Rare Cinematic Gems Sharing the Atmosphere of Maman poupée: Cult Guide

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

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Naked Truth 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 boatload of 413 women is shipped to then underpopulated colonial Australia, so they can get busy with the men there to do some propagating.

Dir: Carmine Gallone

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Bride 68 perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Based on Théophile Gautier's novel of the same name, the film tells of the tragic love affair of Ottavio de Saville. He falls madly in love with Madame Prascovie Labinska, a woman very faithful to her husband, the Polish count Olaf Labinski. Alarmed by the growing physical and mental weariness of the desperate young man, his relatives and friends decide to turn to Doctor Balthazar, who has just returned from a trip to the Indies where he was initiated into the secrets of Brahman.

Dir: Carmine Gallone

Thea is sculptor who is diagnosed with tuberculosis before she marries Filippo. After abandoning him, her health begins to decline. She organizes a final party, inviting along her estranged husband.

Dir: Carmine Gallone

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

An historical epic on the life and myths surrounding Maria Magdalene.

Dir: Carmine Gallone

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

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

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

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

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.