Italian audiences of the 30s enjoyed seeing well dressed society types in their night clubs dancing and playing cards, going on cruises or riding horses just like American audiences did. (One difference being that Hollywood in its studios' productions also allowed a significant number of gritty social realist works about the less well off which balanced those escapist fantasies of the rich.)
The charm of this particular Camerini comedy is that we get to check out the lifestyle of the snob set but from the point of view of the appealing young De Sica who plays a kiosk news and magazine vendor allowed through special circumstances to pretend he is Signor Max. The dual identity causes confusion for a pretty young blonde chambermaid to one of these snobs.(At one point to distinguish the two the vendor affects an urban Rome accent.)
The film has been loosely remade, twice, but simply as a comedy about a working class guy trying to fit into the elite, without the double identity plot. In the 1957 version Sordi played the role with an aging De Sica now his classy mentor.The 1991 version was directed and co written by De Sica 's son Christian.
Review of Il signor Max
