Italy is a country that historically has given a lot to the art of filmmaking and Americans have always been fascinated by the Cinema Italiano (Italian cinema), finding it inspiring and of unique. Of course, the Academy has also been very sensitive to the films produced by Italy and indeed, as of 2011, Italy is the foreign country that has won more Oscars for best foreign film than any other, for a total of ten Academy Awards for Best Foreign Films and three honorary awards.
Italy has a long and strong tradition in film dubbing and lip syncing, to the point that it has probably developed the most important class of "dubbers" in the world. It all started with the first Italian films, where expressive actors who were not blessed with particularly captivating voices were dubbed by others, to the point that often not even the lines of the script were actually spoken during filming.
‘Italian Comedy' denotes a film genre that emerged in Italy in the second half of the 1950s and later developed in the 1960s and ‘70s. The term was coined by paraphrasing the title of one of the biggest hits of the earliest movies of this genre, the director Pietro Germi's Italian Divorce.
Rather than an actual genre, Italian Comedy indicates a happy period when Italy produced many different kind of comedies, all sharing common features such as satire and a bourgeois setting, and they were often characterized by a bittersweet approach to story telling.
Italy was the first country to create an avant-garde movement in film, Futurism. The Manifesto of Futurist cinema dates back to 1916 (though some experiments were occurring before then) and was signed by, among others, Filippo Marinetti, Armando Ginna, Bruno Corra, Giacomo Balla, and other notable members of the Futurists movement. The Manifesto claimed that cinema was "by nature" a futurist art, thanks to the lack of a past and traditions, but the signers did not like narrative cinema; instead they wanted movies about travel, hunting and wars, and full of quick action.
Like many other countries, the first films Italy produced were documentaries. Unlike today's, they were only a few seconds long and filmed with a simple camera; the subject matter was the news and celebrities of their time, mostly kings, emperors and popes. An early pioneer was Filoteo Alberini, an ex-cartographer of the Military Geographic Institute of Florence.
It all began in 1983 with Vacanze di Natale (Christmas Holidays), a comedy by Italian directors and screenwriters Carlo and Enrico Vanzina. The movie reunited most of the actors who played in the successful movies Sapore di Mare (Taste of the Sea, 1982) and Sapore di Mare 2 - Un Anno Dopo (Taste of the Sea 2 - One Year Later, 1983). The two romantic comedies were set in 1960s Italy amidst the economic boom of the time and played heavily on the nostalgia card.
When iconic Italian actress and showgirl Sandra Mondaini died on September 21, 2010, at age 79, the majority of Italians were saddened, but not many were surprised. Seeing Mondaini at the funeral of husband Raimondo Vianello, dead at 87 just five months earlier, it was clear how much of a toll the loss of her beloved had taken on the actress. The love and bond between the two proved too strong and the actress soon followed the husband she had met in 1958 and married in 1962.
To many it may seem like the Golden Age of Italian cinema has passed, especially if the yardstick by which greatness is measured is participation in and relevance to international projects and markets. The time of actors like Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni and the great directors like Federico Fellini has passed, but the love they receive from Italians and those around the world lives on. Roberto Benigni, Oscar-winner for Life is Beautiful (a statuette presented to him by the ageless Loren) then marked a brief resurgence of international success for Italian movies.
The so-called B movies of 1960s and 1970s Italian cinema have recently seen a revival, thanks largely to Quentin Tarantino and our culture's post-modern tendency of digging out all that is old--especially the trashy--and making it new again. In fact, the trashier the better. In the 1980s, when the future director of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction was still working in a video store, he stumbled upon a number of films by the Italian director Fernando Di Leo. How those movies made it to a video store in Santa Monica in the middle of the 1980s remains a mystery, as by then Di Leo was a forgotten figure of Italian cinema. The director's early 1970s thrillers had slipped into obscurity and his career had met a premature ending.
I believe that Italian movies are essential to understanding Life in Italy. La commedia all' Italiana shows best of Italy, always with a touch of irony.
Italian movie titles on DVD are too many to keep track without a database. However here is just a small sample of some of the best known Italian movies on DVD
Many people ask me how to watch Italian movies in the US. You will have to solve 2 problems wich are as usual harware and software. Hardware: make sure you have the right DVD player and Software: be able to get Italian movies. This first article will deal with the first issue, the hardware.
Background Information:
The world-wide DVD market, especially the Italian DVD market, includes countless titles not available in the U.S. as well as special edition discs not available in the U.S.
The Best Italian Movies, and Best Italian Comedies:
Most people consider as Italian movies only films like 'Ladri di biciclette' ( Bicycle Thieves) or 'The garden of the Finzi Contini', 'La dolce vita' as well as movies from the Taviani Brothers, Visconti, Antonioni and of course Fellini. These are movies that only few Italians actually end up watching - While most Italians will not have any idea of who Visconti is, they all will know Toto', Sordi, Manfredi, Verdone, Gasmann, Pieraccioni, Aldo Giovanni e Giacomo, etc...
Antonioni, Michelangelo: Antonioni was born in Ferrara in 1912, and became a fashionable director in the 60s, although his films are considered dated now. His most famous film was Blow Up, made in London in 1967, starring David Hemmings and Vanessa Redgrave. This film and Zabriskie Point, made in the USA in 1970, are somewhat overblown depictions of the psychedelic culture of the 60s.
Few places can match Italy for natural beauty. While Italy's countryside exudes charm, Italian city's show off their distinctive culture reflective in architecture or even the people themselves. Many successful films have been set in various areas of Italy making the country not only important to the setting but also the plot. To see many aspects of the Italian landscape and culture, consider watching these very fine films.
I believe that Italian movies are essential to understanding Life in Italy. La commedia all' Italiana shows best of Italy, always with a touch of irony. 
