Seduced & Abandoned - Criterion Collection

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The graceful, biting, deadpan humor of Italian director Pietro Germi has no parallel; it fuses the sly wit of Ernst Lubitsch with the bilious social critique of Luis Bunuel. In Seduced and Abandoned, the blackest of black comedies, a young girl named Agnese (the delectable Stefania Sandrelli, fresh from Germi's Divorce Italian Style) is seduced by her sister's fiance, setting in motion a series of increasingly deranged pretenses by which Agnese's apoplectic father (the volcanic Saro Urzi) attempts to salvage the family honor. Central to everything is a legal code that states if a rapist marries his victim, all wrongdoing is forgiven. Germi, appalled at this distorted justice, attacks it with propulsive satire, clawing at sexual double standards, macho hypocrisy, and small town oppression along the way. Seduced and Abandoned tears along like a race car down a steep mountain road, turning and lurching in all directions. Its exhilarating momentum escalates into an outright horror film, with all of Italian society as the monster. The ferocity of Germi's characters and the savage ending are almost unbearable; the movie, though almost 50 years old, can still inspire outrage. Accompanied by a few sparkling extras, including a brief interview from 2002 with Sandrelli, still one of the loveliest women in cinema. --Bret Fetzer

Description

Shotgun weddings, kidnapping, attempted murder, emergency dental work—the things Don Vincenzo will do to restore his family's honor! Pietro Germi's Seduced and Abandonedwas the follow-up to his international sensation Divorce Italian Style, and in many ways it's even more audacious—a rollicking yet raw series of escalating comic calamities that ensue in a small village when sixteen-year-old Agnese (the beautiful Stefania Sandrelli) loses her virginity at the hands of her sister's lascivious fiancé. Merciless and mirthful, Seduced and Abandonedskewers Sicilian social customs and pompous patriarchies with a devilish grin.

Customer Reviews:

Seduced and Abandoned.......2007-06-28

Black comedy skewers Sicilian mores with a sharp cinematic knife, making "Seduced" by turns funny and tragic. Agnese, the central object of all the fuss, is maltreated throughout, but the beautiful Sandrelli strikes the right balance so that our sympathies for her don't overwhelm the film's broadly humorous tone. Though the ferret-like Puglisi is tailor-made for the unsympathetic role of Peppino, this is truly Urzi's film. His volcanic Don Vincenzo serves as comic center-piece and driving force behind the whole tumultuous affair. An unbridled satiric masterpiece from director Germi.

Battling For Honor--A Classic Italian Comedy Takes No Prisoners.......2007-01-04

Pietro Germi, fresh from the success of his "Divorce Italian Style" (which won a Screenplay Oscar), returns with another slapstick slice of Sicilian life. Those familiar with the genre, and particularly Germi, will recognize the same black humor and macabre sensibilities that fashioned many pictures of the day. There is the requisite machismo, the sexual double standards, the wild gesticulating, and the need to preserve family honor at all cost. Wait a minute--maybe those are the same qualities employed in many films today!

I'll be frank, if you don't know what you're getting into, "Seduced and Abandoned" may seem a bit misogynistic. There is definitely a strong division of the sexes which we're not as accustomed to seeing in modern films. However, much of the sexual warfare plays as satire--so even though the stereotypes can be somewhat dismaying, none of the characters escape unscathed. Basically, Germi sets an environment where everyone is despicable. It's the blackest of humor that can make you identify with the characters even as they are proven to be buffoons and hypocrites, and that's a real achievement of "Seduced." You accept things at face value and go with it, no matter how ludicrous it may seem.

The plot revolves around a man, who while engaged, impregnates his fiance's sister. This sets in motion a riotous chain of events as the families battle to maintain respect. It would be difficult to describe much of what happens concisely, so let's just say things continue to escalate as everyone (at one point or another) joins in the moral debate with a strong-headed opinion.

"Seduced and Abandoned" is a very funny picture that still maintains its appeal today. The cast is filled with colorful characters giving robust performances. Definitely recommended for lovers of Italian cinema or screwball comedies--this is a dark and amusing picture that doesn't play it nice and safe. That's always refreshing. KGHarris, 01/07.

Hilarious!.......2006-10-17

This movie is hilarious and entertaining as can be! I loved "Divorce Italian Style" by Pietro Germi so I took the risk of buying "Seduced and Abandoned" from Criterion without ever seeing it. In my opinion I actually enjoyed it more than Divorce Italian Style! I won't repeat the plot again but the movie definitly brings you into their family. Once your sucked in it turns into a hilarious nail biter taking unexpected turns and twists. Very memorable movie I highly recommend purchasing for repeated viewings!

a nice Italian comedy.......2006-09-11

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

"Seduced and Abandoned" known in Italy as "Sedotta e abbandonata" is about a family and the teenage daughter becomes pregnant. Her father is outraged and tries to exact revenge on the man who impregnated her.

The DVD contains a theatrical trailer, interviews with Stefania Sandrelli and Lando Buzzanca, Stefania Sandrelli's screen test and Commedia all'italiana, Germi Style, a special with interviews with cast and crew.

This is a really humorous film and I recommend it.

Hilarious, at times painful -- don't miss this Italian Cinema classic.......2006-06-20

Criterion has released yet another classic Italian film. Director Pietro Germi's DIVORCE ITALIAN STYLE was previously released by Criterion, so I was hopeful that SEDOTTA E ABBANDONATA might also be in the works. The ensemble of actors work together brilliantly to satire Sicilian mores. SEDUCED is much darker than DIVORCE, and the beautiful Stefania Sandrelli gives a very sympathetic, at times painful performance as the victim of her societies prejudices. Sandrelli, 60 this year (still beautiful), has given us many excellent cinematic performances over the last 40-some years. Check her out in Bertolucci's masterpiece, THE CONFORMIST, and another fine film, Gabriele Muccino's THE LAST KISS/L'ULTIMO BACIO (2001; the American remake is being released this year, starring Zach Braff). And the late Leopoldo Trieste (d. Jan. '03) gives another fine comic performance, here as an impoverished nobleman. Trieste's most recognized screen role is likely that of the censorius priest in CINEMA PARADISO. Italian Cinema fans should not miss the amusing interview with Trieste, a special feature on Criterion's release of Fellini's THE WHITE SHEIK, in which he speaks of his insulting (and hilarious) first encounter with Federico Fellini. And how 'bout the cool cover art by graphic novelist Mike Allred?! Keep those Italian Cinema classics coming, Criterion. We love you!

N.B. Criterion Collection's most recent Italian Cinema release is a restored, loaded 2-disc edition of THE most beloved Italian film of all-time, BICYCLE THIEVES (LADRI DI BICICLETTE). Don't settle for the previous Image Entertainment release under the film's better known (inaccurate) title translation, The Bicycle Thief. The White Sheik - Criterion Collection Bicycle Thieves (Criterion Collection) The Conformist (Extended Edition) The Last Kiss

Average customer rating:

DVD-Seduced and Betrayed

Seduced and Betrayed
Starring: Susan Lucci , David Charvet , Mary Ellen Trainor , Peter Donat , and Gabrielle Carteris
Director: Félix Enríquez Alcalá
Manufacturer: Direct Source Label
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000FUF6ZO
Release Date: 2006-07-11

Customer Reviews:

DVD-Seduced and Betrayed.......2007-02-07

Dvd played great and the case was in great shape too. I am pleased with item.

Average customer rating:

Seduced - Pretty When You Cry
Boring When You Pander
surpisingly fun and decent movie
Oooh Jamie Kennedy show your sexy side..

Seduced - Pretty When You Cry
Starring: Sam Elliott , Jamie Kennedy , Carlton Elizabeth , Michael Cavalieri , and Lori Heuring
Director: Jack N. Green
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000068MAR
Release Date: 2002-07-23

Customer Reviews:

Seduced - Pretty When You Cry.......2006-02-25

THOUGHT IT WAS REALLY COMPELLING MYSTERY WITH SUCH A TWIST IN THE ENDING THAT YOU DON'T SEE COMING. SAM ELLIOT AS USUAL GAVE A GREAT PERFORMANCE. HE CAN PLAY SUCH AN ARRAY OF PARTS AND DOES A GREAT JOB IN THIS MOVIE.

Boring When You Pander.......2004-06-03

The characters are cliches, the plot is unsurprising, the cinematography is prosaic, and the direction is leaden.

The film has a one dimensional sadist, an unchanging victim, and a pathetically adolescent rescuer. None of the characters in this film have integrity, there is no hero, so we could care less. The film maker exploits with out passion or drama. The sex scenes and nudity are by the numbers -- there is no sense of the forbidden, no sensuality, no fun.

On the plus side, the film demonstrates unsuccessful pandering at its best.

surpisingly fun and decent movie.......2003-08-06

man meets women, woman has abusive and cruel husband but does that stop our hero from falling for woman? i dont think so. so ensues a love triangle that has you guessing what will happen next during the entire film. outstanding performances all around but jamie kennedy brings to life the hero of our tale, coming across as both sensitive and yet not to weak or sappy as to be pushed over although he does get manipulated thru the movie.
and if this were my situation, i might do the same things because the lady of the movie is sara, played by carlton elizabeth. she is intoxicating. there is a scene in which she takes our hero to the dance floor. without doing anything explicit at that moment she still managed to knock me off my feet. wounded, lost, trapped in bad situation but not sure she wants to leave are just a few of the emotions sara threw off.
all in all a fun movie, not an emmy but still good fun with a great cast and a fine story full of sex, deceipt, murder and a search for the truth

Oooh Jamie Kennedy show your sexy side.........2002-11-30

I have a short list of actors who make me raise a brow, and make me blush once or twice. Jamie Kennedy is one of them, and once you see this film you will understand why. Most of us know Jamie as the goofy Randy from Scream, or being an hysterical goofball on his TV show The Jamie Kennedy Experiment, but once you've seen Jamie serious, you'll have a new respect for him as an actor. I don't just mean the roles like in Boiler Room, Three Kings, and Enemy of the State, I mean a real leading man's role..and that's what we get here!

Jamie Kennedy plays Albert Straka, a good man yet naive when it comes to the manipulation going on around him. Kennedy has a sensitivity to him that I find rare in actors. Leonardo DiCaprio and Giovanni Ribisi (oddly enough Kennedy has worked with both - Romeo and Juliet, and Boiler Room) also have this soft gentle style to their craft, yet Kennedy has proven to me with this role, that he is the best at it. :) He brings an innocence to this role that could have been missed if it were played by another actor. The story needed a sensitive, caring, man - yet with an inner strength that did not bore us, or make us lose interest in his well being. Kennedy makes us love Albert, and in the end, makes us pity him.

Albert meets and falls in love with a beautiful woman, Sara played by Carlton Elizabeth. Her husband played by Michael Cavalieri, is an abusive, cruel man, and this is where the triangle begins. On one side you have the sensitive loving gentleman, and on the other, the cruel, savage husband. In the middle we have Sara, pleading for Albert to save her, yet in this story we ask ourselves..does she really want to be saved?

This film had my interest from beginning to end, much of it due to Jamie Kennedy's performance. I found myself physically exhausted, and emotionally drained after watching this film. I so desperately felt for Albert. A good performance from Sam Elliot who plays Detective Black, who when things turn nasty, is determined to pin the crime on Albert.

Bravo to Jamie Kennedy! A wonderful performance from a talented actor, and a verrry sexy man!

Customer Reviews:

Surprisingly substantial effort.......2007-08-07

This busy crime movie is a pleasant surprise through most of its running time, but it suffers from some weaknesses in the characterizations, some loose ends, and a let-down ending. The next five paragraphs summarize the complicated story so that I may discuss it, but they withhold some key details to avoid spoiling the mystery.

Gregory Harrison plays a state's attorney with a Harvard business degree, the son of an influential but now-dead politician. Harrison is the favorite to replace a corporation's disgraced, insider stock trading CEO. He is opposed by an unctuous, ambitious company man who over the years has risen to the management ranks from the mail room and wants the top job for himself. Jose Ferrer is power-broker board member Killian, who may at one time have been Harrison's mentor. The company is eager to fix its image problem because it is trying to convince the rich head of another company, Mel Ferrer as Orlov, to agree to a merger. Orlov's young, third wife is played by Cybill Shepherd. She romanced Harrison ten years before but says she moved on because his career seemed more important to him that she did. Harrison's flippant, go-along-to-get-along underling and likely successor is Michael Gwynne, who at least advances the plot as a sounding board for Harrison.

Orlov, alone at home one night, is killed in an apparent burglary. Although Shepherd is a possible suspect, Harrison gingerly rekindles his relationship with her. A fence fingers a two-time loser "second story man" as claiming to have jewels from the Orlov heist, and the man is arrested on flimsy circumstantial evidence and railroaded toward indictment by the lazy Gwynne. Harrison, still his boss, feels the case is weak and wants to keep digging. Meanwhile, he takes a romantic tropical weekend vacation with Shepherd. It is interrupted when they recognize a man following them who has been hanging around back home as well. She thinks he is a private detective hired by her step-daughter, Adrienne Barbeau. Barbeau goes off the deep end about Orlov's estate going to Shepherd and claims Orlov confided that Shepherd had an affair with one of his business partners and that before he died he was writing a new will that would cut her out of any inheritance.

Harrison suggests that he and Shepherd keep their distance for a while, and continues investigating. He receives an envelope with photos of himself and Shepherd at the beach, which he shares with a blasé Killian, who says he also received copies but does not care as long as Harrison's indiscretion stays quiet. A stripper turns up who says she has been out of town but can give the second story man an alibi, and Harrison interviews Barbeau and finds her believable.

Harrison confronts Shepherd at an abandoned meat packing plant that is to be the site of a new office of the Orlov company. She now admits that a "heavy-set man" who said her husband "owed him some money" phoned her two days after the murder and threatened to harm her and others if she did not pay him $25,000. Speak of the devil, as they are leaving to report this to the police, they hear someone bearing down on them and try to hide. The thug finds them and is beating up Harrison, so Shepherd grabs a gun out of the thug's pocket and shoots him dead.

When the story hits the news, Killian disowns Harrison as a candidate for CEO. Later, Harrison is puzzled by a second, small-caliber gun that was found in the thug's pocket and by a check of his associates, which turns up a familiar face and a tie to Orlov. Falling into another ambush, Harrison out-runs a hale of bullets, until a convenient explosion wipes out the gunman, the first thug's partner. In a final scene, Harrison confronts the main criminal with hidden evidence of motive that he has found.

Overall, the movie handles the murder case and the business subplot with some intelligence and makes them interesting. But the two story lines are not always closely and meaningfully enough connected, and the movie can at times feel cluttered and overcomplicated, without a worthwhile payoff. There are loose ends. The movie never makes clear who shot and circulated the supposedly scandalous photos and why. Harrison's background and his relationship with Killian are glossed over. His bustling mother and Orlov's second wife and son make pointless, one-line appearances. The movie never bothers to explain how Gwynne could have risen to be Harrison's heir apparent when all he seems to have to offer is a wise-guy sneer and stupid, incompetent habit of jumping at the easiest, most obvious theory.

Although Harrison has some good lines and takes his big-shot role seriously, he does not seem to quite have the stature for the part. Shepherd comes across more as an energetic personality doing individual scenes than as a character. The movie never gives a glimpse into who she really is and ends on a weak note. The Ferrers and Barbeau are effective in their smaller parts.

Harrison's character is just thoughtful and restrained enough in how he handles the case and his relationship with Shepherd to avoid throwing credibility to the winds. But his clipped, controlled performance takes a toll on the movie in other ways. No real groundwork is laid for the relationship, it never comes alive with any convincing chemistry or passion, and it feels like a mere plot device. This makes events at the end of the movie, in particular, ring hollow.

The cast, characters, writing, and settings are good enough and there is enough credibly going on to hold my interest until the end. Unfortunately, there are some nagging problems, the ending descends into melodramatic action and unconvincing sentimentality, and the murder mystery turns out to be overly simplistic. In the end, despite the flaws, I think the movie is substantial enough to be worth seeing.

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Seduced By Madness
Starring: Ann-Margret
Manufacturer: Trinity Home Entertainmen
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000UJCAJA
Release Date: 2007-12-11

Sedotta E Abbandonata (Seduced and Abandoned) - PAL DVD

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Sedotta E Abbandonata (Seduced and Abandoned) - PAL DVD

Manufacturer: Film Prestige
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Divorce Italian Style - Criterion Collection

ASIN: B0007NDBFQ

Product Description

This is collector's edition PAL DVD (EUROPEAN TV VIDEO STANDARD)without region coding officially released in Russia by studio "FILM PRESTIGE". Available soundtracks: original ITALIAN and RUSSIAN (voice-over). Available subtitles: ENGLISH, ITALIAN and RUSSIAN. CUSTOMERS FROM NORTH AMERICA and JAPAN: Please, make sure your DVD player supports PAL DVDS (Europe, Australia, and Asia) before bidding; otherwise you can watch PAL DVDS on computer with DVD-ROM. ....................................... Mistakenly labeled as a neorealist drama in some sources, Seduced and Abandoned is actually a slyly constructed Italian domestic comedy (could anyone have really taken that florid title seriously?) Aldo Puglisi plays a "love 'em and leave 'em" type who impregnates the teen-aged sister (Stefania Sandrelli) of his own fiancee (Paola Biggio). Saro Urzi, the girls' infuriated father, insists that Puglisi break off with the older girl to marry the younger. The police get into the act, threatening to arrests Puglisi for corrupting the morals of a minor. Through some quick thinking on his part, Puglisi manages to get the younger girl to indignantly refuse his hand in marriage. The family is torn asunder by this incident, with darkly comic results.

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Seduced; AKA Pretty When You Cry

Manufacturer: Screen Media
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Dog Watch

ASIN: B000M3480S
Release Date: 2006-12-20

Seduced By the Cult - series of four volumes: The Tricks They Use

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Seduced By the Cult - series of four volumes: The Tricks They Use
Director: GO Media
Manufacturer: GO Media
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002JL3DW
Release Date: 1997-09-12

Seduced By the Cult - series of four volumes: A Growing Threat

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Seduced By the Cult - series of four volumes: A Growing Threat
Director: GO Media
Manufacturer: GO Media
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002JL3DM
Release Date: 1997-09-10

An Evening of Mystery & Suspense, Vol. 1 - Murder on Flight 502/Seduced

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INFO...

An Evening of Mystery & Suspense, Vol. 1 - Murder on Flight 502/Seduced
Starring: Farrah Fawcett , Cybill Shepherd , Robert Stack , Gregory Harrison , and Adrienne Barbeau
Manufacturer: Legacy Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0009X76DW
Release Date: 2005-03-02

Customer Reviews:

INFO..........2007-09-07

Evening of Mystery and Suspense V. 1 - Double Feature.

MURDER ON FLIGHT 502: This gripping thriller begins with a letter found in the first class airport lounge in N.Y., after an international flight has taken off. The letter states that there will be several murders on the flight priot to landing in London. Farrah Fawcett and an all-star cast keep this great mystery movie moving at a tension filled pace throughout as the passengers on a 747 are preyed upon by a homicidal maniac. Starring: Farrah Fawcett, Sonny Bono, Robert Stack, George Maharis, Ralph Bellamy, Polly Bergen.

SEDUCED: Successful young attorney Gregory Harrison is set for a big money spot in a huge corporation. The president of the firm's biggest rival has turned up dead...and Harrison has been romantically linked with his widow Cybill Shepherd. A mysterious murder, provocative photographs, deadly chases and undying passions are the elements that surround the powerful struggle of the corporate elite.

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