Help Me to Dream
Set in wartime Italy, 1943, Help Me to Dream is the story of an Italian woman with an American dream: Francesca (Mariangela Melato), who happens to have a passion for anything American - and we are curious to see how far director Pupi Avati takes this passion, with choreography by Fred Astaire's choreographer, Hermes Pan! Evacuated along with her three children to the countryside, Francesca begins to find a new and unexpected peace of mind. Periodically, the rural silence is broken by the sound of a small American reconnaissance plane, around which Francesca entertains her fantasies. When the plane actually lands in the field behind her house, it is some kind of miracle. She gives the American pilot (Anthony Franciosa) shelter in her stables, and continues to develop her image of him, elaborating on his American qualities to the whole community. But when winter comes and he must move into the house, the American pilot becomes a reality.