I have a Bob Hope comedy she did, still to watch: PARIS
HOLIDAY , and I love her late 50s period when she was
totally stunning, as in ZARAK, INTERPOL, BACK FROM ETERNITY and SCREAMING MIMI, and that oddball western VALERIE, in 1957 with her husband Anthony Steele.
Then of course the two Fellini's and lesser films .... and sizzlers like that KILLER NUN!
Then of course the two Fellini's and lesser films .... and sizzlers like that KILLER NUN!
For me, she is up there with Loren, La Lollo, Silvana Mangano, Monica Vitti and
Claudia Cardinale. They just don't make them like that any more. Watching her
with Martin & Lewis you see her sense of humour, she is bemused by her own
voluptiousness and how it affects men.
Expect lots of that Trevi fountain scene on the news bulletins.
In a 1980 interview she is quoted: "I have no regrets. I have loved, cried, been mad with happiness. I have won and I have lost".
Francosco Rosi. (1922-2015), aged 92. Veteran Italian director and writer of political films like SALVATORE GIULIANO (1962), HANDS OVER THE CITY, 1963. THE MATTEI AFFAIR, THE MOMENT OF TRUTH about bull-fighting, LUCKY LUCIANO, CHRIST STOPPED AT EBOLI, ILLUSTRIOUS CORPSES, the 1984 CARMEN, CHRONICE OF A DEATH FORETOLD and the charming, oddball fairy tale C'ERA UNA VOLTA (MORE THAN A MIRACLE) in 1967, with Loren at her zenith. He also scripted Visconti's BELLISSIMA for Magnani. His films dealt with power , poverty, corruption - his commitment to social issues made him heir to the Italian neo-realists of the postwar years, and perhaps with Fellini, Antonioni and Visconti he was one of the last of the giants of the Italian cinema, while not been as internationally famous.
Good gracious! Hard times for Italy's film legacy what with Virni Lisi and now Rosi and Ekberg. I know she was Swedish by birth but her main success came in Italy. I just happened to catch her in Back from Eternity last week. They were showing it back to back with the original Five Came Back where Lucy!! played Anita's part. An interesting contrast. Sadly her last years don't appear to have been as peaceful as Miss Lisi's. Sad.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. Monica Vitti too has been unwell and not seen for some years, seems she may have Alzheimers. and is also 83 now. .... Anita should have married well.... Back From Eternity is a great treat, I saw it as a kid and forgot about it until some years ago when I enjoyed it all over again.
ReplyDeleteTo her credit Anita did not sell herself off to the highest bidder by marrying well, and - like Bardot - aged naturally. The likes of Jane Fonda and Dame Collins with all their "work done" look ridiculous by comparison.
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