Eduardo De Filippo bewilders the critics. His comedies raise a number of problems which are not easily disentangled: the relation between the playwright he has become and the actor he has always been; his language, which is neither standard nor dialect; his link to the tradition of the commedia dell'arte; his relation to pirandellismo, surrealism, and neo-realism; the nature of his comedy and the quality of his morality; the burden and function of his Neapolitan settings. One could even ask whether there is a line of development in his work: how can we explain that a true masterpiece like Christmas in the Cupiello Home came fifteen years before the series of plays that fulfilled its promise: Naples’ Millionaires, Oh, These Ghosts!, Filumena, The Voices from Within, My Beloved and My Heart. And finally, what role did World War II play in De Filippo's development?