Pão, Amor e...

This kind of reminded me of the Greek love dramas I used to watch when I was younger. Though I don't remember the age gaps, which surely must have existed in many of those movies too. It was all about love. In this case that's not entirely true. Esepecially for the female main character in this. Sophia Loren had a reputation as a person, which one cannot seem to be able to distinguish from some of her roles.

What can she do though? She had the looks, it's not like she isn't or wasn't able to play anything else. Which I think she's proving even now in a recent production on Netflix. I haven't seen that one yet, but just from some flashes of the trailer one can tell, she has not lost her touch. And speaking of which, her touch is something two men crave here. One older, the other one younger. With all the teasing and all the other stuff happening too. A drama that will touch some and will others indifferent. But you can't blame the movie for not keeping it real amongst all the fun it has ...

Aesthetically pleasing, kind of boring. Sophia and her boyfriend have issues haha.

I came to this film 65 years after it was made. Sophia Loren is a phenomenon, and if you watch "The Life Ahead" before you watch this, her extraordinary contribution to world cinema is even more apparent. This is Italy less than a decade after the end of World War II, yet the film is apolitical and concentrates on the lives of real people trying to make their way in a nation that suffered enormously from war but also from its own delusions and acquiescence to the "charms" of fascism.

The third part of the Maresciallo adventures trilogy is quite different from the previous two in being in colour and cinemascope, and replacing Gina Lollobrigida with Sophia Loren in a completely different environment. The Maresciallo returns to his native town Sorrento by the sea between Naples and Capri as a Comandante and is immediately exposed to new amorous adventures and perils, one being the crude fisherwoman Sophia Loren, who has occupied his home, and the other being a pious saint in the opposite direction (the lovely Lea Padovani). Sophia already has a boyfriend with a temper good enough to fight with anyone, so Sophia will not be easily convinced, although flattered by de Sica's undeniable gentlemanly advantages. The film is not on par with the two previous ones but the more enjoyable for its beauty and colours and wonderful environment. The dialog becomes second to the cinematography and rather banal intrigue, while the dialog is the backbone and core of the previous two. You lack Gina's tempestuous and very down to earth temperament, while Sophia Loren is more stylish but less convincing as a fisherwoman. Vittorio de Sica though is optimal as always.

Enjoy it for the colorful scenery and De Sica as the aging lady's man.