Too Bad She’s Bad (Peccato che sia una canaglia)
Spotted by director Alessandro Blasetti as she was sunning on the banks of the Po, Sophia Loren was cast in the leading role as crooked bombshell Lina opposite two of Blasetti’s favorite actors, Marcello Mastroianni and Vittorio De Sica. The cast’s chemistry was evident from day one of shooting, with Loren recognizing “a kind of complicity that the Neapolitans always have among themselves.” This farcical comedy about a family of thieves was a smash hit with Italian audiences; in the United States, where it opened on Christmas Eve, The New York Times was enthralled by Loren, noting that “with her, ambulating is an art.”

Poverty and Nobility (Miseria e nobiltà)
Released just before The Gold of Naples (1954) would fast-track Sophia Loren to stardom, this self-aware farce, a screen adaptation of Eduardo Scarpetta’s stage play, is set in Naples in the late 19th century and follows the lives of down-on-their-luck artists Felice (“the prince of laughter” Totò) and Pasquale (Enzo Turco). Loren pops as Gemma, a dancer insistent on a marriage proposal from a nobleman, who invites Felice and Pasquale to pose as his extended family to woo her. Employing the same containment necessitated by the staged version, director Mario Mattòli heightens the claustrophobia of financial struggle and thereby the satirical commentary on social graces and class divide.