Sotto il Sole di Roma

Filmed in Italy in 1948 as SOTTE IL SOLE DE ROMA, this Renato Castellani-directed effort reached American screens the following year through the good graces of United Artists. Adhering to the then-fashionable "neorealist" school, the film is gritty and uncompromising for the most part, though it manages to exude a sense of optimism by film's end. Told in episodic fashion, the story concentrates on the various ramifications of Italy's post-fascist reconstruction, as seen through the eyes of an orphan (Oscar Blando) who comes of age during WW II. Some of the best scenes concern the boy's tempestuous courtship of his long-suffering girlfriend (Liliana Mancini). Dismissed as "mediocre" in the American trade paper VARIETY, UNDER THE SUN OF ROME nevertheless won the "Best Italian Film" award at the 1948 Venice Film Festival.