Olinto Cristina

Based on the Nikolai Gogol story but set in 1950s Italy, "The Overcoat" is the story of a poor city hall clerk whose only desire is to buy a new overcoat.

In his first collaboration with renowned screenwriter and longtime partner Cesare Zavattini, Vittorio De Sica examines the cataclysmic consequences of adult folly on an innocent child. Heralding the pair’s subsequent work on some of the masterpieces of Italian neorealism, The Children Are Watching Us is a vivid, deeply humane portrait of a family’s disintegration.

Anna, a woman with a troubled past, marries an honest worker at the SIMA mechanical workshop, who provides her with a decent life despite financial difficulties. Blackmailed by a man who knows about her past, Anna loses her mind and kills him. Sentenced to ten years in prison, she dies in childbirth while giving birth to a baby girl.

A man and a woman love each other, but they can’t marry because he’s ashamed of his unjustly incarcerated mother. What’s more, he loses his eyesight in an accident.

Birdaghin is a dancer at La Scala in Milan whose rapid success also quickly goes to her head. Fortunately, everything will be fine.

Aldo Piscitello, a minor government clerk, is forced in 1934 to join the Fascist party. When the war comes, he finds himself able only to talk ineffectually in secret against Mussolini, even as his own son Giovanni is sent into battle. By the end of the war, Aldo has found the courage to stand up for his beliefs, but by then it is too late.

A former prostitute and a little Polish girl are survivors of a train crash. The woman wishes to adopt the child, but her past makes that difficult.

Princess Zeila, daughter of Caliph Oman III, is preparing to review the nobles who aspire to her hand. The sinister Prince Jafar plots in the shadows: the young musician Amin will see to it that love can triumph, with the help of the Genie of the Lamp.

Oreste is known for his deliberation and caution in handling license forms at his office.But when he needs money to send his 3 girls off to Capri to find rich suitors, he is tempted to take bribes to put a license through more quickly.

Piccolo Hotel (aka Small Hotel) uses the titular establishment to weave together a vast tapestry of subplots, a la Grand Hotel. The guests include a domineering mother (Lola Braccini), her petulant daughter (Bianca Doria) and the daughter's gigolo boyfriend (Guido Notari). Also on hand is a worldly vamp (Laura Nucci) who also falls for the boyfriend, and the chronic-gambler son (Andrea Checchi) of the hotel's self-sacrificing landlady (Emma Grammatica). Though the film is set in Budapest, the characters are more Mediterranean than mittel-European. Piccolo Hotel was one of the entries in the Vienna Biennial Film Festival.

A story of the Second Punic Wars, beginning with Scipio's futile pleas to the Roman Senate to build an army to battle Hannibal, that climaxes with the battle of Zama.

A comedy about a hobo and a millionaire who swap roles after the millionaire rescues the hobo from a suicide attempt.

In this delightful 1945 comedy of errors, a mischievous, wealthy schoolgirl concocts a scandalous lie to win the heart of her incredibly naive history teacher, Casimiro.

A comedy set behind the scenes at Cinecittà studios in Rome during the war, focusing on a famous, demanding tenor and his love interest.

Two young people fall in love and run away from home. They soon run out of money and he, who has a decent voice, finds work in a low-class variety show, where he is captivated by the charms of a dancer.