This very earthy comedy was based on the play The Three-Cornered Hat from the Spanish novel of Alarcon.  It is a subject which director Mario Camerini had previously filmed in 1935.  This CinemaScope/Technicolor remake was a modest success in the States after its release, although not so big a hit with the Catholic Legion of Decency which condemned it.

The film has Vittorio De Sica as a lecherous governor of Naples in 1680 who lusts after the wives of several peasants, particularly the miller's wife Carmela, played by a ravishing Sophia Loren.  The miller himself, played by a youngish Marcello Mastroianni, plans to avenge his honor by seducing the wife of the governor.

Wonderful fun, and boasting a great cast, this is one of the earliest pairings of Loren and Mastroianni.