This is melodrama,the whole melodrama ,nothing but melodrama starring the king ,Amedeo Nazzari and the queen,Yvonne Sanson ,of the genre ;to compare the Italian melo to Douglas Sirk is absurd :his is the ironical ending ,the false happy end and women are not poor victims of fate (in "imitation of life" the heroine favors her career over her love affair; in "written on the wind,"she reigns over the black oil kingdom; in "all that heaven allows" , she turns back from a hypocrit society and selfish offsprings)
Here the mom suffers suffers suffers , falling into the hand of a former cynical suitor (the role of the villain was tailor made for Franco fabrizzi), who trashes her, and she's not able to react to events she endures the most terrible humiliations. All she has to do is cry.
But what fate lies in store for daddy is not better: himself an illegimate child (in the first scenes, his cousin's false friendship speaks volumes about that) , the jealous relative makes him believe he did not father her adorable little girl .And in the end ,all he has to do is cry too....
It's melodrama through and through , if you like it ,like me, you'll enjoy .If not,pass it up.
