Our half-price ‘Ebook of the Week’ offer this week features two VERY DIFFERENT titles from our Classic Italian movie series of Italian ‘easy readers, L’avventura (level B1/B2, intermediate) and Per un pugno di dollari (level B1/B2, intermediate).
The two short texts with online audio have been written by an award-winning scriptwriter (who teaches Italian between movie projects to pay the rent) with the idea of making well-known films from Italian movie history accessible for all learners of the Italian language, not just advanced students with developed listening-comprehension skills.
Why ‘VERY DIFFERENT’? Well, I suppose by way of warning, though more so for L’avventura, our ebook of which garnered (unfairly, as it accurately recounts the movie…) some terrible reviews! People were ‘quite disappointed’, ‘hated this ebook’ etc. Without giving too much away (though there are plenty of spoilers in the reviews) the movie (and so the ebook) is not what film-goers have been taught to expect…
The reaction to the second movie, starring the not yet famous-issimo Clint Eastwood, and other well-known Italian actors, was much more positive (‘very enjoyable‘), as were the sales. I remember reading the ebook myself – it summarises the film very nicely – then seeking out the Italian original of the movie online and sitting through it one Saturday evening with a six-pack. And a lot of fun it was, too.
On the other hand, I suppose I could have written here that the movies were VERY SIMILAR, because, in a sense, they were.
An ITALIAN WESTERN? Who’d heard of such a thing? And who would pay to watch one? And anyway, weren’t westerns old hat?? Sergio Leone, the director, thought differently, obviously, and was proved right. This ‘different’ type of cowboy movie was a success, as was, in a way, the confounding but prize-winning L’avventura (described at the time as ‘the most ‘beautiful’ film ever shown at a festival’ – the critics liked it, even if the public didn’t…)
Different/similar, decide for yourself. Until we close down the offer early next week, each costs just £4.99. So you could get BOTH but pay just £9.99, the usual price for one!
Read/listen to the ebook, then seek out the movies online and give them a try. A complete learning and cultural experience! Just don’t complain to me if you hate them… I wasn’t the director.
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In 1960, the same year that Felini’s masterpiece ‘La dolce vita’ won the Cannes Film Festival’s ‘Golden Palm’, another Italian director, Michelangelo Antonioni, presented a movie which, though it went down badly with audiences, was admired by his peers. Fellow director, Roberto Rossellini, described it as ‘the most ‘beautiful’ film ever shown at a festival’, so it was no surprise when ‘L’avventura’ was awarded the prestigious Jury Prize.
The first part of an existentialist trilogy, the film was shot in the scenic Aeolian Islands, and on nearby Sicily. A group of friends – including Anna, her best friend Claudia, and Anna’s well-off architect boyfriend, Sandro – are holidaying on a luxury yacht. While they are moored at a tiny, uninhabited island, one of the party mysteriously disappears. A search is begun, but the weather begins to worsen…
This re-telling for learners of Italian makes a great introduction before watching the movie itself. Or simply an excellent supplement to your study program!
- .pdf e-book (+ audio available free online)
- .mobi (Kindle-compatible) and .epub (other ebook readers) available on request at no extra charge – just add a note to the order form or email us
- 8 chapters to read and listen to
- Comprehension questions to check your understanding
- Italian/English glossary of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
- Suitable for students at B1/B2 level and above
- Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)
Buy L’avventura, just £4.99! | Free sample chapter (.pdf) | Classic Italian Movies series | Catalog
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‘Per un pugno di dollari’, directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood, was filmed in the deserts of Spain and released in Italy in 1964. The film wasn’t the first of the so-called ‘spaghetti western’ genre, but did a lot to popularise this rethinking of what was, by then, the rather tired western format. Two further films followed, and the trilogy was released in 1967 in the USA – at which point the director and many of the cast took on American-sounding stage names so as to seem more familiar to moviegoers.
Giovanni Galavotti’s re-telling of the story of the film for learners of Italian makes a great introduction before watching the movie itself (ideally in Italian!) Or it can be used simply as supplementary reading/listening material which, for lovers of the wild west, is guaranteed to liven up your study program!
- .pdf e-book (+ audio available free online)
- .mobi (Kindle-compatible) and .epub (other ebook readers) available on request at no extra charge – just add a note to the order form or email us
- 8 chapters to read and listen to
- Comprehension questions to check your understanding
- Italian/English glossary of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
- Suitable for students at B1/B2 level and above
- Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)
Buy Per un pugno di dollari, just £4.99! | Free sample chapter (.pdf) | Classic Italian Movies series | Catalog
How do I access my ebooks?
When your order is ‘completed’ (normally immediately after your payment), a download link will be automatically emailed to you. It’s valid for 7 days and 3 download attempts so please save a copy of the .pdf ebook in a safe place. Other versions of the ebook, where available, cannot be downloaded but will be emailed to people who request them. There’s a space to do that on the order form – where it says Additional information, Order notes (optional). If you forget, or if you have problems downloading the .pdf, don’t worry! Email us at the address on the website and we’ll help. Also, why not check out our FAQ?
P.S. 
Don’t forget to read/listen to Tuesday’s bulletin of ‘easy’ Italian news from EasyItalianNews.com.
These useful, FREE materials are published every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Each contains a selection of ‘easy’ articles and an online audio recording, the idea being that regular reading/listening practice will help students build their comprehension skills, as well as consolidating the grammar they’ve studied and helping learn new words.
