The Bicycle Thief

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Vittorio De Sica's remarkable 1947 drama of desperation and survival in Italy's devastating post-war depression earned a special Oscar for its affecting power. Shot in the streets and alleys of Rome, De Sica uses the real-life environment of contemporary life to frame his moving drama of a desperate father whose new job delivering cinema posters is threatened when a street thief steals his bicycle. Too poor to buy another, he and his son take to the streets in an impossible search for his bike. Cast with nonactors and filled with the real street life of Rome, this landmark film helped define the Italian neorealist approach with its mix of real life details, poetic imagery, and warm sentimentality. De Sica uses the wandering pair to witness the lives of everyday folks, but ultimately he paints a quiet, poignant portrait of father and son, played by nonprofessionals Lamberto Maggiorani and Enzo Staiola, whose understated performances carry the heart of the film. De Sica and scenarist Cesare Zavattini also collaborated on Shoeshine, Miracle in Milan, and Umberto D, all classics in the neorealist vein, but none of which approach the simple poetry and quiet power achieved in The Bicycle Thief. --Sean Axmaker

Description

A beautiful, simple story of a man in post-war Rome who needs his bicycle in order to work at his job. No sooner does he retrieve it from pawn, then it is stolen. The heartwrenching search teaches the man and his son much about the meaning of life and just how far we will go when pushed to the edge. Winner of a special Academy Award.

Customer Reviews:

Man's search for dignity..........2007-08-08

Vittorio De Sica's 1949 film is a definitely a cinema classic! It is a truly moving story about a man (Ricci) in hard time Italy trying to get a job to support his family. He lands a good paying job, but he must have a bicycle. Sometime before, Ricci pawned his bicycle to feed his family. His loyal wife pawns her sheets to obtain the money to get the bike back. He gets his bike and the job, but the first day on the job his bike is stolen. The rest of the movie takes us on a journey of how Ricci and young son, Bruno desparately try to find the stolen bike so Ricci could have the job to care for his family. We feel sorry for Ricci. His desparation to recover his bike leads him to steal another man's bicycle. He is caught and humiliated in front of his son, Bruno. My favorite scene is where he takes his son into a restaurant with the little money he has. They order a meager lunch. Sitting next to them was a wealthy family. The rich little boy was trying to show off with all the good food he had. Bruno took his mozzarella toast and made it look like it was the best meal ever---his smile back to the rich kid said it all! This is a definite buy! Only one minor fault, the subtitles, at times, went to fast and you were constantly having to choose between reading or watching.

Essential cinema: De Sica's 'Ladri di biciclette.' .......2007-07-21

Based on a novel by Luigi Bartolini, Vittorio De Sica's (1901-1974) Italian neorealist film, The Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di biciclette) (1948), tells the story of a father, Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani), who searches the streets of Rome with his son, Bruno (Enzo Staiola ) for his stolen bicycle. So that Antonio could start his new job posting Rita Hayworth flyers, his wife Maria pawned their wedding sheets for money to get the bicycle from the pawnbroker. Desperate to support his family, Antonio eventually attempts to steal another bicycle, but is caught and humiliated in front of his son. Realizing he is not morally superior to the thief, Antonio faces a bleak future in Italy's depressed post-World War II economy.

The Bicycle Thieves is perhaps the best known film of the neorealist film movement, which sought to bring realism to cinema. Using documentary-style camera work and ordinary people with no training as actors (Lamberto Maggiorani was a factory worker), De Sica shot his film entirely on location in the streets and alleys of Rome. De Sica refused to cut two scenes from the film which were considered obscene at the time. In the first, Bruno attempts to relieve himself against a wall. In the second, Antonio finds the thief into the kitchen of a brothel. Hollywood nevertheless awarded the movie a special Oscar.

Rich in human insights, The Bicycle Thieves will steal your heart. It is among my all-time personal film favorites. The two-disc Criterion edition offers a first-rate, crisp digital transfer of the film with a clear soundtrack. The second disc includes three extras: Life as It Is: The Neorealist Movement in Italy, a 40-minute introduction to postwar Italian cinema; Working with De Sica, a 22-minute documentary featuring surviving cast members and crew; and a 55-minute documentary on the life of Zavattini.

G. Merritt

White hot moral thriller.......2007-06-19

I saw this movie as a child and somehow understood it to be a movie about a stolen bicycle.... Now that I have finally seen this fantastic new Criterion release, I can tell you that I was wrong. "The Bicycle Thieves" is a white hot moral thriller where a series of bad decisions compound on one another from bad to worse and not stopping for ninety straight minutes showing that no matter how deep you are in the hole, you can always get deeper. No matter how much you've lost, you can always loose something else, something much more valuable, something you do not appreciate until you have lost it. While worrying about the wrinkles in a poster, Antonio looses the bicycle which is required for his livelihood. In his desperate search to recover his stolen bicycle, he looses his decorum, his principles, and ultimately the respect of his son; he harms his marriage and his relationship to his son, perhaps irreparably; and he almost looses his son to a pedophile, to drowning, and then to speeding cars. To say any more would spoil the movie for you. Suffice to say that behind the "simple plot" perceived by children, this is one of the best movies ever made, a searing moral thriller, and Criterion has finally provided us a worthy transfer. Bravo Criterion! Bravo Vittorio De Sica!

Cinema will never forget such movie like this........2007-05-12

Simpley it is an advantage to every cinema lover to have this great film in his/her archive. One of the most remarkable movies of europian cinema, directed by Viterio Decica.

Self-Interest in The Bicycle Thief.......2007-05-06

This story begs the question: what would you do to support your family? It forces the audience consider poverty and unemployment, issues that we must confront even today. As we sympathize with Antonio, possibly attempting to justify his actions in our mind, we must then analyze the young thief who stole Antonio's bike, the cause of our frustrations from the beginning of the film, and give him the same sympathy. Perhaps he was only trying to feed his family as well. Nevertheless, that didn't give him the right to steal another's livelihood, to put Antonio's family at risk. In the same way, Antonio's desperation doesn't give him the right to potentially put another man's family at risk by stealing his bike. Owning a bike becomes the conduit through which selfish survival instincts allow man to exploit man. It also leads us to ask questions like: Does one society's need justify the misuse of another society? De Sica presents these questions to his audience by creating characters with which one can easily identify, and whose actions can be easily interpreted. It is through our reflections and interpretations that we can then know ourselves.
The most respectable aspect of De Sica's film mastery is the way in which he gives the characters of The Bicycle Thief dignity and personal values despite their disadvantaged situation. Antonio's friends who work all night collecting garbage, then help him search for his bike all day are the epitome of compassion and friendship. His wife, as well, in her giving efforts to secure a job for him, exemplifies great consideration. De Sica skillfully pushes the audience to consider the seed of arrogance within Antonio that drives his actions, while maintaining in him a man deserving of our understanding.

Average customer rating:

zero stars
Horrible prints and dubbing mare two great masterpieces.

Gold of Naples/Bicycle Thief
Starring: Gold of Naples , and Bicycle Thief
Manufacturer: Krb Music
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00061F38W
Release Date: 2006-04-04

Product Description

Best Foreign Picture 1948 Academy Award

Customer Reviews:

zero stars.......2006-12-30

The quality of this dvd product is so poor that you wonder how it could have been produced. It's a shame that people exploit great cinema in this way.

Horrible prints and dubbing mare two great masterpieces........2006-07-25

I should've known better, but I've been wanting to see "Gold Of Naples" for so long that I talked myself into the possibility that this DVD might be worth the gamble. It was not. Sadly, I couldn't sit through a single viewing of either of the double features.

First of all, the prints are a disaster. They are filthy with horrible contrast issues including washed-out blacks. However, I would've looked past the visuals if the prints at least were in their original Italian. Although "The Bicycle Thief" is subtitled, the "Gold Of Naples" is dubbed in English.

The only thing I did like about this DVD is that it included vintage cartoons and commercials. I realized that when these movies aired on TV in the 50's they were plagued by dubbing, bad prints and re-editing. So seeing a butchered version of "Gold Of Naples" along with an old cigarette commercial is actually kind of nostalgic, a glimpse into the world of bad television of the 50's.

My advice... First, purchase the Image Entertainment version of "Bicycle Thief". I own this copy and it's a pretty good print. Secondly, pray that somebody someday releases a good copy of "Gold Of Naples".

I give this DVD 2 stars only because the original films are masterpieces and they deserve at least that.

Average customer rating:

From the back cover of SHOESHINE dvd released by Image Entertainment
One of these memorable films you should see !
De Sica's realism + magic = great cinema

Shoeshine (1946) (SciusciÃ )
Starring: Franco Interlenghi , Rinaldo Smordoni , Maria Campi , and Annielo Mele
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Product Description

Format: BLACK & WHITE, IMPORT, NTSC ALL REGION, FULL SCREEN AUDIO: DOLBY DIGITAL in Italian. SUBTITLE LANGUAGES: English, Italian, Chinese, . PRIMARY ACTOR: Emma Gramatica, Francesco Golisano. SUPPORTING ACTORS: Paolo Stoppa, Guglielmo Barnabò, Brunella Bovo, Anna Carena. DIRECTOR: Vittorio De Sica PLOT SUMMARY: Vittorio De Sica's (The Bicycle Thief) award-winning masterpiece Miracle in Milan is one of the watershed films of the Italian cinema renaissance. With fantasy, satire, and biting humor, the story of Toto, an abandoned newborn who is raised by a kindly old lady to be a paragon of goodness, illustrates the frustration of innocence in the face of life's harsh realities.

Customer Reviews:

From the back cover of SHOESHINE dvd released by Image Entertainment.......2007-01-10

Two best friends find their bond tested by the trials of postwar Italy, street crime and prison in this neorealist classic from legendary director Vittorio De Sica (The Bicycle Thief). While shining shoes for a living and dreaming of buying a horse of their very own, young Giuseppe and Pasquale are confronted by harsh reality when they are embroiled in a smuggling ring, quickly learning that innocence and childish dreams can only last for so long in a world of turmoil.

Winner of a special 1947 Academy Award (a first for a foreign film), this groundbreaking look at children coming of age against the steepest odds remains a moving, unforgettable experience in world cinema.

One of these memorable films you should see !.......2006-12-29

Vittorio de Sica made unforgettable films but this one, belongs to what I would denominate his golden quartet (Bicycle thief, Shoeshine and Umberto D) which mirror with genuine intensity and beloved humanism the terrible social conditions of his beloved Italy after the WW2. If Rosellini was the tragic Ambassador of this dramatis personae; De Sica always knew to find a smile bellow the pain and the misfortune.

The weird arrival of little boy in the middle of a cabbage patch (as a visible allusion to Moses) by a poor but gentle old lady will become of Toto the good , a very special human being, who will be educated in an orphanage after his adoptive mother passed away, in order to bring cheer to a dreary village of impoverished people, so he will transform their lives through the construction of a shantytown into an almost perfect community, as well as a lot of fortunate events. Extraordinary social satire, plenty of imagination and sublime good taste. This is another winner film of Cannes Festival.

De Sica's realism + magic = great cinema.......2006-04-14

This marvelous movie is director Vittorio De Sica's realistic fairy tale about the poor in post-WW II Italy - and it's a magical movie indeed. A young man named Toto (played by Francesco Golisano), found in a cabbage patch as a baby by a kindly old woman (Emma Gramatica), and raised in an orphange after she dies, wants nothing more than to make others happy. He goes to a shantytown and spreads joy all around, but when oil is accidentally discovered on the property, the owners try to force the squatters out.

Then the fairy tale element kicks in: Gramatica reappears and gives Golisano a magic dove which will grant every wish. But after granting all the wishes he can, the dove is stolen back by the angels. The shantytown people are arrested, but with one last miracle allowed, they all escape and fly away on brooms!

The juxtaposition of the very real shantytown (you can still view the ruins of Milan from the war) against the fairy tale elements of goodness and magic works wonderfully. De Sica's satire is not all one sided, either: the landowners are obviously depicted as avaricious and heartless, but greedy too are the shantytown residents in their wishes of the magical dove. After making THE BICYCLE THIEF it's no surprise how well De Sica handles the realistic segments of the movie; it's the magical elements that he deals with so subtly that amazes most. It's a superb movie, definitely worth a watch.

Vittorio De Sica's The Bicycle Thief (Ladri di biciclette) ~ Original Release [Import, All-regions] (Dvd)

Average customer rating:

Vittorio De Sica's The Bicycle Thief (Ladri di biciclette) ~ Original Release [Import, All-regions] (Dvd)
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Manufacturer: PS KR
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

A simple story of man and his son's search for a stolen bicycle told in masterful fashion.
"The Bicycle Thief" had such an impact on its first release that [an] international poll of film makers and critics in 1952 voted it the greatest film of all time.
"Given an honorary Oscar in 1949, routinely voted one of the greatest films [ever], revered as one of the foundation stones of Italian neorealism, it is a simple, powerful film about a man who needs a job." ROGER EBERT
Beautifully enhanced import from Korea made for dvd players in the USA/Canada/Korea (NTSC, All-Region) with the original Italian soundtrack (English and Korean subtitles)
This is the ORIGINAL theatrical version envisioned by the director, Vittorio De Sica.

ASIN: B000N3QR5Q

Product Description

Considered one of the greatest films of all time, it's a beautiful, simple story of a man in post-war Rome who needs his bicycles in order to work at his job. No sooner does he retrieve it from a pawn shop, it is stolen. The heart-wrenching search teaches the man and his son much about the meaning of life and just how far we will go when pushed to the edge. Masterful.

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