Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di biciclette) (Italy,1948);
Shoeshine (Sciuscià) (Italy, 1946)

October 17, 2011 - 7:30 pm

Billy Wilder Theater

Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di biciclette, Italy, 1948)

Directed by Vittorio De Sica

Renowned for its human insights, this miniature saga of a desperate worker and his young son wandering Rome in search of the man’s stolen bicycle—his means of employment—remains a cinematic emblem of familial hope and disappointment. The film’s evocative street imagery and attention to everyday poeticism attains the force of parable with provocative implications for every social stratum.

Based on the novel by Luigi Bartolini. Screenwriter: Oreste Biancoli. Suso D’Amico, V. De Sica, Adolfo Franci, Gherardo Gherardi, Gerardo Guerrieri, Cesare Zavattini. Cinematographer: Carlo Montuori. Editor: Eralda Da Roma. Cast: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianelle Carell, Elena Altieri, Gino Saltamerenda.

35mm, b/w, in Italian with English subtitles, 96 min.

Shoeshine (Sciuscià, 1946)

Directed by Vittorio De Sica

The first foreign film to receive an Oscar, this piercing melodrama follows two hard-working orphans imprisoned for a petty crime. Fresh performances and deft plotting magnify the boys’ neglect and exploitation by a corrupt society. “The camera disappeared,” Orson Welles once said of it, “the screen disappeared; it was just life."

Producer: Palo William Tamburella. Screenwriter: Sergio Amidei, Adolfo Franci, Cesare Giulio Viola, Cesare Zavattini. Cinematographer: Anchise Brizzi. Editor: Niccolò Lazzari. Cast: Franco Interlenghi, Rinaldo Smordoni, Aniello Mele, Bruno Ortensi, Emilio Cigoli.

35mm, b/w, in Italian with English subtitles, 95 min.

Part of:

Days of Glory: Masterworks of Italian Neo-Realism

Search form

You are here

Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di biciclette) (Italy,1948); Shoeshine (Sciuscià) (Italy, 1946)