La madone d'or

Directed by Hungarian Ladislao Vajda, The Golden Madonna is a delight. From leading actors Phyllis Calvert, who inherits a crumbling Italian villa and Michael Rennie, to a bright, breezy script about a lost relic, in the form of the Madonna painting of the title, to on location filming and fun on the Isle of Capri, this European movie positively zips along, hardly pausing for breath. Some hints of Italian Neorealism in the war torn streets populated by urchin children but with splendid cinematography, there are many inventive camera shots with eye catching angles to detract from some of the obvious poverty apparent. A little gem of a post war film that never let's up. Highly recommended. In black and white which probably makes it look more authentic oddly enough, in line with classics like Bicycle Theives.