Many Dreams Along the Way

Magnani adapted the boisterous comedy of her irreverent stage revues to the gentler, sadder aspects of neorealism in this film. It is the tale of a Roman housewife who innocently thwarts her luckless husband’s efforts to make a dishonest living. As in many a commedia all’italiana, the setting is a harsh one—poverty, unemployment, and the petty crimes of a man caught between economic pressures and family devotion. Still, New York Times critic Bosley Crowther found in the film a “fragile poignancy.” Magnani’s warmth and coarseness are a perfect foil for the taut misery of costar Massimo Girotti (Ossessione).