Directed by Raffaello Matarazzo
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Criterion Eclipse)
Poor Yvonne Sanson lives unhappily with her ruthless stepmother and oblivious elderly father. When her boyfriend brings her home late one night, the stepmother accuses them of the worst, so they run off together with plans to get married. When he goes to his "business partner" to get an advance, they have a falling out. When the partner turns up dead he is falsely accused of murder and sentenced to 20 years. His wife, and now young child, are left to fend for themselves. She goes from one menial labor job to another, but cannot support herself and goes begging to the evil stepmother for help. In exchange for taking care of her child she goes to a "home for wayward women" to live with strict nuns and troubled young girls. The strain of being away from her child drives her to the brink of insanity, but don't worry there is a happy ending. This melodrama from Matarazzo teeters uncomfortably on the edge of absurdity.
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