Acting
De Sica's physical comedy — all nervous twitches and sudden abandon.
Direction
Mattoli keeps scenes breathless without modern editing tricks.

Director
Mario Mattoli
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of Italy's 'telefoni bianchi' genre — white telephone comedies aping Hollywood glamour while Mussolini's censors looked away from the bedroom doors.
De Sica made over 150 films as an actor before directing; this was his 47th role in just seven years. The man never slept.