turner rep: Sophia Loren

Note: Turner Rep is a recurring feature, appearing several times throughout the month and devoted to highlights from the Turner Classics' schedule for the month. Why? Simple. Because Turner Classics remains a veritible college education in film.
Today: Turner's celebration every Wednesday of a certain Italian bombshell.

Sophia Loren.

Everyone likes Sophia Loren, right? Who doesn't? Well, when it comes to voluptuous Italian actresses from the 1950s and '60s, I personally prefer Monica Vitti, who managed to turn in some remarkable work without (1) a powerful husband, (2) outsized ambition and (3) any pretentions whatsoever.

Let's face it. Loren's career was cemented when Anna Magnani dropped out of "Two Women," leaving the field clear for Loren to do a first-rate Magnani impersonation, winning an Oscar along the way.

But wait! Loren is easy to take and easy on the eye. She is incredibly likable and charming, and these starry qualities are underlined by the tribute that Turner Classics is paying tribute to Loren every Wednesday this month. The best thing about it is not the predictable showing of the overpraised "Two Women," but a handful of Loren titles that are just about impossible to see these days. Thank God for Turner.

Airing at midnight (est) tonight is "The Millionairess" (1960), Anthony Asquith's adaptation of the George Bernard Shaw play - as well as an uncomfortable pairing of Loren (as the world's richest woman) and Peter Sellers (as an ascetic doctor who could care less about money, women or rich women in particular). Something's gotta give, right? Well, nothing gives exactly in this film, despite the respective passion of its two stars. Still, it's wonderful to be able to see this lost film again.

At 5:30 a.m. on June 5th, Turner will air Francesco Rosi's "C'era una Volta" (1967) under its original Italian title. You may recognize it as "More Than a Miracle." It's a witty, charming fairy tale about a beautiful peasant girl (guess who), a handsome prince (Omar Sharif) and a dish-washing contest (you heard me right) used to decide who will be his bride.

June 11th brings us a double bill of compelling Loren dramas, beginning at 8 p.m. (est) - Sir Carol Reed's "The Key" (1958), about a key to a wartime apartment and the woman (Loren) who comes with it, and Sidney Lumet's rarely screened "That Kind of Woman" (1959) about a working girl (Loren) and the soldier she meets.

William Holden and Tab Hunter are the leading men, respectively, with "The Key" offering the remarkable Trevor Howard, Oskar Homolka and a young Bryan Forbes (before he tackled directing) in support and "That Kind of Woman" (highly recommended!) teeming with the likes of George Sanders, Barbara Nichols, Keenan Wynn and Jack Warden.

A week later, on June 18th, plan to stay in and spend the evening - all night, actually - with a quartet of little-known Loren titles. Kicking off at 8 p.m. (est), there's Delbert Mann's "Desire Under the Elms" (1958), with Anthony Perkins; Martin Ritt's "The Black Orchid" (1959), with Anthony Quinn; Michael Curtiz' "A Breath of Scandal" (1960), with John Gavin and Maurice Chevalier, and Anatole Litvak's compulsively watchable "Five Miles to Midnight" (1963) with Perkins (again) and Gig Young.

If that's not enough, you can stay up for early morning screenings of Stanley Kramer's "The Pride and the Passion" with Grant and Sinatra and Henry Hathaway's "Legend of the Lost" with the Duke (both from 1957). Loren certainly had some great leading men.

Turner wraps up its Sophia celebration with a deliriously eclectic mix on June 25th, starting at 8 p.m. (est) - Jean Negulesco's "Boy on a Dolphin" (1957) with Alan Ladd and Clifton Webb; the Anthony Mann-Samuel Bronston epic, "The Fall of the Roman Empire" (1964) with Stephen Boyd and James Mason; George Cukor's don't-miss "Heller in Pink Tights" (1960), and Arthur Hiller's noble but ill-fated attempt to film a truly overrated (read: ghastly) Broadway musical, "Man of la Mancha" (1972), whose only asset is Loren, a wonder as Aldonza/Dulcinea.

(Artwork: Vintage Sophia goes down easy; poster art for Sidney Lumet's "His Kind of Woman," and the late Stephen Boyd, Loren's co-star in "The Fall of the Roman Empire")