Editor's Top Picks Sharing the Atmosphere of Malombra: Cult Guide

Dir: Carmine Gallone

Alexandra swore to avenge her father's murder- and in a moment of frenzy, plunged a dagger into the heart of the man she believed guilty But he was innocent-and the law descended to force Alexandra to pay the full price for her crime.

Dir: Carmine Gallone

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Fior di male perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Lyda is a prostitute with no education and no hope for the future. Unfortunately, this ungrateful job leads her to have an unwanted pregnancy, and once born the child abandons her.

Dir: Carmine Gallone

An unemployed youth pretends to be the long lost son of an elderly industrialist but after helping the man with his business decides to confess his dishonesty and go away.

Dir: Carmine Gallone

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Un fils d'Amérique perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Carmine Gallone

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Carmine Gallone

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Maman poupée perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

The painter Pierre Bernier becomes famous thanks to the portrait "The Naked Woman" which represents his model, the seductive Lolette. The very evening of his triumph at the Salon des Expositions, he decides to marry her. But, having become rich and famous, he soon falls in love with the Princess of Chaban and abandons the woman to whom he owes his success.

Dir: Carmine Gallone

A young duchess who, after her husband's death, marries a young military captain, but keeps the marriage a secret in order that she may continue to enjoy the property which she conditionally inherits. When the captain is ordered to the front the Duchess vainly tries to hold him back. She writes him that she is going to become a mother and asks his advice He urges her to proclaim the fact of their marriage. Both are aware that this confession means tho loss of the inheritance, and Helen cannot face love in a cottage. She determines to evade the role of motherhood, and when her husband returns and asks for the child she tells him that her letter was merely a ruse to get him back. For a time the captain believes her. But a blackmailing nihilistic doctor Bets a thought germinating in the brain of a dwarf who has been dismissed by the Duchess, and through his instrumentality, the conscience-stricken woman is literally blown by a bomb into eternity. A subsidiary plot centres about the statue of Nemesis which is unearthed in the grounds of an old monastery after being buried, some hundreds of years.

Dir: Carmine Gallone

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Celle qui domine perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

While proceeding to the seat of war with his young wife, an Italian officer meets an old lover and once again falls to her charms. The ship is wrecked and the three, unknown at first to each other, are saved. The wife, having witnessed her husband's perfidy, joins an old circus clown and hides her identity. Though discovered by a brother officer, she refuses to make herself known until her husband's life is in danger through the treachery of her rival. Her appearance, as his nurse, is the signal for a happy reconciliation.

Dir: Carmine Gallone

Epic, melodramatic and rather risque adaptation of the British novel about ancient Roman decadence, culminates in the eruption of a nearby volcano.

Dir: Carmine Gallone

An English rich woman travels to Naples seeking distraction. She finds it in her Italian guide, who has such a voice for singing she decides to make him famous, taking him with her to London and offering help for an operatic career.