Category Archives: Film

Roman Tragedy: Lucio Fulci’s ‘Beatrice Cenci’

Posted on April 13, 2022 by olivercraner

Guido Reni’s portrait of Beatrice Cenci retains pride of place at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica in Palazzo Barberini, just off Piazza Barberini in Rome. The old story that it was completed by Reni on the eve of Beatrice’s execution … Continue reading →

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Slaughter Commissions: Crime Films and the Italian Crisis

Posted on September 10, 2021 by olivercraner

Review of the Arrow Films box set Years of Lead: Five Classic Italian Crime Thrillers, 1973-1977 (Mario Imperoli, Like Rabid Dogs; Vittorio Salerno, Savage Three; Massimo Dallamano, Colt 38 Special Squad; Stelvio Massi, Highway Racer; Vittorio Salerno, No, the Case … Continue reading →

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In Defence of the Italian Peplum

Posted on October 27, 2019 by olivercraner

In the forward to his revised edition of The Greek Myths, written in Deya, Majorca, in 1960, Robert Graves sketched a theory:  I have had second thoughts about the drunken god Dionysus, about the Centaurs with their contradictory reputation for … Continue reading →

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The Jews in Fascist Italy

Posted on April 26, 2019 by olivercraner

And he would shake his head, with the expression of someone who, should they wish to, could even understand such subtleties and complications, but who is just not minded to. Such tiny fine discriminations, intriguing and engaging as they might … Continue reading →

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