Vittorio Cottafavi

Vittorio Cottafavi's 1973 TV adaptation of Jean Anouih's play on Joan of Arc.

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A TV movie adapted from a Pirandello play.

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Adaptation of Molière's play.

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An adaptation of Joseph Conrad's first novel, taking us to the Malaysian mangrove forests against a backdrop of colonial decadence.

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Set in 1973, a team of scientists decipher a mysterious signal from space and discover that it provides instructions to build a powerful super-computer. Once built, this computer provokes argument between two of leading team members, Fleming and Dawnay, over the machine's real intentions as it provides further instructions to create a living organism, which Dawnay starts to develop. Later it appears to compel lab assistant Christine to commit suicide, and when the organism is fully developed, it appears in the exact form of Christine, and named Andromeda. But what is the purpose of this "creature"?

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Cottafavi's adaptation of the Greek tragedy for RAI.

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Renato Rascel dons the priest-detective's cassock and, with irony and wit, embodies the character of Father Brown in the six episodes that make up the series. Endowed with a great humanity that allows him to “read” hearts, the protagonist, assisted by the repentant thief Flambeau, solves the cases that arise by resorting to psychological insights that are every bit as good as those of Agatha Christie or Georges Simenon. The series, produced by Rai and broadcast on Rai Uno in prime time, was a huge success with critics and audiences alike and also marked Renato Rascel's personal breakthrough as a comedy actor. He also wrote the theme song, which topped the charts for many weeks.

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Based on the novel The Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas fils.

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"The wolves" are the commanders of a regiment of revolutionary troops committed to defending France's borders during the Reign of Terror. One of the commanders is probably a traitor, and everyone believes it to be a former aristocrat who joined the revolution out of self-interest. However, the traitor is someone else.

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A film by Vittorio Cottafavi.

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Television movie about Oliver Cromwell.

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Vittorio Cottafavi's four part series on the life of Christopher Colombus

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A comedy of misunderstandings caused by words. Walter Chiari is a stage actor who tries to cash a check at a public office.

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A married couple is completely absorbed in their heated argument and does not notice that war is raging outside, until bombs begin to fall on their house, devastating it.

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A film by Vittorio Cottafavi.

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The trial of Saint Teresa de Lisieux.

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TV film based on the search for the nazi Adolf Eichmann by Simon Wiesenthal.

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Don Giovanni is a handsome gentleman whom women find irresistible; he is equally successful in overcoming his male rivals. Among these, however, is a commander whom he killed in a duel and who returns to torment him in the form of a statue.

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The plot by a group of German officers to depose of Adolf Hitler in July 1944.

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In 1967 the director Vittorio Cottafavi produces the TV movie Le Troiane from Euripides. He uses the classical Italian translation by Enzio Cetrangolo, but creates an original way of film adaptation, inspired by the Brechtian conception of staging the ancient theater. He does not use costume or set design, but is based only on the simple performance of the actors, highlighted by the shooting technique. The absolute sense of tragedy is perceived by the public through emotional engagement and imagination. So, the Trojan war is all the wars and the pain of the Trojan women is the pain of all the victims of any war.

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The story tells of Mr. Rowe, who was involved in Nazi espionage plots in the 1940s. In an attempt to shed light on his story and the role he is supposed to play, the man ends up at the center of a complicated story that, starting with a premonition announced to him by a gypsy, ends up seeing him as the protagonist of a poignant love story, a loss of memory, and a consequent hospitalization in a psychiatric hospital. Only at the end of the story does the protagonist arrive at a partial clarification of his position.

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The operetta, which was introduced from the headlines and a preamble, is initiated by a particular ballet, which then gives way to the development of the plot, in the form of operetta-musical.

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Part of a trilogy of “Famous Lives” conceived by Angelo Guglielmi, Vittorio Cottafavi's television series is a rigorous reconstruction of the biography of the great poet, alternating between fiction and documentary sequences.

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A rich, corrupt Southern family plots a nefarious business deal, whilst Regina debates murdering her husband.

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Adaptation of Shakespeare's play for Italian TV.

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A film by Vittorio Cottafavi based on the Leo Tolstoy play.

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Set in 1973, a team of scientists decipher a mysterious signal from space and discover that it provides instructions to build a powerful super-computer. Once built, this computer provokes argument between two of leading team members, Fleming and Dawnay, over the machine's real intentions as it provides further instructions to create a living organism, which Dawnay starts to develop. Later it appears to compel lab assistant Christine to commit suicide, and when the organism is fully developed, it appears in the exact form of Christine, and named Andromeda. But what is the purpose of this "creature"?

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Vittorio Cottafavi's four part series on the life of Christopher Colombus

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In 1967 the director Vittorio Cottafavi produces the TV movie Le Troiane from Euripides. He uses the classical Italian translation by Enzio Cetrangolo, but creates an original way of film adaptation, inspired by the Brechtian conception of staging the ancient theater. He does not use costume or set design, but is based only on the simple performance of the actors, highlighted by the shooting technique. The absolute sense of tragedy is perceived by the public through emotional engagement and imagination. So, the Trojan war is all the wars and the pain of the Trojan women is the pain of all the victims of any war.

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Don Fernando rallies peasants and townspeople to overthrow Moorish occupiers in medieval Spain.

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On the Carso front in 1915, Italians and Austrians fight each other without mercy in a suffocating battle. In the trenches, soldiers discuss their lives while the war rages on.

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Octavio secretly sent his consul Curridio to Alexandria in a final attempt to reach peace. In the city, he meets Berenice, a mysterious and beautiful dancer who falls in love. Actually, the dancer is the queen Cleopatra who leads a double life using this name.

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In 1951, two years after the “scandal” of the Fiamma che non si spegne, Cottafavi got the opportunity to work on a film with a small production company, Novissima Film. With little means, a number of technical and financial problems and working Sundays with the pieces of film given to him bit by bit, Cottafavi shot Una donna ha ucciso, a minor film that marked his comeback to directing. (Gianni Rondolino)

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Inspired to the real story of the Carabiniere Salvo D'Acquisto. We see how, to save 22 hostages from dead sentence by Nazi, he decided to sacrifice himself.

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A former war captain buys a wrecked ship, fixes it and starts a freight business with some fellow navy members.

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A mysterious man, who had lost his memory, arrives in San Marino among other refugees during the Second World War.

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Leo is a young man trying to make a living without any success. Through fortuitous circumstances, he is assigned by the director of a big firm to accompany for one night the daughter of the firm's accountant, Titi. Leo pretends then to be the son of a tycoon and takes her to a luxurious restaurant.

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The film takes place at the end of the 19th century. The Cardinal Guglielmo Massaia has spent 20 years in Ethiopia to convert people to the Catholic Church. He comes back to Italy and he tries to get the help of the government of Piedmont. The Count Cavour, although he appreciates the Cardinal's deeds in Africa, cannot grant his Cabinet's support to the Cardinal's plans. The missionary man, trusting the Divine Providence, goes back to Africa by himself. The Cardinal, who is known among the people as Abuna Messias, becomes a friend of king Menelik. The support of the king is fundamental to spread his word and accomplish his mission. The Head of the Coptic Church, Abuna Attanasio, does whatever he can to prevent Massaia from reaching his goals and to get him exiled from Ethiopia. Menelik refuses to help Abuna Attanasio, who decides to address the Emperor, thus igniting a war between the Emperor and his subject Menelik. In order to end the war, the Cardinal decides to leave Africa.

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