Gino Cervi makes an unforgettable performance as the humdrum salesman on a local business trip who gets mixed up with unexpected circumstances that require his assistance, and as the regular kind-hearted man he is, a family man with two children, he can't say no, and so gets dragged Into constantly more awkward undertakings and role plays. The girl he accidentally meets on a train, that gets belated, so he has to continue by bus, proves unintentionally fatal as he finds that girl on the bus again, who happens to be in a delicate condition without a husband, so she asks him to pose for a momentary husband when she has to confront her family with a stern patriarch for a father. When he meets his daughter with a sudden husband, whom she apparently has wed without his permission, he is not amused. And so the complexities tumble on.
It's a marvellous comedy with very serious undertones, a script typical of Cesare Zavattini, who wrote most of Vittorio de Sica's films, and this is an early instance of classical Italian neo-realism but of the comedian kind. One of the best bus rides in cinema history is contained with a driver who is delirious with pride of having just had a son for his first-born, and that bus ride is the one instance of a musical element in the film - all the rest of the music is by the ever reliable Cicognini, who made the music of most Italian Neo-realistic and Vittorio de Sica's films. The film is a wonder of glorious humanity and rustic joy of life with many unforgettable characters, where the grandfather takes a place of his own. Adriana Benetti is not very happy to begin with, but as the film develops she develops a constantly increasing charm and beauty, and her last smile will remain with you for a long time.
