La locandiera

Documentary directed by Alessandro Blasetti.

The servant girl Carmela arrives from her village to work in the house of the notary Don Domenico, a hypocritical and ambiguous man, who seduces her. The girl flees from the house and falls into the clutches of a shrew who flatters her with promises and wants to exploit her beauty. A young man, Salvatore, known as Il Nero, who works in the sulfur mines, rescues her from the vile house and forces the notary to make amends for his wrongdoing by marrying her. The girl goes through the various events as if in a daze. On her wedding day, she faints before entering the church and falls seriously ill. Before she dies, she reveals that the sulfur miner was her only love and that his lack of understanding caused her illness.

The title of this Italian melodrama translates to Pact with the Devil. However, His Satanic Majesty does not appear in the film. Rather, this expensively produced period piece is more along the lines of Romeo and Juliet, with young love threatened by warring families. In his first Italian film, Hollywood veteran Eduardo Cianelli goes through his usual villainous paces as the scheming father of the male lead (Jacques Francois). The most fascinating performance is rendered by Umberto Spadaro, as the village idiot, or is he? Patto col Diavolo makes the most of the visual dynamics of Italy's mountainous Calabrian region.

Six vignettes explore love and desire in Rome, from prostitution and heartache to unwed motherhood and the male gaze.

The film shows how Italy's historic national hero Giuseppe Garibaldi (embodied by Renzo Ricci) leads a military campaign known as Expedition of the Thousand in 1860 and conquers Sicily and Naples. When the Bourbon monarchy has left Southern Italy, he supports Victor Emmanuel II of Italy who achieves a lasting unification under the aegis the House of Savoy. Roberto Rossellini has said he was prouder of this film than of any other film he ever made.

Five portraits of actresses in their "common" life, seen as women rather than movie stars.

Seduced and abandonned by her fiance, Maria Ferrante leaves home to avoid any scandal. She is trying to find work and place to stay but one misfortune after another comes into her life Venice Film Festival 1940

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?

Ingrid Bergman notices that her roses have been destroyed. At first she suspects it is her dogs or her children, but later on notices a chicken walking around the area of her roses. (Originally appeared as a segment of the omnibus film "Siamo donne" ("We, the Women") but later presented separately as a short film.)