LUALDA

Shavelson's a director-screenwriter of several Italian-based films -- one of them included Sophia Loren who declaratively suggests the up-front allure of Lualda, a Sicilian girl of low puta-tive beginnings (first sold at an early age by her mother) who is discovered by Stephen Berman, a famous U.S. film director over there. Berman falls promptly in love with her and does everything for her career; then brings her to Hollywood where he buys her a husband for a visa and later, an unexpected abortion. Although Lualda, not only because Berman is married, does everything she can to keep him at a distance since she knows and bravely camouflages the tragedy ahead. . . . Love-marriage-success-death, Italian-style with a certain on-location savvy, some occasionally funny lines and enough sex, al dente, for that commercial viewership.