Scandal in Sorrento Reviews

An unimpressive Loren picture (released in Italy in 1955) which casts her as a fish-seller nicknamed "the Heckler" in the coastal Italian town of Sorrento. She lives in a rented home belonging to De Sica, a Casanova type who is returning to his home town after a 30-year absence to become the local police chief. Loren, however, selfishly refuses to vacate. De Sica turns on the charm and before long he wants her to stay--as his wife. Loren nearly agrees, spurning the love of her fiance Cifariello. When De Sica realizes that he is the wedge between Loren's love for Cifariello, he backs off from the marriage. He then turns his amorous attentions to his charming landlady Padovani. Nothing more here than the usual Loren love adventures, this time with the gorgeous Bay of Naples providing the only picturesque scenery in the film. This third in a series of frothy but extremely popular (in Italy) comedies starring De Sica as the fatuous policeman was the first to use the statuesque Loren; Gina Lollobrigida had played the chaste but much chased heroine of the previous two. Loren and Lollobrigida were engaged in a vocal, highly publicized feud at the time of the picture's 1955 release in Italy. De Sica completed the cycle of four films in the series by personally producing the last one in Spain in 1958. Neither Loren nor Lollobrigida played the part of the pursued beauty in the last; this was Loren's lone essay into the series. Only one other film in the group was released in English-speaking countries: BREAD, LOVE AND DREAMS (1953, Italy). Dubbed in English.