Aptly titled—a lush, melodramatic portrait of seduction and betrayal, decadence and deceit in the midst of Italy’s resistance to Austrian occupation in the mid-19th century, revealing Luchino Visconti at his most baroque and the Italian cinema at its most spectacular (1954). A fine tragic performance by Alida Valli and surprisingly good work by Farley Granger (imported for American box-office appeal) help overcome some of the obvious narrative gaps created by the Italian censors. Visconti’s sinuous Marxism here begins to creep to the fore. In Italian with subtitles.