Valli
Alida Valli died the other day, in Rome, at the age of eighty-four. She was one of the most spectacularly beautiful women of the last century. She was also a gifted actress. Hitchcock fans know her as the haunting siren who almost stole Gregory Peck away from his pretty blonde wife, in The Paradine Case. The sometime baroness is probably best known for her role in The Third Man. Her greatest picture, however, may be Luchino Visconti's Senso, in which she plays a aristocratic Venetian in the 1860s who falls in love with a worthless Austrian soldier. Rarely has female desire been so painfully realised in film.
Comments
The Third Man has long been one of my favorite films. For years I've been marveling that Valli was probably the only person appearing on screen who was still alive. Apart from the small boy with the ball, of course, and even he could well be dead by now.
I have Les Yeux sans visage on my wish list, but I don't know if I dare see it, given my low tolerance for horror.
Posted by: Max N![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.portifex.com/DailyBlague/nav-commenters.gif)
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April 25, 2006 04:05 PM
Bergman still tops my list but Valli was certainly beautiful. And still beautiful as the owner of the Hotel in "A Month at the Lake" -- or at least I seem to remember her in it -- and saying to myself what a beautiful old lady she was, reminding me of my maternal Grandmother.
Posted by: PPOQ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.portifex.com/DailyBlague/nav-commenters.gif)
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April 26, 2006 01:32 PM
Yes, The Third Man is one of my most treasured films. Valli was hauntingly beautiful in that role.
Don't think I've seen The Paradine Case; thanks for the heads up.
Posted by: patricia storms![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.portifex.com/DailyBlague/nav-commenters.gif)
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April 26, 2006 02:41 PM