The varied cinematic vision of legendary filmmaker Luchino Visconti has never failed to amaze me. I think the Italian-language version of his 1963 movie The Leopard is one of the greatest and most lushly beautiful films ever made, but I also love his great 1948 neorealist movie La Terra trema. Other Visconti films I have enjoyed include Rocco and His Brothers (1960), Senso (1954), and Death in Venice (1971).

1. 'The Leopard' (1963)

I think the Italian-language version of The Leopard is one of the greatest movies ever made. The film is a big-budget, widescreen, Technicolor extravaganza that revolves around a Sicilian prince (Burt Lancaster) who gets caught up in the political and social turmoil sweeping through the Italian-speaking world in the 1860s. But I think what makes the movie unforgettable is that Visconti created a haunting elegy to a vanishing way of life.More »

2. 'La Terra trema' (1948)

"La Terra trema" tells the tale of a hard-working Sicilian family who work long hours as fishermen, but they barely eke out a living due to exploitation by wholesalers and boat owners. This film captures the theme of the exploitation of the weak by the strong better than any film I know. I love the location shooting with locals playing all the roles, the lyrical cinematography, and the operatic storytelling, which combine to give the movie a stylized, poetic feel.More »

3. 'Rocco and His Brothers' (1960)

Set in 1950s Milan, Rocco and His Brothers is about a family—five brothers and their mother—driven by hard times from their rural home in the south to the industrialized north. The movie uses realistic settings and an operatic style to tell a tale of changing times, conflicting moral codes, jealousy, rape, and murder. I believe Visconti’s genius in this film lay in the way he drew a portrait of particular people in a specific time and place, yet they are universally recognizable.More »

4. 'Senso' (1954)

Senso is a sumptuous Technicolor film about impulse and betrayal set against a backdrop of war. It centers around an Italian countess (Alida Valli) who has an adulterous affair in 1866 with an officer in the Austrian army occupying Venice and surrounding areas. I think the power of this film derives from Visconti's subtle blending of the story of an aristocratic woman debasing herself for love with the political and social turbulence accompanying Italy's liberation and unification.More »

5. 'Death in Venice' (1971)

Adapted from Thomas Mann's novella, Death in Venice focuses on a Mahler-like composer (Dirk Bogarde) who visits Venice to rest. There he finds himself unexpectedly attracted to a comely pubescent boy, causing the composer to reevaluate his life as he looks back over his past. I think Bogarde gives a great performance in the film, which I see as basically a mood piece with exquisite visual images and evocative Mahler music on the soundtrack.More »