Anna MagnaniFilmography

Born:: March 7, 1908 in Rome, Italy
Occupation:: Actor
Biography:: Of the many foreign actresses to earn international success, most -- Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren, Gina Lollabrigida, to name a few -- were bombshells, sex symbols in the classic mold. Anna Magnani was the exception; earthy and unkempt, she was neither glamorous nor statuesque, yet radiated such...Read More

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Bellissimo: Images of the Italian Cinema

Synopsis: Survey of the history of Italian cinema, featuring clips from such classics as "Open City," "8-1/2," and "Seven Beauties," and interviews with illustrious stars and filmmakers, including Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Toto, Monica Vitti, Anna Magnani, Vittorio DeSica, Federico Fellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini Read More

9/13/86
Fellini's Roma

Actors: Britta Barnes, Federico Fellini

Synopsis: Fellini's Roma is a virtually plotless autobiographical tribute to Rome, Italy, featuring narration by Fellini himself and a mixture of real-life footage and fictional set pieces. It flows from episode to episode, beginning with the director's early years arriving in Rome in 1931 during the time Read More

3/16/72
Correva L'Anno Di Grazia 1870

Synopsis: In this politically conscious Italian drama a woman's working-class husband becomes the prisoner of the Vatican after he commits political crimes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

12/23/71
The Secret of Santa Vittoria

Actors: Anthony Quinn, Anna Magnani, Virna Lisi, Hardy Kruger, Sergio Franchi

Synopsis: Italo Bombolini (Anthony Quinn) is the mayor of the hillside village of Santa Vittorio. The wine-loving town leader erases a pro-Mussolini slogan when he hears of the fascist being killed and hanged from a meathook. His wife Rosa (Anna Magnani) throws him out of their wine shop when he and his Read More

1969
Made in Italy

Actors: Marina Berti, Anna Magnani, Andrea Checchi, Virna Lisi, Lando Buzzanca, Giulio Bosetti, Sylva Koscina, Walter Chiari, Rossella Falk

Synopsis: Made in Italy is a multistoried film, set...in Italy, of course. An all-star cast appears in brief seriocomic vignettes about rich and poor, tourist and native. Director Nanni Loy exhibits the realistic and somewhat earthy technique he'd used on his earlier documentaries, with heavy emphasis on Read More

12/22/65
Cheyenne Autumn

Actors: Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, James Stewart, Edward G. Robinson, Karl Malden

Synopsis: John Ford's last western film, Cheyenne Autumn was allegedly produced to compensate for the hundreds of Native Americans who had bitten the dust in Ford's earlier films (that was the director's story, anyway). Set in 1887, the film recounts the defiant migration of 300 Cheyennes from their Read More

1964
Le Magot De Josefa

Actors: Bourvil, Anna Magnani, Pierre Brasseur

Synopsis: Josefa (Anna Magnani) is an Italian immigrant operating a small grocery store in France. The people of the town are indifferent to her until the rumor she will receive a monetary fortune from an American gangster relation. The mayor tries to butter her up, and a stranger poses as her long-lost Read More

10/2/63
Mamma Roma

Actors: Anna Magnani, Ettore Garofalo, Franco Citti, Silvana Corsini, Luisa Loiano

Synopsis: Anna Magnani stars as Mamma Roma, a rural Italian hooker trying to create a new life for herself. This proves impossible when the past keeps rearing its ugly head in the form of Mamma Rosa's previous "johns." She returns to her old profession, whereupon her son Ettore Garofalo becomes a thief and Read More

9/22/62
Risate di Gioia

Synopsis: Also known as The Passionate Thief, this fast-paced crime comedy stars Anna Magnani as the fly in the ointment for a pair of disreputable types. Pickpockets Toto and Ben Gazzara don't want Magnani around while they ply their trade, but she manages to foul up their plans by falling in love with Read More

10/13/60
The Fugitive Kind

Actors: Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani, Joanne Woodward, Maureen Stapleton, Victor Jory

Synopsis: Fugitive Kind began life as Battle of Angels, a never-produced 1939 play by a young Tennessee Williams. Nearly 20 years later, Williams refined this rough-hewn theatrical effort into Orpheus Descending, which enjoyed a respectable Broadway run. The renamed film version stars Marlon Brando as Read More

1960
Nella Città l'Inferno

Actors: Milly, Renato Salvatori, Alberto Sordi, Anna Magnani, Giulietta Masina, Cristina Gajoni

Synopsis: This clever melodrama from director Renato Castellani stars Anna Magnani as a hardbitten prostitute whose immorality rubs off on a naive woman (Giulietta Masina) in a women's prison. Taking the innocent Masina under her wing, Magnani corrupts her, but is secretly touched by her kind heart. On Read More

1/29/59
The Awakening

Synopsis: Anna Magnani is a powerful actress who can rise above the sentimentality of this film and still give a heartwarming performance. When a child has been abandoned by his mother and her boyfriend and is placed in her care, a kindly nun finds that her love for the boy may be more powerful than her Read More

1958
Of Life and Love

Synopsis: This Italian drama is a four episode anthology based on the stories of Pirandello. The episodes were compiled from two Italian episodic films from the mid 1950s. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

1957
Wild Is the Wind

Actors: Anna Magnani, Anthony Quinn, Anthony Franciosa, Dolores Hart, Joseph Calleia

Synopsis: Wild Is the Wind represents a (perhaps deliberate) reversal of the situation in The Rose Tattoo (1955). Whereas in Tattoo, Anna Magnani played a widow who could never find a man to measure up to her late husband, in Wind her character, Giola, marries widowed rancher Gino (Anthony Quinn), who is Read More

1957
Suor Letizia

Actors: Anna Magnani, Eleonora Rossi-Drago, Antonio Cifariello, Piero Boccia

Synopsis: Directed by the incredibly prolific Mario Camerini, Suor Letizia was released in English-speaking regions as When Angels Don't Fly and The Awakening. In her first film appearance since The Rose Tattoo, Anna Magnani plays a feisty nun named Sister Letizia. Believing herself above such earthly Read More

1956
The Rose Tattoo

Actors: Anna Magnani, Burt Lancaster, Marisa Pavan, Ben Cooper, Jo Van Fleet, Virginia Grey

Synopsis: Scripted by famed playwright Tennessee Williams, The Rose Tattoo stars Anna Magnani as Serafina Delle Rose, a Sicilian woman who now lives in the American South. As the film opens, she is still mourning the death of her beloved husband, constantly telling herself stories of their time together. Read More

1955
Siamo Donne

10/22/53
The Golden Coach

Actors: Anna Magnani, Duncan Lamont, Riccardo Rioli, Odoardo Spadaro, Paul Campbell

Synopsis: Set in 18th-century South America, The Golden Coach (Le Carrosse D'Or) stars Anna Magnani as an earthy Commedia Del Arte performer. Magnani is lusted after by diplomat Duncan Lamont, who leaves both his job and his mistress to pursue the sexy actress. Also vying for Magnani's favors are a Read More

12/3/52
Camicie Rosse

Actors: Anna Magnani, Raf Vallone, Alain Cuny, Jacques Sernas, Carlo Ninchi

Synopsis: Camicie Rosse (Red Shirts) was released in most markets as Anita Garibaldi, in deference to the star status of Anna Magnani. The actress plays the wife of the great Italian patriot Garibaldi, who at the beginning of the film hovers on the brink of death, harking back to past glories. Most of the Read More

8/15/52
Bellissima

Actors: Anna Magnani, Walter Chiari, Tina Apicella, Gastone Renzelli, Arturo Bragaglia

Synopsis: This early Luchno Visconti drama stars Anna Magnani as an overbearing stage mother. Magnani's daughter (Tina Apicella) has zero talent, but Magnani raises such a ruckus at the studio after the girl's abortive screen test that the producers eventually find work for the girl. By this point, Magnani Read More

12/27/51
Volcano

Actors: Anna Magnani, Rossano Brazzi, Geraldine Brooks, Eduardo Ciannelli, Enzo Staiola

Synopsis: Released in Italy in 1950, Volcano didn't receive widespread American distribution until it was picked up by United Artists in 1953. The film is a standard "smoldering passions" yarn, with the ubiquitous Anna Magnani in the lead. In accordance with postwar Italian law, prostitute Maddelena Natoli (Magnani Read More

2/2/50
Molti Sogni Per Le Strade

Actors: Anna Magnani, Massimo Girotti, Checco Rissone, Dante Maggio, Luigi Pavese

Synopsis: Italian director Mario Camerini's most creative years were behind him when he helmed Woman Trouble in 1948. Camerini adheres strictly to formula in this story of an impoverished family man (Massimo Girotti) who turns to thievery to keep food on the table. Despite its neorealist trappings, the film Read More

1949
Amore

Synopsis: Amore was the two-part Roberto Rossellini film which introduced his notorious vignette "The Miracle." This brief character study, written by Federico Fellini, tells of an incredibly naive Italian peasant woman (Anna Magnani) who is seduced by a passing stranger whom she believes to be Jesus. Thus Read More

10/30/48
Il Miracolo

Actors: Anna Magnani

Synopsis: Both controversial and compelling, this is the story of a naive peasant girl who becomes pregnant after being seduced by a shepherd and believes that she is carrying a specially blessed child. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide Read More

1948
Assunta Spina

Actors: Anna Magnani, Eduardo de Filippo, Antonio Centa, Titina de Filippo

Synopsis: Assunta Spina, the popular stage drama by Salvatore Di Giacomo, was first filmed in 1913. This pioneering Italian feature has been hailed as a precursor to the postwar neorealist movement, so it stands to reason that the 1947 remake would star the queen of neorealism, Anna Magnani. The original Read More

1948
Lo Sconosciuto di San Marino

Actors: Anna Magnani

Synopsis: Anna Magnani provides the box-office luster for this pedestrian wartime melodrama. Filmed on location in Milan, the story revolves around a jackbooted Nazi officer. A textbook study in sadism, the officer regains his humanity when he is nursed through a raging illness by peasant woman Magnani. The Read More

1948
L'Onorevole Angelina

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Anna Magnani, Nando Bruno, Ave Ninchi

Synopsis: Anna Magnani won Best Actress at the 1947 Venice Film Festival for her stirring comic performance in this charming film, which she co-wrote with director Luigi Zampa, [$Suso Cecchio D'Amico}, and Piero Tellini. Magnani portrays Angelina, an impoverished housewife who begins a passionate battle to Read More

11/12/47
Da Bancarella a Bancarotta

Actors: Anna Magnani, Vittorio De Sica, Virgilio Riento, Laura Gore

Synopsis: The Italian Peddlin' in Society was originally released as Da Bancarella a Bancarotta. Anna Magnani stars as Gioconda, a fruit vendor who supplements her income by trafficking in black-market goods. Making her fortune, Gioconda tries to crash society, leasing a lavish villa for this purpose. Alas Read More

1947
Before Him All Rome Trembled

Actors: Anna Magnani, Gino Sinimberghi, Carlo Duse

Synopsis: The plot of the Italian Before Him All Rome Trembled bears traces of the Puccini opera Tosca. Let's go farther than that: it is Tosca, albeit in modern dress. During World War II, British agent Joop van Hulsen parachutes into Rome. He is hidden in the catacombs of the Royal Opera by Read More

1947
Abbasso la Ricchezza!

12/21/46
Il Bandito

Actors: Anna Magnani, Amedeo Nazzari, Carla Del Poggio, Carlo Campanini, Mino Doro

Synopsis: Filmed in 1946 as Il Bandido, The Bandit came to the U.S. in 1949 on the strength of the worldwide popularity of star Anna Magnani. The title character is Ernesto (Amadeo Nazzari), who turns to crime after suffering shell shock during WW II. Magnani plays Ernesto's faithful girlfriend Lydia. Their Read More

10/5/46
Un Uomo Ritorna

Actors: Anna Magnani, Gino Cervi, Al Silvani

Synopsis: Un Uomo Ritorna (aka Man's Return and Revenge) tells the tale of an Italian power-plant engineer (Gino Cervi) who finds himself jobless upon his return from WWII. With no other means of support, the embittered protagonist goes to work for the black market, selling contraband cigarettes. From this Read More

1946
Abbasso la Miseria!

11/14/45
Open City

Actors: Vito Annicchiarico, Nando Bruno, Aldo Fabrizi, Harry Feist, Anna Magnani

Synopsis: Roberto Rossellini's Roma, Città Aperta (known in English as Open City) was one of the landmark films of the 1940s on several levels. Aesthetically, it was one of the first major works of Italian neorealist filmmaking and perhaps the single most influential example of the style. Historically, it Read More

9/27/45
Campo de' fiori

Actors: Caterina Boratto, Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani

Synopsis: The postwar American popularity of Italian film stars Anna Magnani and Aldo Fabrizi resulted in the belated U.S. release of many of their earlier efforts. Completed in 1942 as Campo de Fiori, The Peddler and the Lady didn't make it to America until 1949. Per the film's English-language title, the Read More

1943
Teresa Venerdi

Actors: Vittorio De Sica, Anna Magnani

Synopsis: Doctor Beware was the U.S.-released title of Vittorio DeSica's 1941 effort Teresa Venerdi. DeSica not only directed, but played the leading role of orphanage official Dr. Vignali. The thinnish storyline finds the good doctor becoming romantically involved with three women. It is up to orphaned Read More

11/24/41
La Principessa Tarakanova

Actors: Pierre Richard-Willm, Annie Vernay, Anna Magnani

1938
La Cieca di Sorrento

Actors: Anna Magnani, Mario Steni

Synopsis: La Cieca di Sorrento (The Blind Girl of Sorrento) stars Dria Paola as the title character. The story is melodramatic to the nth degree, as a homicidal burglar endeavors to marry the sightless daughter of the man he killed. The burglar is worried that the girl will regain her vision, and he intends Read More

1936

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