The Scooterist with his Family
This is the (funny) story of four agents of Roma traffic police in the '50s. Their life are crossed in affairs that often retire from mere job relationships. 'Guardia scelta' (special agent) Giuseppe tries to be a composer, he wants to write the anthem for the roman traffic police. 'Guardia'(agent) Alberto Randolfi has a too strong inclination to fine everyone and is dreaming about learning French. 'Brigadiere' (sergeant) Pietro Spaziali is busy looking at his little son Tonino and daughter Maria who is going to marry a boxer. The 'Maresciallo' (Marshal) tries to manage and solve all the troubles they often do.
Despite of (or perhaps because of ) its sparse production values and unpretentiousness, the Italian Gli Innamorati was feted at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. The bulk of the story takes place in a single Roman neighborhood. In the manner of the 1925 German classic A Joyless Street, director Mauro Bolognini studies the hopes, dreams, successes and failures of the neighborhood's various and sundry denizens. No one subplot dominates the proceedings, though a bit of extra time is afforded the story of a fickle seamstress and her seemingly meek-and-mild boyfriend. The cast is dotted with such reassuringly familiar faces as Nino Manfredi and Gino Cervi. Released in the US as Wild Love, Gli Innamorati was instrumental in bringing international fame to director Bolognini, whose career soon shifted into high drive.
Toto'
"Antonio" leaves his family to live a prosperous life with Cristina. Her family live in a slum where their lives are complicated by young love and jealousy. A letter from a local priest that implicates "Antonio" in the murder of an English nobleman comes to light and soon they are all before the King.
Railway Worker (uncredited)
While on vacation in Rome, married American Mary Forbes becomes entangled in an affair with an Italian man, Giovanni Doria. As she prepares to leave Italy, Giovanni confesses his love for her; he doesn't want her to go. Together they wander the railroad station where Mary is to take the train to Paris, then ultimately reunite with her husband and daughter in Philadelphia. Will she throw away her old life for this passionate new romance?
Ciro and Geppo are two thieves.
Ciro
A lovely, incisive portrait of adolescents in the crowded San Giovanni quarter of Rome during the last years of WWII.
