The Gold of Naples back on the Lido

A film that marks, in the director’s filmography, the transition from a purely neorealist aesthetic to one in the vein of light comedy. Some episodes retain the tragedy present in the director’s earlier films: The Funeral, almost without dialogue, is the most bitter of all and still carries the elements that made De Sica famous worldwide. Episodes like Pizza on Credit, starring Sophia Loren, are clearly set within a framework of pure comedy. Two masks from the Neapolitan sceneggiata are depicted in the first episode: the guappo, which gives the episode its title, and ‘o pazzariello, played by Totò. The guappo is a sort of bully who lords over the Rione Sanità, similar to a mafia boss, although not truly part of the Camorra hierarchy, while ‘o pazzariello is a kind of street entertainer. This gradual shift from neorealism to Italian comedy also surfaces in the episode The Gamblers, in which the director himself plays a nearly autobiographical role as a gambling addict: the protagonist, banned by his wife from using money, forces a young boy into endless rounds of the card game Scopa just to keep playing.