Celebrated Italian filmmaker Luchino Visconti abandoned the Neorealist tone and aesthetic of his earlier films for the dreamier, fairy-tale like romance LE NOTTI BIANCHE (WHITE NIGHTS). An adaptation of a short story by Fyodor Dostoevsky, the film stars Marcello Mastroianni as Mario, a lonely, introverted clerk living in an Italian town. One night, he encounters Natalia (Maria Schell) on a canal bridge, distraught over the fact that her lover (Jean Marais) has failed to meet her as promised. Falling in love with her, Mario agrees to assist her in finding the man, but does so with the secret goal of preventing Natalia's reunion and wooing her himself. LE NOTTI BIANCHE boasts beautiful black and white cinematography and a trio of Europe's finest performers.