In `Laura
a sedici anni mi dicesti di sì' (`Laura
you said yes at sixteen') the plot is very simple: Gino, young fisherman in Pozzuoli, is in love with Laura, a sixteen year old girl, but her parents are against the liaison. They meet again after a ten-year estrangement and the flame of passion is soon rekindled. But old hates are not off and complications ensue.
This movie is a classic instance of Neapolitan sceneggiata, a subgenre of theater that goes back to the early XX century and finally got to the screen. When you see a neapolitan sceneggiata on the screen, you can bet a melodramatic and rough clash-of-passions story is going on and obviously the place where all things happen is Naples and/or its surroundings. The Neapolitan setting characterizes the sceneggiata in its main features: characters are passionate, lots of tears are shed (both in happiness and sorrow), good old feelings always overcome in the end and large amount of tearful songs are heard. Director Alfonso Brescia (1930-2001) was specialized in trash and pulp, but perhaps he is best knwon (together with Ciro Ippolito, Mario Merola and more recently Nino D'Angelo) as a master in Neapolitan `sceneggiata'.
