Note: All payments on movie orders will be processed at the time of shipment. Most films are special orders, so they will take longer to ship than other products.
Special offer: every time you buy three videos, get one free! Just include the promo code MBVideo3plus1 while ordering four videos, and we'll give you the lowest-priced video free.
Open City Roberto Rossellini A beautiful video master, transferred from a new negative, of this key film of Italian Neo-Realism, shot largely during the Nazi occupation of Rome. Two resistance leaders, one a Communist, the other a priest, work toward weakening the German occupation. The cumulative power of Rossellini's feeling for his subject was translated into a visual intensity that makes the picture sometimes almost impossible to watch. With a great performance by Anna Magnani. Italian with English subtitles. Italy, 1945, 103 mins. Videocassette $37.95 DVD $44.95
Flowers of St. Francis Roberto Rossellini Rossellini's continuing investigation of the nature of history and myth in the re-telling of the story of St. Francis of Assisi and his band of friars, as they attain perfect harmony with nature. "The most beautiful film in the world" (Francois Truffaut). The DVD is a Criterion Collection Edition, and includes video interviews with actress Isabella Rossellini, film critic Father Virgilio Fantuzzi, and film historian Adriano Apra, essay by film scholar Peter Brunette, and more. In Italian with English subtitles. Italy, 1950, 75 mins. DVD $59.95
General Della Rovere Roberto Rossellini Rossellini's great moral character study is the story of Emmanuele Bardone, a petty con man, who fleeces his victims until persuaded by the Germans to impersonate a partisan leader. He assumes the admirable qualities of the heroic officer. Italian with English subtitles. Italy, 1960, 139 mins. DVD $44.95
Germany Year Zero Roberto Rossellini Rossellini's nightmarish portrait of Berlin in the immediate aftermath of WWII follows a 12-year-old boy whose family is struggling to survive. His father is fatally ill, his brother is a former Nazi soldier in hiding, and his sister has turned to prostitution. In this bleak, unforgiving world, the boy easily loses what little balance he has when he falls under the influence of a Nazi propagandist, leading to tragedy. A neo-realist classic, employing non-professional actors and a deep feel for the hopelessness of the time and place. "...a seminal psycho-visual assault, shutting the door on the traditional film-audience relationship and creating a space of unresolved uncertainty in its raw-edged immediacy" (Tina Marie Camilleri, Senses of Cinema). In Italian with English subtitles. Italy/West Germany/France, 1947, 75 mins. DVD $44.95
Italian Masterworks Vittorio De Sica/Roberto Rossellini Two classics of Italian cinema. Two Women (Vittorio de Sica, 1961, 99 mins.) stars Sophia Loren in an Academy Award-winning role as a mother ravaged by war as she and her 13-year old daughter become the focus of attack by retreating German soldiers. A heartwrenching film. Paisan (Roberto Rossellini, 1946, 115 mins.) is one of the landmarks of Italian neo-realism: six episodes of the Battle of Italy from 1943-45. Improvised dialog, non-actors, and the story of the people in the War, the film became a cornerstone of postwar Italian cinema. Both films dubbed in English. Italy, 1961/1946, 214 mins. DVD $37.95
Machine to Kill Bad People Roberto Rossellini One of the rarest and most daring of Rossellini's films. Set shortly after the end of the war, in a small Italian village, a photographer is given a magical camera that has the power to petrify and kill anyone it "shoots." The photographer decides to eliminate all the evil people from the town. But in the process, he learns the difficulty of distinguishing between good and evil. On another level, Machine to Kill Bad People is an exploitation of Rossellini's statement that the cinema is unique among the arts because it captures moments of death at work. With Gennaro Pisano, Giovanni Amato and Marilyn Buferd. Italy, 1948, 80 mins. Videocassette $44.95
Miracle Roberto Rossellini Brief, sensual and controversial film from Rossellini (source for 1952 Supreme Court case on censorship) starring Anna Magnani as a peasant woman who is convinced she is pregnant with a new Christ child. Based on a story by Federico Fellini, who appears. Italian with English subtitles. Italy, 1948, 43 mins. Videocassette $44.95
Open City Roberto Rossellini A beautiful video master, transferred from a new negative, of this key film of Italian Neo-Realism, shot largely during the Nazi occupation of Rome. Two resistance leaders, one a Communist, the other a priest, work toward weakening the German occupation. The cumulative power of Rossellini's feeling for his subject was translated into a visual intensity that makes the picture sometimes almost impossible to watch. With a great performance by Anna Magnani. Italian with English subtitles. Italy, 1945, 103 mins. DVD $44.95