Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
At their meeting with the head of Curci music publishers in Milan, Riccardo and Mimmo dare to mention the word "contract." Once back in Rome, the Prince shows up at the artists' circle where Mimmo is having dinner.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
Before the prince leaves the gathering in a very melancholy mood, he tells Mimmo about a job. Mimmo gets the job, but has a hard time satisfying the director (who is a bit eccentric, it must be said). Franca comes to the theater to see Mimmo at a certain point, but it might not have been the right moment.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
Franca, disappointed and hurt, goes to visit her grandmother in Sicily and writes a letter to Mimmo.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
The piazza where Mimmo and Franca perform is deserted, but everything changes once he starts singing a Tarantella. Later on, Mimmo takes Franca to one of his favorite spots.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
As Mimmo and Franca enjoy the beach and swimming in the clear water, he tells her about his childhood in the town they can see from where they are sitting.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
When they get to his hometown, there's one person Mimmo doesn't want to see and one person he does want to see. Later on, he talks to Franca about how frustrated he is about his career.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
Mimmo goes to Paris and hears some great music, but doesn't have much success with his songs. That leaves him little choice but to go to Canada. It's cold there! He keeps in touch with Franca during his travels.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
The episode closes with one of Domenico Modugno's most famous songs, Tu si' 'na cosa grande (you are something great to me), as Mimmo muses about the present and the future.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
This documentary about the life of Vittorio De Sica, Italian actor and film director, is narrated by Marco Paolini. We begin during the occupation by the Nazis. Vittorio is in Rome shooting a film.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Vittorio De Sica did different kinds of movies, both as an actor, and a director, and had great success, although critics appreciated his comedies more than his serious movies. Whatever kind of film he was directing, he laughed and cried along with the actors. They loved him.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
When the Americans bombed Rome in 1943, Maria was shooting a film in the San Lorenzo area, right where the freight yards were, the target of the bombing. Vittorio, on the other side of town, rushed to the site. Life would soon become extremely complicated and dangerous for those in the film industry.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Vittorio De Sica, along with other filmmakers and actors, does not want to be transferred to Venice, as has been mandated by the State. There, he would have to shoot propaganda movies for the Fascists. Luckily a Catholic film company wants to make a movie about a train of sick and deformed people on their way to seek miracles at the shrine of Our Lady of Loreto, a popular pilgrimage destination in the Marches region. The kind of train that carries pilgrims is called un treno bianco (a white train).
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Our narrator describes what it was like working on the set of La porta del cielo (the Gates of Heaven): the extras, the dangers, the boredom, and the strategies for keeping the cast and crew safe. He also explains how they reconstructed the railway carriages that are featured so prominently in the film.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
To recreate the environment of the San Loreto church, the Basilica of St Paul's Outside the Walls was used for the final scene of the film. The crew was accustomed to working in a non-religious setting where they could do as they liked, so it was a full-time job trying to keep their bad habits (such as smoking) in check so they wouldn't get kicked out by their hosts.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
During the filming of Heaven's Gate, there were some dicey moments where De Sica had to deal with the German troops and needed all his wits about him. At the same time his crew was cooped up in the basilica and didn't always behave as they should — in fact, tutt'altro (anything but). The narrator also mentions an anecdotal story Fellini told about his experience with the Germans.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Actors, including Alberto Sordi, who were performing at the Quattro Fontane (four fountains) theater on the fateful day of 23 March 1944 are in danger of being caught by the Germans. During the filming of his movie, De Sica leaves the safety of the basilica just once and is caught and questioned by a Nazi General about why the film is taking so long to be shot.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
The general hands De Sica a letter from Goebbels himself but since De Sica can't read German, it is translated for him ad alta voce (out loud). It's an invitation to Venice, which De Sica does not want to accept.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Vittorio De Sica put himself on the line in order to save his cast and crew, and the film he was making. This final segment describes how he managed to complete La porta del cielo (The Gates of Heaven). The song we hear at the end of this documentary is very famous and was sung by Vittorio De Sica himself for the movie Gli uomini, che mascalzoni... in which he acted. Listen to the entire song here.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Pupia.Tv – Vibo Valentia [Calabria] – Mass evacuation in Maierato, a town of 2300 inhabitants in the province of Vibo Valentia, where on Monday 15th of February 2010 an entire mountain ridge collapsed, creating a landslide close to the town’s center, putting houses at risk.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
Giuliano Montaldo tells about how he got his start, from being a ham actor in Genoa to becoming an assistant to film director Carlo Lizzani, to making his first movie.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
Giuliano tells about meeting Vera for the first time, and then he and Vera take turns telling about how their relationship developed.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Vera talks about her parents and how they met and fell in love. Her mother was a stage actress and her father a military commander.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Vera's daughter was a teenager when Giuliano began courting her mother. Giuliano tells some stories about World War II and how crazy things were.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Giuliano talks about his beginnings as a director. Vera threatened to leave him when he thought he might accept certain jobs.
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