollobrigidaMarcel HerrandSwashbuckling adventures of young army recruit Fanfan la Tulipe during the reign of King Louis XV in 18th Century France.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsAnna MagnaniOdoardo SpadaroNada FiorelliThree men of varying social standing - a viceroy, a bullfighter, and a soldier - vie for the affections of an actress in 18th-century Peru.
- DirectorMichelangelo AntonioniStarsMassimo GirottiLucia BosèGino RossiPaola is a young, beautiful woman married to a wealthy entrepreneur. She meets her former lover Guido after seven years, but their relationship is marked by tragic events.
- DirectorVittorio De SicaStarsEmilio CigoliLuciano De AmbrosisIsa PolaFour-year-old Pricò becomes the subject of emotional folly by his capricious parents and negligent relatives.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsMichel SimonGérard PhilipeNicole BesnardThe Faust story retold, with an aged alchemist accepting the gift of renewed youth from the devilish Mephistopheles.
- 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.
- DirectorMario MonicelliStenoStarsAldo FabriziTotòAve NinchiEsposito is a thief who cons tourists in Rome. Officer Bottoni manages to catch him and starts persecuting him. When Esposito manages to flee, Bottoni's superiors inform him that he'll lose his job if he can't catch Esposito.
- DirectorGregory RatoffOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesNancy GuildAkim TamiroffHypnotist uses his powers for revenge against King Louis XV's court.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsGérard PhilipeMartine CarolGina LollobrigidaA young composer has vivid dreams of the past that reflect, yet conflict with his waking life.
- DirectorAlberto LattuadaStarsRenato RascelYvonne SansonGiulio StivalBased on the Nikolai Gogol story but set in 1950s Italy, THE OVERCOAT is the story of a poor city hall clerk (Renato Rascel) whose only desire is to buy a new overcoat.
- DirectorStenoStarsTotòIsa BarzizzaFulvia FrancoIn the first Italian film to be shot in color, Totò portrays a musician named Antonio Scannagatti who strongly hopes to sell his composition, ''Epopea italiana'', to Tiscordi, who is one of the most important Italian impresarios. Will he succeed?
- DirectorRenato CastellaniStarsMaria FioreVincenzo MusolinoFilomena RussoA love story between a poor fellow and a daughter of respected workshop owner set in an Italian post-war village.
- DirectorPietro GermiStarsRaf ValloneElena VarziSaro UrzìThe story of a group of Sicilian miners and their families, and their hardships as they decide to illegally cross the border to France.
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsIngrid BergmanGeorge SandersMaria MaubanAn unhappily married couple attempts to find direction and insight while vacationing in Naples.
- DirectorLuchino ViscontiStarsClara CalamaiMassimo GirottiDhia CristianiGino, a drifter, begins an affair with inn-owner Giovanna, and they plan to get rid of her older husband.
- DirectorGiuseppe De SantisStarsLucia BosèCarla Del PoggioMaria Grazia FranciaBased on an actual incident, this is the story of five girls (told in a slow beginning) who are among the 200 women who answer a want ad for a modest secretarial position one rainy morning in Rome in 1951. They crowd and push their way into the old building and fight their way up the stairs to await an interview, only to be told there is not enough time to interview all. A scuffle breaks out and the stairway collapses sending many of them hurtling down in a mass of bodies amid brick and mortar. Among them are the well-born wife of a poor artist;, a streetwalker making an attempt to change her life; an unhappy servant girl; and the desperate wife of an unemployed factory worker. How the event changes or fails to change their lives is told.