Times Gone By

Nine episodes about life in Italy in the period just before its economic boom.

Documentary directed by Alessandro Blasetti.

Anita, a free Emilian girl falls in love with Salvatore, a Neapolitan bersagliere. The two would like to get married, but he drowns while bathing in the river. From that moment the woman is unable to love anyone else because, at the most beautiful, the ghost of her fiancé appears to her who, in the end, will be able to be followed in the other world.

In late 19th century Sicily, handsome free-spirit Liolà wanders into town, where he encounters an old flame now married to a wealthy landowner.

Travelling family man Paolo agrees to pose as husband to an unwed pregnant girl he meets on a train. However, once faced with her father, things do not go as planned.

Documentary compiled from archives and accompanied by a poet's commentary, shows the sweep of modern Italian history from 1911 to 1961, centering on the conditions leading to Fascism and the post-WWII reaction to the Fascist experience.

When young and attractive Lina Stroppiani, a thief like the rest of her family, tries to steal the taxi of Paolo, together with two accomplices, she can't possibly know that this will have far reaching consequences.

Depictions of the Emperor Nero and the Great Fire of Rome (64). Anachronisms are used for comedy, such as Nero telephoning the fire brigade.

Some Italian partisans want to take refuge in a convent to escape German raids. The nuns are a little perplexed at first but then agree since one of the men is seriously wounded. When the partisans eventually leave, the Germans take a terrible revenge.

Everything unfolds in Naples seventeenth century, when a mysterious masked swordsman who calls Salvador Rossa becomes champion of the needy and lonely struggle against the cruel tyrant that frightens the country.

A man, standing trial for robbery with murder, faces the death penalty. The testimony of an old civil servant may give him a reprieve but not peace of mind.

Nine episodes about life in Italy in the period just before its economic boom.

The story is the harried attempt of a Sicilian partisan, as part of the risorgimento, to reach Garibaldi's headquarters in Northern Italy, and to petition the revered revolutionary to rescue part of his besieged land. Along the way, the peasant hero encounters many colorful Italians, differing in class and age, and holding political opinions of every type. There is a key train scene, and the film ends on the battlefield, Italian unification a success, despite brutal losses.

The Duke Marco visits to his country side estate after many years absence. His farmers wants him to stay and run the place while his lover wants him to sell it. All while a farmers daughter also enters his life.

Sandro is a well-known journalist and he is conducting a survey on human selfishness. Every man and every woman he meets turns into a theme for his inquiry. Even his own wife, Titta.