It's worth noting that the late-'40s was the prime time of Italian Neo-Realist movies (one of the subjects I used to teach as a university lecturer in history, theory and analysis of the performing arts)...and this Pagliacci falls right into this category!
Somebody's going to mention Fellini's La Strada -being about a travelling troupe of players it's the obvious comparison- but that was 1954, towards the end of the NR movement. Perhaps Fellini was influenced by this version of Pagliacci?
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