Production
Renato and Gedeon have just opened a nightclub in a disreputable area of New York, triggering the hostility of Gionata, a gang leader and owner of the nightclub across the street. Helped by the hoods of his gang, Gionata uses a couple of tricks to try and ruin his competitors. To begin with, he induces his friend Barbara, a vamp, to perform in a hot number in Renato and Gedeon's joint, so that the police intervene and close the club. The move fails, so Gionata decides to have Renatino, Renato's son, kidnapped by his men, which proves another flop. To make matters worse for Gionata, Michaela, his own daughter, has fallen in love with Renato, and sides with him and his partner...
Francesca and Walter are two-bit criminals in Northern Italy, and, in an effort to avoid the police, Francesca joins a group of women rice workers. She meets the voluptuous peasant rice worker, Silvana, and the soon-to-be-discharged soldier, Marco. Walter follows her to the rice fields, and the four characters become involved in a complex plot involving robbery, love, and murder.
A combination of a satire on war and a comedy with war as the background. It tells of the ordinary people living on a Naples sidestreet, from 1940 to 1950 under the dominance of the Fascists, the Nazis and then the Allies occupation forces. Primary among the citizens is Gennaro Iovine (Eduard De Filippo)who has a penchant for innocently getting into trouble, and his friend Pasquale (Toto.) The latter is a rail-sweeper who becomes a professional stand-in...a corpse used to conceal contraband...serving jail time for those who don't care to spend the time to do the time...a substitute at a political rally when violence threatens the scheduled speaker
A young woman brings a baby to some military barracks. There is a note on the child - it says that the baby is hers and a soldier called Felice.
Alberto is forced to face his wife and his two lovers at the same time.
A peasant leader under the enlightened despotism of Empress Catherine the Great, and a love story.
