For the first 75% of this film, I wasn't particularly interested in the film. Most of the reason was that I found the female leads to be so stupid, as they debased themselves repeatedly to gain the favor of a horrid petty crook. I guess this realistic, as some women do this, but I felt no connection to the characters, so my attention waned.<br /><br />Fortunately, I did continue watching, because as the film developed further, so did the characters. And, this was all capped off by a dandy ending that I WON'T elaborate on because this would ruin the film.<br /><br />This film is a Neo-Realistic Italian film, in that most of the actors were apparently not professionals and the subject matter was rather mundane (this is not meant to be an insult--just a comment about the style of film). While I didn't like it nearly as much as De Sica's films of that era, it was well worth watching and better than many other Neo-Realistic films.<br /><br />FYI--parents should know that although this is an older film, there is some nudity. It's not super explicit, but does occur in the film.