The Virtuous Bigamist

The Virtuous Bigamist (French: Sous le ciel de Provence, Italian: Era di venerdì 17) is a 1956 French-Italian comedy-drama directed by Mario Soldati. It is the first remake of Alessandro Blasetti's 1942 Italian classic Four Steps in the Clouds, in which Gino Cervi played the lead. Comedian Fernandel stars here as Paul, a travelling salesman trapped in a joyless marriage; while on the road he meets a young woman who is expecting a child by a man who has abandoned her, and his encounter with her sets the story in motion. The cast also features Giulia Rubini, Fosco Giachetti, Alberto Sordi and Nino Castelnuovo. Like the original, the screenplay was co-written by Alessandro Blasetti together with Giuseppe Amato, Aldo De Benedetti, Piero Tellini and Cesare Zavattini. The German Lexikon des internationalen Films described the picture as a loving and warm-hearted comedy.