1954 film by Vittorio Cottafavi

Released from prison after two years, Michel Gérard sets out to find his wife Alice. Alice, luxuriously maintained by her lover, Jacques Rupert, editor-in-chief of a major newspaper, rejects him. Shortly afterwards, Rupert discovers Alice dead, murdered. Fearing charges, he asks one of his reporters, Barney Morgan, to direct suspicion to Michel. But Michel's lawyer shows Barney that the husband is innocent.

Gino Bardi is a centre-forward in a football team which is about to be relegated to the second division. Just before a very important match a girl he has a relationship with proposes him to rig it. He refuses the offer but he actually begins playing like an amateur and the crowd begin to smell something fishy going on.

1955 film by Bruno Paolinelli

1955 Spanish-Italian film

Florence, Italy, 1925, during the fascist dictatorship. In order to live near his girlfriend Bianca, young Mario moves to a humble street in the old city center, where he befriends Maciste and Ugo, two anti-fascists.

Three beautiful seamstresses from one of the fashionable dress salons near the Piazza de Spagna in Rome gather on the steps of the square to eat lunch and talk of their love lives. Marisa, the oldest in a large family, is engaged to a truck driver; Elena lives with her widowed mother and is in love with an opportunist, Alberto, who is also romancing the boss's daughter; Lucia lives on the outskirts of Rome, where a small-in-stature jockey worships her but, she, however has eyes for only tall men, and keeps many of those on a string.

LA CITTÀ SI DIFENDE (Italy 1951) Poverty and hunger lead four men to rob the stadium cash register during a football match on the outskirts of Rome. The four of them scatter while fleeing from the police. One of them, a former successful football player called Paolo (Renato Baldini) who has never really got back on his feet after breaking his leg, is spurred on by an additional motivation: he hopes to win back his former lover Daniela (Gina Lollobrigida), who left him after he was no longer able to offer her the living standards she desired. As already in GIOVENTÙ PERDUTA, Pietro Germi connects elements of Neo-realism with film noir tropes.