Complete credited cast: | |||
Sophia Loren | ... | ||
Marcello Mastroianni | ... | ||
Aldo Giuffrè | ... |
Pasquale Nardella (segment "Adelina")
|
|
![]() |
Agostino Salvietti | ... |
Dr. Verace (segment "Adelina")
|
![]() |
Lino Mattera | ... |
Amedeo Scapece (segment "Adelina")
|
![]() |
Tecla Scarano | ... | |
![]() |
Silvia Monelli | ... |
Elivira Nardella (segment "Adelina")
|
![]() |
Carlo Croccolo | ... |
Auctioneer (segment "Adelina")
|
![]() |
Pasquale Cennamo | ... |
Chief Police (segment "Adelina")
|
![]() |
Tonino Cianci | ... |
(segment "Adelina")
(as Antonio Cianci)
|
![]() |
Armando Trovajoli | ... |
Giorgio Ferrario (segment "Anna")
|
![]() |
Tina Pica | ... |
Grandmother Ferrario (segment "Mara")
|
![]() |
Gianni Ridolfi | ... |
Umberto (segment "Mara")
(as Giovanni Ridolfi)
|
![]() |
Gennaro Di Gregorio | ... |
Grandfather (segment "Mara")
|
Three different stories of Italian social mores are presented. In "Adelina", unemployed Carmine Sbaratti and his wife Adelina Sbaratti survive through Adelina selling black market cigarettes on the street. They are unable to pay for the furniture they bought (which is under Adelina's name), but are able to avoid the bailiff when he comes for the money or to repossess. They come up with a longer term solution to avoid Adelina being prosecuted for non-payment, but that solution has a profound effect on the family, especially Carmine. In "Anna", Anna Molteni, the spoiled wife of a successful businessman, and an artist named Renzo are on the cusp of an affair. Anna is feeling neglected in the marriage, as her husband seems more concerned about success and money than her. But a car accident shows both Anna and Renzo if an affair with each other is really what they want. In "Mara", Mara is a prostitute who works out of her apartment. She befriends Umberto, a young man visiting his ... Written by Huggo
Yes, the stories are funny and heart-warming...all three of them. And Sophia Loren ALMOST makes you think she's as mean as the millionairess she portrays, talking of her 'humanity to man' while blowing all other cars off the road, bumping into them at stop signs and screaming at poor Marcello Mastroanni for crashing the Rolls rather than hitting a child. Knowing how long Sophia longed for a child, one felt great sympathy for her as she diapered her many children in order to stay out of jail. Italy had a law similar to the English' of 'pleading her belly' to which Sophia and Marcello conform through the births of seven children. The tale of the young priest, the prostitute and the increasingly frustrated 'client' is very well acted, and you can feel the mounting passion of poor Mastroanni as every act gets interrupted at the worst moment.
Of course, I love looking at the towns of Naples, Milan and Rome with all the old streets 'unspoiled' by the modernization of today. Check this one out for some excellent acting in widely divergent roles for both Loren and Mastroanni. No wonder the Museum of Fine Arts has Mastroanni festivals....one for Loren is equally called for. They both act with their eyes, their mouths and their entire bodies!!!