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In a war-shattered Rome newly freed by the Allies, a rainy night brings together four strangers. A heartbroken youth (Andrea Checchi) rescued from taking his own life by the intervention of a thief (Nando Bruno), a lonely typist (Valentina Cortese) who has turned to streetwalking to pay for her rented room and a distinguished gentleman (Vittorio de Sica) who has lost his memory take refuge in a bar frequented by American GIs. Inside the bar, the strangers encounter a group of jewel smugglers, whose leader has stolen the young man's girlfriend, the very betrayal that pushed him toward suicide.
This lost masterpiece of Italian neorealism was directed by Marcello Pagliero, famous for playing the resistance leader tortured by the Nazis in Roberto Rossellini's ROME OPEN CITY, and was scripted by Ennio Flaiano (La Dolce Vita, 8«), Suso Checchi D'Amico (THE LEOPARD, ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS) and Cesare Zavattini (BICYCLE THIEVES, MIRACLE IN MILAN). Completely restored from the original vault negative, ROMA CITTA' LIBERA. (ROME FREE CITY) is available only now uncut for the first time. |
