L'esclave du péché

The melodramas of Rafaello Matarazzo were dismissed by the critics but lapped up by the paying public. This is a real tear-jerker in true Hollywood mode featuring pneumatic former Miss Italia Silvana Pampanini in a type of role in which I never thought to see her. She plays a woman who makes sacrifices and endures hardships in order to adopt a girl who has become emotionally dependant on her. She earns her living as a 'hostess' and as someone reminds her, it will always be tougher for 'women like you'. Franco Fabrizi plays an odious pimp who is a hindrance to her and Camillo Pilotto is an understanding official who is a help. Marcello Mastroianni turns up as a former love. This actor's breakthrough roles are still a few years away and although he is far from being the finished article his natural sensibility shines through. The film belongs of course to Pampanini although I am sorry to learn that her voice was invariably dubbed. The final scene when she realises that her sacrifices have not been in vain, to the accompaniment of Renzo Rossellini's lush score, cannot fail to move.