The Last Judgment

One morning in Naples a voice is heard from the sky: the last judgment will take place at six o'clock that same day. The city does not take it seriously at first and then begins to. From there the film tells no single story; it shows the city's reaction in short sections that touch one another. Some rush to pay their debts, some give back what they stole, some change nothing at all. As the hour approaches, what each of them actually believes comes out. Vittorio De Sica's film brings together nearly every major name in Italian cinema of the period: Alberto Sordi, Vittorio Gassman, Nino Manfredi, Silvana Mangano, Paolo Stoppa and the French comedian Fernandel. The screenplay is by Cesare Zavattini, who had worked with De Sica for years and here leaves realism for allegory. It did not find the audience expected of it on release and has remained among the least discussed of De Sica's films.