Production notes

The film was based on a 1957 novel by Alberto Moravia, La ciociara (The Woman From Ciociaria). It was inspired by Moravia's experiences during World War II. Carlo Ponti bought the film rights along with Marcello Girosi for a reported US$100,000. Sophia Loren was always meant to star and there was some talk that the film might be financed by Paramount, with whom Loren had made a number of movies. Anna Magnani was going to play the lead and Loren was going to be her daughter. George Cukor was going to direct as part of a two-picture deal with Ponti, the other one being Heller in Pink Tights (1960). The film was going to be shot as part of a six-picture deal between Ponti and Paramount. Cukor and Paramount dropped out. Vittorio De Sica became attached as director. Magnani pulled out, supposedly because she did not want to play Loren's mother, leading to Loren taking Magnani's role, even though the former was only 25 at the time. However, De Sica says it was his decision for Loren to play Magnani's role and cast a younger performer as the daughter "for great poignancy. If, in doing this, we moved away from original line of Moravia, we had better opportunity to stress, to underline, the monstrous impact of war on people. The historical truth is that the great majority of those raped were young girls." In a 2017 interview, Brown stated that Loren protected her from some of the underlying implications of the rape scene in the film, and also stated that director De Sica brought her to tears for the climactic final scene of hearing that Belmondo's character has died, by saying that a telegram had arrived saying that Brown's parents had died in an accident. Magnani said she was going to do it, "Moravia wanted me, but Ponti got it, and Moravia did not fight. After that, they went through all the roles I'd turned down for Sophia Loren to play." "The book was one of the most beautiful I've ever read", said Loren. "I thought it was worth taking the risk at 25 to play an older woman because the story was so beautiful." Loren later said her performance was inspired by her memories of her mother during the war. She also said she was greatly helped by her experience acting in Desire Under the Elms (1958). Ponti raised money from France and Italy. French investment was conditional upon a French star being used, which led to the casting of Jean-Paul Belmondo, who had leapt to international fame in Breathless (1960). Belmondo's voice was dubbed into Italian by Achille Millo.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 8 critics' reviews are positive.