Italian screenwriter/director Luigi Zampa began as a student of architecture and engineering, but opted instead for a theatrical career as a playwright. At 31, Zampa became one of the first students to enroll at the pioneering Italian film school Centro Sperimante di Cinematografia. From 1938 to 1941, he served his apprenticeship as an assistant director and script collaborator. He directed his first feature in 1941, then spent the next few years specializing in the frivolous "white telephone" romantic comedies so beloved of filmgoers of the period. From 1944 to 1945, he was assigned to the film unit of the Italian army. Apparently profoundly affected by this experience, he forsook escapism after the war and became one of the vanguards of the neorealist movement. Zampa was instrumental in building Anna Magnani into stardom, and later performed the same magic for Gina Lollobrigida. A trenchant satirist, Zampa thrived on sticking it to government bureaucracy and bourgeois pretentiousness: Many of his most successful films featured Alberto Sordi as a mildly corrupt government official or blue-collar laborer. For reasons unknown, Luigi Zampa seemed to lose his touch in the late '50s; his final film efforts were still entertaining, but far more conformist and conventional than such vintage Zampa efforts as To Live in Peace (1946) and City on Trial (1952).
| Title | Year | Editors' Rating | User Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Letti Selvaggi
Director |
1979 | |||
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Gente di Rispetto
Director, Screenwriter |
1975 | |||
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Bisturi: La Mafia Bianca
Director |
1973 | |||
| 1971 | ||||
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Contestazione Generale
Director |
1970 | |||
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Il Medico Della Mutua
Director, Screenwriter |
1968 | |||
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Le Dolci Signore
Director |
1967 | |||
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Una Questione D'onore
Director |
1966 | |||
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Frenesia D'Estate
Director |
1964 | |||
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Anni Ruggenti
Director |
1962 | |||
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Il Magistrato
Director, Screenwriter |
1959 | |||
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The Love Specialist
Director, Screenwriter |
1959 | |||
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La Ragazza Del Palio
Director |
1957 | |||
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Of Life and Love
Director |
1957 | |||
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L'Arte Di Arrangiarsi
Director, Screenwriter |
1955 | |||
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La Romana
Director, Screenwriter |
1954 | |||
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Anni Facili
Director, Screenwriter |
1953 | |||
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Siamo Donne
Director |
1953 | |||
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The City Stands Trial
Director |
1952 | |||
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Rome Paris Rome
Director |
1951 | |||
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Anni Difficili
Director |
1950 | |||
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Campane a martello
Director |
1950 | |||
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E Più Facile Che Un Camello
Director |
1950 | |||
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Children of Chance
Director |
1949 | |||
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Cuori Senza Frontiere
Director |
1949 | |||
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L'Onorevole Angelina
Director, Screenwriter |
1947 | |||
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Vivere in Pace
Director, Screenwriter |
1947 | |||
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Un Americano in Vacanza
Director |
1946 | |||
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L'Abito Nero Da Sposa
Director |
1945 |