Behind Closed Shutters

Behind Closed Shutters (Persiane chiuse) is a 1951 Italian crime-melodrama film directed by Luigi Comencini and starring Massimo Girotti, Eleonora Rossi Drago and Giulietta Masina.

Plot
Sandra (Rossi Drago) searches for her missing sister. For this, she enters the morally degraded seaside of Genoa.

Turin: Sandra, daughter of a guardian, is engaged to Roberto, employed in a construction company. The girl has a sister, Lucia, who has been estranged from home following a relationship deemed illicit. A friend of Lucia is killed and thrown into the Po; Desperate Lucia tries to commit suicide, in agony she telephones and asks Sandra for help. To find Lucia, Sandra asks for help from the ambiguous Edmondo, known in the prostitution world. Edmondo recognizes Lucia's photo, but does not reveal it to Sandra. The reality is bitter: Lucia is employed by Primavera, an exploiter. Edmondo tries to prevent Sandra from finding her sister; Lured into a local misunderstanding, Sandra is arrested in a police roundup. Released she manages to reconnect with the exploiters who offer a ransom to free Lucia.

A happy but daring ending with a shooting in the port of Genoa.

Cast

 * Massimo Girotti as Roberto
 * Eleonora Rossi Drago as Sandra
 * Giulietta Masina as Pippo
 * Liliana Gerace as Lucia
 * Renato Baldini as Primavera
 * Ottavio Senoret as Signorino
 * Cesarina Gheraldi as Gianna
 * Antonio Nicotra as Barale
 * Renato Baldini as Primavera
 * Sidney Gordon as Il commissario
 * Goliarda Sapienza as La prostituta religiosa