I nostri sogni (1943)
Directed by Vittorio Cottafavi

Film Review

Having worked as a screenwriter and assistant director (most notably on Vittorio De Sica's I bambini ci guardano, 1944) Vittorio Cottafavi made a promising directing debut with this spirited adaptation of a popular stage play by Ugo Betti.  I nostri sogni (a.k.a. Our Dreams) is a pleasing work but it is a very different sort of film from the kind that Cottafavi is now best known for - lavish sword and sandal epics typified by Le Legioni di Cleopatra (1960) and Ercole alla conquista di Atlantide (1961).

A lively comedy of manners which gleefully pokes fun at the bourgeoisie whilst championing the virtues of the working class, I nostri sogni cannily prefigures the rise of Communism in Italy in the immediate aftermath of WWII and was in fact released just a few months after the fall of Mussolini.  Vittorio De Sica lent his services, both as a screenwriter and the lead actor, taking on the role for which he is perhaps best suited, that of the sympathetic scoundrel.  Here De Sica works well with his gorgeous co-star María Mercader, a Spanish beauty who would become his second wife in 1968.  Whilst the film offers few surprises, it is imaginatively directed and offers a satisfying contrast to the gritty neo-realism that was soon to infect Italian cinema.

Film Synopsis

Leo is small-time swindler who ekes out a meagre existence with his small-time scams, which include peddling razor blades that last forever.  He desperately needs to raise a thousand lira to pay off his creditors, but his latest moneymaking scam - an attempt to pass himself off as an advertising whiz - falls flat.  Help comes from an unlikely quarter, from a man named Posci, who works for the business magnate Signor Tuns.  Posci has just given a pair of concert tickets to one of his most loyal employees, only to learn that the latter cannot attend the concert because he does not have the correct wearing apparel.  Posci invites Leo to take his employee's place and escort his daughter Matilde to the concert.  Of course Leo accepts, seeing an easy opportunity to extort further money by trying to pass himself off as Tuns' wealthy son.  Having fallen in love with Matilde, Leo decides not to rob her family and instead takes her to the most exclusive restaurant in town.  As luck would have it, Leo is spotted by his creditors and his deception soon begins to unravel...