Lisa Gastoni

During the 1960s Luciano Lutring committed more than one hundred armed robberies in Italy and on the French Riviera. To the media he was the ‘machine gun soloist’, a name he’d earned as he kept his weapon in a violin case. To the public he was a Robin Hood figure, one who only targeted the wealthy, stealing more than 35 billion lire during his criminal career. Wake Up and Kill was the logical extension of such fame. It became the first feature to commit Lutring’s story to celluloid, shooting having begun mere months after his eventual arrest. Capitalising on the breakthrough success of his performance in French television’s The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Robert Hoffmann is perfect as Lutring, bringing just the right amount of charisma and youthful exuberance to his first major big screen role. Directed by Carlo Lizzani (Requiescant), scored by Ennio Morricone, penned by the future screenwriter of Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, and featuring that film’s star, Gian Maria Volonté, in a key supporting role, Wake Up and Kill’s true-crime thrills serve as an enthralling dry run for the poliziotteschi movies that would follow a few years later.

Totò stars in this hilarious 1963 historical comedy directed by Sergio Corbucci. Disguised as a monk to escape persecution, a poor man finds refuge in a convent of rebellious nuns. With its irreverent humor and satirical take on religion and politics, the film showcases Totò's comedic genius and remains a classic of Italian farce. Also featuring Erminio Macario and Nino Taranto.

The nephew of a printer gets involved with foreign spies intent on making counterfeit money.

In a creepy Tuscan castle, a nurse is hired to care for a boy who went mute to stop his dead mother from talking to him from inside the walls.