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A cinematic "cry" from one of the most revered of all auteurs, Italian maestro Michelangelo Antonioni (L'avventura, La notte, Il deserto rosso) depicts a world of heartbreaking alienation, with characters riven by trauma, cast against the stunning backdrop of northern Italy's Po Valley - where the director spent his childhood.

When sugar refinery worker Aldo (American actor Steve Cochran in a career-best performance) is jilted by his mistress, Irma (Alida Valli, famed for her role in The Third Man), he takes to the road. With daughter in tow, Aldo wanders the Po River delta, seeking temporary - but always illusory - respite with a series of lovers, who only serve to remind him of Irma. Unable to find a new life, Aldo's haunted past gives way to a fateful finale.

With a script conceived by Antonioni, exquisite cinematography (including a signature concern with desolate vistas), and a plaintive score by renowned composer Giovanni Fusco, the award-winning Il grido - which scooped the "Golden Leopard" at Locarno - is an early key work in the director's much-celebrated oeuvre.

Based on David Belasco's play, a young executive of a company in trouble learns he has inherited a fortune if he is married by that evening.

Jimmy Shannon (Buster Keaton) meets Mary Jones (Ruth Dwyer) and wants to tell her that he loves her. Jimmy's firm needs money quickly to avoid legal difficulties. A man follows him home to show him a paper that says his grandfather left him $7,000,000 provided he is married by 7 p.m. On his 27th birthday, which is that day. Jimmy goes to ask Mary, and she says yes. When he says he must marry someone that day, she walks away. Jimmy goes to the office. Her mother (Frances Raymond) persuades her to give him a chance to explain. She tries to call and sends her hired hand (Jules Cowles) with a note to Jimmy that she will be home all day.

Jimmy's business partner Billy Meekin (T. Roy Barnes) and his lawyer (Snitz Edwards) persuade him he must marry to save the company, and they show him seven chances in a dining room. The first one laughs at him. Billy coaches Jimmy on how to ask. Jimmy tries again. Billy proposes for him, but she thinks he means the older lawyer. Jimmy fails again, and all seven are scratched. Billy says he will be at a church with a bride. The hat-check girl says no too. A girl going with Jimmy is stopped by her mother.

While talking with a woman driver, Jimmy drives into a tree. He does not ask a Jew or a Negro. Jimmy's story is on the front page. He goes to the church with flowers, a ring, the license, and tickets to Niagara Falls and Reno. He falls asleep in the front row, and the church fills up with brides with hundreds more outside. Two less attractive women sit next to him. The minister says it is a practical joke and asks them to leave. Jimmy goes out the window and hides under the building, where the hired hand gives him the note from Mary.

Jimmy drops the ring down a grate. He tries to find out the time in a clock shop and learns it is 6:15. Brides follow him down a street. They start running and pick up bricks. Jimmy tells Billy to bring a minister to Mary's house, and he runs through various places including a football game followed by the brides. He is lifted up by a crane, and for a moment the brides think he is dead. Jimmy gets entangled in barbed wire. He paddles a boat and swims. He runs up a mountain and down the other side, dodging rolling boulders.

Jimmy runs to Mary's house, but Billy's watch shows 7:03. Mary asks if they could be happy without the money. While they are being wed, Billy and the lawyer see that it is before seven.

This farce reflects a young man's shyness by exaggerating it into a nightmare where he is either rejected by one after another or deluged by a herd of would-be brides. The stampede of brides also satirizes the desire of so many to marry for money.

Mr. Yoshii (Tatsuo Saito), his wife Haha (Mitsuko Yoshikawa), and two young sons, eight-year-old Keiji (Tomio Aoki) and ten-year-old Ryoichi (Hideo Sugawara), move to a new home in the suburbs of Tokyo. The house happens to be located near the house of Mr. Yoshii's boss, Mr. Iwasaki (Takeshi Sakamoto). Keiji and Ryoichi struggle to fit in as newcomers in their school. A group of bullies torments them during and after school. One of the bullies, Taro (Seiichi Kato), is actually the son of Mr. Iwasaki. The two young boys plot to revenge against their bullies and to slowly rise to power as bullies themselves. They even go to the extent of skipping school and asking a truck driver to forge an "E" (for Excellent) on a school assignment. The results of that request won't be spoiled here. Meanwhile, their father encourages them to get good grades at school and to simply ignore their bullies. He treats his boss complacently and doesn't mind humiliating himself in front of him, but when Keiji and Ryoichi witness his subservient behavior, they protest by going on a hunger strike at home. Director Yasujiro Ozu and screenwriter Akira Fushimi have a knack for smoothly blending drama and social commentary together with comedy while avoiding preachiness or over-the-top scenes. Given that this is a silent film, it's quite impressive that the story unfolds so compellingly thanks to the accompanying musical score as well as the strong performances by everyone, especially Tomio Aoki and Hideo Sugawara whose facial expressions speak louder than words. The humor ranges from dry humor to sight gags, but they never overshadow the film's more serious tone and Ozu's keen social commentary. It's quite interesting to observe the parallels between Mr. Yoshii's experiences at work and his two sons' experiences with the school bullies. At a running time of 1 hour and 30 minutes, I Was Born, But... is an amusing, well-acted and intelligent slice of social commentary.