Without Pity Reviews

Occupied Italy in the aftermath of WW II, where women sell themselves for C-rations and black-market barter is the order of the day. The struggle for survival brutalizes the inhabitants of Livorno, site of a large American Army base which serves as the nucleus for a flourishing array of satellite entrepreneurs. Beautiful blonde Del Poggio, searching for her missing brother, is recruited for prostitution by the most powerful of the gangs--which also engages in smuggling and stealing--headed by Claude. When black US soldier Kitzmiller is set upon by thieves and wounded, he is helped by the compassionate Del Poggio. First grateful, then amorous, Kitzmiller hopes to keep his helper from the sordid life she faces and to get her out of Italy. To this end, he deserts his military unit, which results in his blackmail by the vicious Claude. He steals some money from the gang and escapes in a truck with Del Poggio. She is killed by their pursuers, and Kitzmiller suicidally drives the truck into a cliff. A stark and bitter story, well photographed by the talented Tonti and coscripted by Fellini, who was later to codirect with director Lattuada. Not very kind to the occupying Americans, the film was banned in the American and British occupation zones in Germany. (In Italian and English; English subtitles.)