Directed by Mario Monicelli. Written by Giovanni Arpino, Italo Calvino, Suso Cecchi d'Amico and Monicelli. Music by Piero Umiliani. With Marisa Solinas and Germano Giglioli. In Renzo e Luciana a young couple tries to hide their marriage and the wife’s supposed pregnancy from the draconian rules at their place of employment, which has banned female employees from getting married and having children. Their efforts – both at their shared home, and at work – causes pressure to mount on the couple. Their hope is to make it through until they have managed to save some money to move out, and are dependent on Renzo going tonight school to become an accountant. This first episode was only included in the Italian distribution of the film. Out of solidarity toward Monicelli, the other three directors did not go to the Cannes Film Festival for the presentation of the film.
''Le Tentazioni del Dottor Antonio''
Directed by Federico Fellini. Written by Fellini, Ennio Flaiano and Tullio Pinelli. Music by Nino Rota. With Peppino De Filippo and Anita Ekberg. In Le Tentazioni del Dottor Antonio Dr Antonio Mazzuolo, a middle-aged man, has taken it upon himself to be the protector of Rome's morality from what he sees as vice and immorality throughout the city. The doctor wages his one-man crusade – shining the spotlight at lovers in parked cars, or bounding on stage of a cabaret, ordering the stage crew to shut the lights, as he closes the curtain behind a line of bewildered chorus girls. He admonishes the audience to 'go home, and spend money' in a 'better way instead of seeing this filth.' His anger knows no bounds when a provocative billboard of Anita Ekberg with the tag line "drink more milk" is put up in a park near his residence. Little does he know how the billboard will impact his life. Throughout the film, children are heard singing the jingle "Bevete più latte, bevete più latte!". The image begins to haunt him with hallucinations in which Ekberg appears as a temptress. After his delirium culminates in throwing a spear at Ekberg's image, he is found collapsed on top of the billboard and transported away in an ambulance to the children's song.
''Il Lavoro''
Directed by Luchino Visconti. Written by Suso Cecchi d'Amico and Visconti. Music by Nino Rota. With Romy Schneider and Tomas Milian. Il Lavoro is about an aristocratic couple coming to terms with life and marriage after the domineering husband is caught visiting prostitutes by the press.
''La Riffa''
Directed by Vittorio De Sica. Written by Cesare Zavattini. Music by Armando Trovajoli. With Sophia Loren. In La Riffa a timid lottery winner is entitled to one night with the attractive Zoe. Zoe, however, has other plans.
Artistic legacy
An orchestrated version of the song "Bevete più latte," from Le Tentazioni del Dottor Antonio, was one of 13 tracks, recorded by Italian band Piccola Orchestra Avion Travel and arranged by Fabrizio France, for their 2009 album "Nino Rota, L'Amico Magico," released to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1979 death of composer Nino Rota. "Bevete più latte" was also used in the song "Milk Sheik" by singer Lizzy Mercier Descloux on her album Mambo Nassau from 1981.
