意大利新现实主义的代表作,但因其反应现实的力度致使当时的意大利政府采取了全面封杀的态度,结果使这部片子的知名度大幅度降低,但本片无论从表现手法,还是演员表演,到对社会,人性的刻画揭露,无不表现出深厚的功力和艺术水准,其成就足以使它超越《偷自行车的人》成为新现实主义的巅峰之作Based on an actual incident, this is the story of five girls (told in a slow beginning) who are among the 200 women who answer a want ad for a modest secretarial position one rainy morning in Rome in 1951. They crowd and push their way into the old building and fight their way up the stairs to await an interview, only to be told there is not enough time to interview all. A scuffle breaks out and the stairway collapses sending many of them hurtling down in a mass of bodies amid brick and mortar. Among them are the well-born wife of a poor artist;, a streetwalker making an attempt to change her life; an unhappy servant girl; and the desperate wife of an unemployed factory worker. How the event changes or fails to change their lives is told.