Franco Cristaldi
Birth : 1924-10-03, Turin, Piedmont, Italy
Death : 1992-07-01
History
Franco Cristaldi (Turin, 3 October 1924 – Montecarlo, 1 July 1992) was an Italian film producer, credited with producing (or co-producing) feature films from the 1950s to the 1990s.
In 1946 Cristaldi founded Vides Cinematografica in Turin. This production company initially produced short and documentary films, and would later be renamed to Cristaldifilm in the 1980s.
In the 1950s, Cristaldi changed his attention to feature films and moved to Rome. During his long career, he worked with directors and screenwriters such as Francesco Rosi, Pietro Germi, Mario Monicelli, Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, and Giuseppe Tornatore. A noted film producer from some years in his native Italy, some of Cristaldi's most successful films internationally included The Name of the Rose and Nuovo cinema Paradiso. (The former winning a César and two BAFTAs, and the latter winning several BAFTAs, the Grand Prix at Cannes, and Best Foreign Language Film at the 62nd Academy Awards).
In 1977 Cristaldi was elected president of the International Federation of Film Producers Associations, and was a member of the jury at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival.
Cristaldi was born in Turin, Italy in 1924, and studied at university for a time before focusing his interests on cinema.
He was first married to Carla Simonetti with whom he had a son, Massimo. He applied to the Vatican to have this marriage annulled, and from 1966 lived with actress Claudia Cardinale. Cristaldi claimed to have married Cardinale, but she refuted this, saying he threw a marriage party, without ever officially marrying her. He mentored Cardinale through her own film career, producing many of her films, until their separation in 1975. In 1983, he married Eritrean actress Zeudi Araya, who starred in several Cristaldi-produced films.
Franco Cristaldi died in Montecarlo in 1992, survived by his wife Zeudi, son Massimo, and adopted son Patrick, the son of Claudia Cardinale.
Source: Article "Franco Cristaldi" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Producer
The boy Vito is a portrait of beauty and wide-eyed innocence spawned from a violent family of kidnapers and murderers in the South of Italy. When his entire family is murdered by a rival clan of kidnapers, Vito must flee for his own life and in the end attempts to make atonement for some of his family's sins.
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A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village's theater and formed a deep friendship with the theater's projectionist.
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In 1956, with the independence of Morocco, the Fedala conference in Tangier is set in a city of turmoil.
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An experiment of psychological effects under stressful conditions in a shelter. When fifteen strangers are put into a nuclear shelter to see how long they can survive without interaction with the outside, things work out fine.
Self
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14th-century Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his young novice arrive at a conference to find that several monks have been murdered under mysterious circumstances. To solve the crimes, William must rise up against the Church's authority and fight the shadowy conspiracy of monastery monks using only his intelligence – which is considerable.
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In 1914, a cruise ship sets sail from Naples to spread the ashes of beloved opera singer Edmea Tetua near Erimo, the isle of her birth. During the voyage, the eclectic array of passengers discovers a group of Serbian refugees aboard the vessel. Peace and camaraderie abound until the ship is descended upon by an Austrian flagship. The Serbians are forced to board it, but naturally they resist, igniting a skirmish that ends in destruction.
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During a war between heathens and Christians, love blossoms between crusader Bradamante—a female knight wearing an invincible suit of armor—and Moorish prince Ruggero. A sorceress predicts to Bradamante that her beloved will die in battle at the hand of a fellow Christian paladin, Rolando, who in turn is in love with Moorish princess Isabella, Ruggero's sister.
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Aliens send a hypnotic signal through a TV channel, and the signal makes people dance and makes them forget their fears.
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Piero arrives in Paris from Luino after having won a pool tournament with friends. In the train he meets the famous place Ramazzini and has so many incidents that culminated with his arrest and the confiscation by the commissioner Juvet. Released, find randomly hospitality at the madame Lenormand and know the great painter Valentine. Both women are tied up, as a wife and lover, Maurice, in prison for robbery. A day Piero wears a mistake and the coat of astrakhan, Maurice, and then...
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An Italian laborer foils anyone who tries to stop him from selling espresso on the Milan-to-Naples night train.
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Playwright irreparable failure is betrayed by a concubine with the lawyer that finances the charade. But one day arrives at his house Honey, Eastern African domestic workers to first service, to boot, is a billionaire and of royal blood.
Associate Producer
Spain, 1973. Dictator Francisco Franco has ruled the country since 1939 with an iron fist; but he is now a very old and sick man. The future of the weakened regime is in danger. Admiral Carrero Blanco is his natural successor. The Basque terrorist gang ETA decides that he must die to prevent the dictatorship from continuing.
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In the fascist Italy of 1935, a painter trained as a doctor is exiled to a remote region near Eboli. Over time, he learns to appreciate the beauty and wisdom of the peasants, and to overcome his isolation.
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Annalisa is married to Marco, a journalist too busy with her career, who neglects her even though she loves him deeply. He therefore decides to find another husband, the university professor Antonio, who marries without the first being able to notice it. Until she gets pregnant. David di Donatello 1979 for Monica Vitti.
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Since her husband pronounced her frigid on her wedding night, Antonia De Angelis has been an invalid. When he disappears, she believes him dead: she leaves her sickbed and takes over his business, traveling to see clients. She discovers her husband's passions, his political writing, mistresses, and his indifference to the peasants on her family's land. The husband is forced to watch from a distance as his wife blossom socially in his absence; then the plot thickens.
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A shipwreck strands a modern Italian businessman on a desert island. Like Robinson Crusoe he must find a way to return to civilization; unlike him--he's a 20th-century man, a totally different case.
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A young aspiring director steals a silent movie camera to make his movie.
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Two racy women decide to chuck their mundane lives and go on a wild adventure.
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Four episodes. A pilot is ready to change sex, but the doctor made an error. A woman is searching a partner for a dance contest. A worker seduce his boss wife. A guard is too much proactive and this will cause many troubles.
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In an Italian seaside town, young Titta gets into trouble with his friends and watches various local eccentrics as they engage in often absurd behavior. Frequently clashing with his stern father and defended by his doting mother, Titta witnesses the actions of a wide range of characters, from his extended family to Fascist loyalists to sensual women, with certain moments shifting into fantastical scenarios.
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Lucky Luciano is one of the bosses of the Mafia. He orders the slaughter of 40 other responsibles, therefore becoming the only boss. But a few years later he is put into jail. In 1946, he got a pardon and is sent back to Sicilia. There, he begins becoming one of the chief of the Mafia. The US Army seems to refrain from interfering.
Executive Producer
Lady Caroline Lamb, dissatisfied in her marriage, has an affair with the dashing Romantic poet Lord Byron.
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The real-life courage and audacity of aeronautic acrobats whose ground life is often as exciting as flight maneuvers.
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Caustic satire on bureaucracy of the Vatican authority and a simple Italian who wants to achieve the audience with the Pope.
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Enrico Mattei helped change Italy’s future, first as freedom-fighter against the Nazis, then as an investor in methane gas through a public company, A.G.I.P., and ultimately as the head of ENI, a state body formed for the development of oil resources. On October 27, 1962, he died when his private airplane crashed during a flight to Milan. Officially, it is declared an accident, but many journalists explore other plausible reasons for Mattei's untimely death.
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In 1958 Angelo, a rich and spoiled boy, enters a religious school, where students are tired of its vice-rector, and the strict rules and old-fashioned teaching methods of priests. Soon, Angelo exerts strong leadership among his peers and incites turmoil among them, helped by intellectual Franco and shy Camma. They expel the prefect from the school, organize a Grand Guignol show, and disappear the corpse of an old professor.
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Hoping to shake up the complacent Italian Communist Party, a group of leftist radicals sends an incendiary letter to a major evening newspaper declaring their intention to volunteer to fight American troops in Vietnam as a political statement against the war.
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Torn by personal guilt, Italian General Umberto Nobile reminisces about his 1928 failed Arctic expedition aboard the airship Italia.
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Giordano is a young man from Milan who accepts a ride from a married American couple sightseeing in Italy. The husband is an older and worldly professor of archaeology while his wife is interested in exploring living things. The young hitchhiker is seduced by the beautiful wife, while her husband continues to gaze at ancient ruins.
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Relatives brawl over the estate of a deceased grandmother who owned an insecticide factory.They stop at nothing, including bumping each other off.
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Italy, 1972. Political elections are taking place and Christian Democrat victory is expected; but the electronic computer of the Ministry of the Interior reveals that the party with the highest number is the Italian Communist Party.
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Three friends meet for the first time in years.
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A detective gets involved with the beautiful daughter of an old friend. The daughter turns out to be a jewel thief, who in turn gets the detective involved in a caper in Austria.
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A pair of working class lovers - a secretary and an accountant, scheme to marry into the rich landed gentry.
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Giovanna and Franco are lovers pretending to be brother and sister in order to con unsuspecting marks while staying in the most luxurious locales throughout Europe. In their travels, they come across the beautiful Christina, a girl who is being threatened by her brother, Sergio, in order to get the family fortune. But as Giovanna and Franco delve into their story, the double-crossing begins, and no one is sure who is getting tricked.
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There was once upon a time the Grand Duchy of Forilalì where Aladdin lived. After taking part in many robberies, he decided to turn honest for the love of the beautiful Princess Esmeralda. But his intention lasted only a few days. Afterward he found himself in jail with his old companions. They were freed by the magician Magrebì and in a night of lunar eclipse, Aladdin found a magic lamp. He succeeded in cleaning his sister Adalgisa's house with the help of the genie and then, with no help at all, to marry Esmeralda. But evil powers were in action.
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Sandra returns to her childhood village to take care of family business, but childhood memories and secrets soon overcome her.
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A penniless countess falls in love with a cad, unaware that he is also involved on the side with her beautiful daughter.
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The film presents the tale of Agnese Ascalone, daughter of prominent miner Vincenzo Ascalone, and takes place in a small town in Sicily. Agnese is seduced by her sister Matilde's fiance, and has a tryst with him for which she confesses and tries to repent, only to be discovered by her mother and father. The film is a dark satire of Sicilian social customs and honor laws, and is very similar to Divorce, Italian Style.
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At the end of World War II, shallow, self-centered Mara is the prettiest girl in her small Italian village; Bebo is a Communist partisan who is finding it difficult to adjust to the dull banalities of life in peacetime. When Mara’s father, a passionate Communist, declares that his daughter will marry the returning hero, her reactions range from joy to bitter resentment.
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The story of exploited textile factory workers in Turin, Italy at the turn of the century and their beginnings of their fight for better working conditions. Professor Sinigaglia (Marcello Mastroianni) is sent by (presumably) the Socialists to help them organize their strike and give form to their struggle
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A pretty woman approaching middle age rents out rooms in a small Italian town. An aging sailor and a handsome younger man are amongst the lodgers.
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An alien takes over the body of a factory worker in order to learn about Earth so his race can take it over.
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An evil king makes a bargain with a devil in order to get away with murdering his wife.
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Sicilian bandit Salvatore Giuliano's bullet-riddled corpse is found facedown in a courtyard in Castelvetrano, a handgun and rifle by his side. Local and international press descend upon the scene, hoping to crack open the true story behind the death of this young man, who, at the age of twenty-seven, had already become Italy’s most wanted criminal and celebrated hero.
Producer
Ferdinando Cefalù is desperate to marry his cousin, Angela, but he is married to Rosalia and divorce is illegal in Italy. To get around the law, he tries to trick his wife into having an affair so he can catch her and murder her, as he knows he would be given a light sentence for killing an adulterous woman. He persuades a painter to lure his wife into an affair, but Rosalia proves to be more faithful than he expected.
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September the 8th 1943, Rome, day of the armistice. Danilo escapes the fascist enlist, while Michele succeeded to leave his administration moving from Rome. On the way to come back Rome the two meets Gino and all together will try to pass trough the Gothic Line.
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An old prince lives in his ancient palace in Rome together with the ghosts of his ancestors. For years he has proudly rejected huge offers by a real estate group seeking to buy the palace and build a department store in its place, but when he suddenly dies his nephew signs the deal. The palace seems lost, but the ghosts forge a plan to save it from destruction.
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Suave antiques dealer Alfredo Martelli is picked up by the police with no justification. At the precinct, Martelli realizes what the investigation is all about-- that he is the main suspect in the killing of his wealthy ex-lover. Is he guilty, or is he just a sleaze?
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An acid portrait of Italian youth at the time, I DELFINI follows a dreary season of discontent and viciousness in the lives of a thoroughly unpleasant group of mostly rich youngsters in a small Adriatic coast city.
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Determined to survive at any price, Edith, a young Jewish woman deported to an extermination camp, manages to survive by accepting the role of kapo, a privileged prisoner whose mission is to ruthlessly guard other prisoners.
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The usual gang of robbers in engaged by a thief from Milan to steal a suitcase full of money, but troubles will menace the success of the operation.
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Mario is in Hannover to work as a miner but after losing his job he decides to go back to Italy. When Totonno steals his passport to avoid the police and later on he offers him a new job as "magliaro" (cloth seller), Mario changes his mind and decides to follow Totonno to Hamburg. In Hamburg, Totonno and his friends have to sell Mayer's cloth, but they meet with the hostility of a Polish gang and Mario falls in love with Paula Mayer.
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During WW2 a platoon of marines fights the Japanese on a little island in the Pacific Ocean. On the island there is a hut where old Taikiki lives with his two daughters. The two opposing armies soon forget about war and concentrate on winning the girls' hearts.
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Assola is an imaginary village on the border between Italy and France and the borderline crosses the village itself. The French customs agent Ferdinand is always trying to catch the Italian smuggler Giuseppe. Giuseppe discovers that Ferdinand was actually born in Italy and therefore he can't be a French customs agent.
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Vito Polara is ambitious and wants to get as more power and money as possible. He decides to leave the cigarette smuggling and try to get the total control of the regional fruit and vegetable distribution considered more profitable. He looks for the help of a rural crime Boss.
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During a fair, a charlatan is able to sell to a group of retired persons a piece of sky that would give them a quiet place to live well after death. The old men buy the story and decide to commit suicide to get to the corner of heaven that belongs to them.
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Best friends Peppe and Mario are thieves, but they're not very good at it. Still, Peppe thinks that he's finally devised a master heist that will make them rich. With the help of some fellow criminals, he plans to dig a tunnel from a rented apartment to the pawnshop next door, where they can rob the safe. But his plan is far from foolproof, and the fact that no one in the group has any experience digging tunnels proves to be the least of their problems.
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Andrea Zaccardi has returned home from hunting. He and his wife Luisa are very close. Their young son Giulio develops a cough. The doctor recommends the seaside. Luisa leaves with Giulio for several weeks. Andrea stays to work at the metal shop.
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A lonely city transplant and a sheltered girl, haunted by a lover’s promise, meet by chance on a canal bridge and begin a tentative romance that quickly entangles them in a web of longing and self-delusion.
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England, first half of the 19th century. Edmund Kean is a celebrated theatre actor, notorious for his tumultuous private life. He is in love with the beautiful countess Koefeld, wife of the Danish ambassador, to the consternation of his friend, the Prince of Wales. He is also hounded by Anna Damby, who wants to become an actress to escape a marriage to Lord Mewill.
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Nero is on holiday at the seaside. Poppea, Seneca and many other guests are with him. Nero is preparing a great show where he will be the star. When Agrippina, his mother, arrives with her German praetorians and decides Nero has to conquer Britain, she is asking for trouble. Many attempts of murder and poisoning will happen on the eve of his great show.
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Alberto Menichetti lives with an aunt and an old housekeeper, Clotilde; he has a job in a firm and his boss is Mrs. De Ritis, a widow whose husband was killed during a wild boar hunt. She likes him but Alberto likes Marcella; she is under age and he is awaiting her birthday to declare his love. His greater traits are to be fearful of everything and to be selfish. This nature will get him into trouble..
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Alberto is forced to face his wife and his two lovers at the same time.
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Camilla, a middle-aged Venetian widow, arrives in Rome to take up service as a maid for the Rossetti family, who are not prosperous. With her discreet presence, she is an element of cohesion for them thru tensions and misfortunes.
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The adventures of Lieutenant Airoldi of Piedmont who is trying to gather intelligence for the Republic about the advancing Austrian armies near the river Ticino ahead of the battle of Novara.
Writer
The adventures of Lieutenant Airoldi of Piedmont who is trying to gather intelligence for the Republic about the advancing Austrian armies near the river Ticino ahead of the battle of Novara.
