Raffaello Matarazzo is the great precursor of Italian neo-realism and the Nestor of Italian drama in film. Although not as efficient as Vittorio de Sica, he has a deeper pathos and a long line of great Italian dramas to his credit, usually featuring Yvonne Sanson in the lead, a great actress with the most beautiful eyes of Italy, excelling in great tragic roles of suffering, pain and arduous torture agonies because of difficult and complicated relationships. Here she displays the whole scope of her female resources of emotional passion. The dialog is massive all the way, it's like an O'Neill drama, and although Matarazzo lacks the de Sica irresistible sense of humor, he instead goes deeper into the difficult world of emotions of the human soul. The music is also perfect here, (Mario Nascimbene) never intruding but always enhancing the emotions and illustrating the drama, and the settings, although unknown, could be anywhere in Italy, although Cortina d'Ampezzo is mentioned once. It's a great drama that would deserve some general discovery and scrutinizing attention, as it in character is actually very close too Visconti's "The Leopard", although more domestic and in black and white. But you strongly suspect Sicily here or at least southern Italy.
