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The Bicycle Thief - Ladri di biciclette (1949)
IMDb Rating 8.2
Front Cover Actor Back Cover
Lamberto Maggiorani Antonio Ricci
Lianella Carell Maria Ricci
Enzo Staiola Bruno Ricci
Elena Altieri The Lady
Vittorio Antonucci The Thief
Gino Saltamerenda Bajocco
Umberto Spadaro Amateur Actor
Giulio Chiari The Beggar
Carlo Jachino A Beggar
Michele Sakara Secretary of the Charity Organization
Emma Druetti
Plot
This landmark Italian neorealist drama became one of the best-known and most widely acclaimed European movies, including a special Academy Award as "most outstanding foreign film" seven years before that Oscar category existed. Written primarily by neorealist pioneer Cesare Zavattini and directed by Vittorio DeSica , also one of the movement's main forces, the movie featured all the hallmarks of the neorealist style: a simple story about the lives of ordinary people, outdoor shooting and lighting, non-actors mixed together with actors, and a focus on social problems in the aftermath of World War II. Lamberto Maggiorani plays Antonio, an unemployed man who finds a coveted job that requires a bicycle. When it is stolen on his first day of work, Antonio and his young son Bruno ( Enzo Staiola ) begin a frantic search, learning valuable lessons along the way. The movie focuses on both the relationship between the father and the son and the larger framework of poverty and unemployment in postwar Italy. As in such other classic films as Shoeshine (1946), Umberto D. (1952), and his late masterpiece The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1971), DeSica focuses on the ordinary details of ordinary lives as a way to dramatize wider social issues. As a result, The Bicycle Thief works as a sentimental study of a father and son, a historical document, a social statement, and a record of one of the century's most influential film movements. — Leo Charney
Movie Details
Genre Drama; Foreign
Director Vittorio De Sica
Producer Giuseppe Amato; Vittorio De Sica
Writer Luigi Bartolini; Cesare Zavattini
Studio Enic
Country Italy
Language Italian
Audience Rating G
Running Time 90 mins
Movie Release Date 12/13/1949
Color Color
Personal Details
Format DVD
Seen It Yes
Index 279
Collection Status In Collection
Purchase Date 6/6/2004
Product Details
Region Region
Screen Ratio 1.33 (4:3)
Layers Single Side, Single Layer
UPC (Barcode) 014381457223
Chapters 14
Release Date 2004
Subtitles English
Packaging Snap Case
Audio Tracks English Dolby Digital 1.0
Italian Dolby Digital 1.0
Nr of Disks/Tapes 1
Extra Features
Theatrical Trailer
Links
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