Overview: Thief Mario Forni arrives in a small Italian town searching for hidden treasure, posing as a house painter. He falls for Madame Rinaldi, a local brothel owner, while secretly locating the treasure beneath a statue in an old church. When a prostitute named Pia confides her pregnancy nearby, Mario speaks from inside the statue, pretending to be St. Joseph, and leaves her gold coins.

Believing it a miracle, Pia inspires the town, drawing attention from a suspicious mayor, banker, and a visiting bishop. Even after learning the truth, the bishop sees real value in the hope the miracle brings. When the statue collapses, revealing a golden cross, the town celebrates--while Mario and Rinaldi slip away with part of the treasure to start anew.

Blu-ray Verdict: The plot with a hidden treasure from the past is a good fictional base around which to build this story. Mixed with the humor is a portrayal of faith and, at times, a lightly irreverent and humorous treatment of religion. But this never descends to mockery or denigration of Christianity. The ending even has a straight, poignant scene about faith, with Pia Pacelli and the Bishop. And that gets to a fine cast with some wonderful actors who do very well in their performances.

Barbara Eden is Pia, the youngest member of Madame Rinaldi’s bordello who is pregnant by Beppo (played by Carl Schell), whom she loves and wants to marry. Cecil Kellaway plays the Bishop. But the main characters are Madame Rinaldi and Mario Forni, played by Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland, who were both in their later careers. This comeback attempt for Rogers (age 53) didn’t pan out, and except for an occasional appearance on a TV series over the next two decades, her acting career was over.

Some think it might have been the best thing for Milland as well. He was 57 at the time but continued to act in many movies and on some TV series up until his 1986 death at age 79. But most of his roles from this point on were in B movies, many of them quite bad, including some terrible horror films.

Two other characters contribute to much of the humor in this film. Michael Ansara plays the town mayor, Pablo; and Vinton Hayworth is Aguesta, the Town Banker or pawn broker.

A little drama interspersed in the film includes a dam break that almost takes the life of the mayor’s son; and the turn around and conversions, treated lightly but as authentic, with Pia, the mayor, the banker, and the women of the town, generally. Here are some sample lines of the humor that show the potential there was here for a very good comedy and satire.

That point said, to me personally, this is almost entirely played for comedy, and Scott gives some clever lines to Milland and Rogers, Ansara and his buddy the pawnbroker, and to tone-deaf bishop Kellaway. Eden is stuck playing it straight, but she does well in doing so. Some characterizations turn on a dime.

Although it should be said that Rogers’ Madame Rinaldi is very mean towards Eden’s Pia originally, but positively maternal towards her afterwards. Much the same can be said of the father of Pia’s baby, rejecting her through the first half of the movie and then accepting her for no apparent reason. The film’s post-production problems are likely responsible (check history to see what it is I am referring to). [S.J.]

Bonus Materials:
Commentary track by Rob Kelly noted film historian, podcaster, and artist. Poster & Photo Gallery of Ginger Rogers, Ray Milland, Barbara Eden and Elliott Gould movies and television shows

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Official Trailer

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