Sunday in August (1950)

There were a slew of films made in Britain in the 1950s about the traditional exodus from the city to the seaside for a day out, but mostly they involved fellows with handkerchiefs tied over their heads and women in deck chairs in their scarves and raincoats. Not so in Ostia, where the Roman population know exactly how to enjoy themselves when they get a holiday and time to spend, as scantily clad as possible, frolicking around having fun. Just about every class is represented here as the wealthy and the less so all mingle together bringing with them their problems, peccadilloes and sun tan lotion. As you can imagine, this all happens in an entertainingly Italian fashion with dialogue delivered quickly and pithily as the older folks struggle to deal with the stresses and strains of the logistics whilst the younger ones flirt, have temper tantrums as generally the whole film makes you remember just why those days out were never quite a much fun as our rose-tinted memories suggest. There's a lovely scene with "Enrico" (Franco Interlenghi) and "Marcella" (Anna Baldini) taking a boat out onto the water, only for it's plug to come out and for it to sink without trace from under them that all rather sums up the personable chaos the packs ninety minutes of human beings a play before they all head home exhausted! It's busy, frenetic, funny and worryingly quite accurate at times and well worth a watch.