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Gioventu Perduta (Lost Youth) represented Pietro Germi's second directorial effort. Jacques Sernas stars as Stefano, the charismatic head of a youthful bandit gang. Successfully leading a double life, Stefano poses as a pillar of postwar society, all the while plotting a robbery with his fellow college students. Suspicious detective Marcello (Massimo Giroti) tries to get the goods on Stefano by feigning a romance with the boy's sister Luisa (Carlo del Poggio), eventually falling in love with the girl for real. At this point in his career, Pietro Germi was still emulating his idol John Ford, spending more time with characterization and atmosphere than with plot or logic.