Santa Lucia (1956)

Mario Zozoli is a happy donkey driver in sunny Italy who loves to sing. But singing alone cannot earn him enough money for his little house. Together with Manina, a passionate but also very jealous young woman, he plans to marry her as soon as the house is ready to move into. Then one day, he gets the chance to make money from his voice. Countess Yvonne von Fouqué, traveling in a fine, elegant car with a chauffeur named Tutu, gives Mario hope that this might be possible. She is accompanied by another man named Aristide, whose role no one knows. Manina is the only one who suspects that nothing good can come of this. Lured by a gift of a guitar set with glittering stones, Mario agrees to accompany the countess and her companions to France, where he is to perform in Paris. The only strange thing is that when they cross the border, the entire car is taken apart, but none of the customs officers pays any attention to the guitar. It is also odd that Mario’s performances take place in a cheap basement club, and that he is suddenly supposed to give the guitar back to the countess and her companions. Suddenly, there are even two guitars that look exactly alike. As the situation grows increasingly murky, Mario decides he will no longer play along and flees. His decision is also prompted by a conversation he happens to overhear between the so-called countess and her companions, which reveals that Yvonne von Fouqué and Aristide are married, and that Tutu is the young woman’s father. Of course, his escape does not go unnoticed for long, and the trio pursues him to the border, assuming that Mario has taken the guitar fitted with real diamonds. But the criminal police have been on the crooks’ trail for some time and arrest them. All along, the criminals had the guitar with the diamonds in the car, believing it was the fake one. Mario, however, gets a happy ending that means far more to him than the guitar: Manina forgives him and accepts his proposal of marriage.