Bitter Rice (Riso amaro) (Italy, 1949);
Without Pity (Senso Pietà) (Italy, 1947)

October 29, 2011 - 7:30 pm

Billy Wilder Theater

Bitter Rice (Riso amaro) (Italy, 1949)

Directed by Giuseppe De Santis

On the run from the cops, a jewel thief’s moll hides out among the migrant women workers who journey to Northern Italy every year for the rice harvest. She builds a fragile bond with her fellow workers until her past catches up with her in director Giuseppe De Santis’ scorching crime drama set against a portrait of rural labor and exploitation.

Producer: Dino De Laurentiis. Screenwriter: Corrado Alvaro, Giuseppe De Santis, Carlo Lizzani, Carlo Musso, Ivo Perilli, Gianni Puccini. Cinematographer: Otello Martelli. Editor: Gabriele Varriale. Cast: Vittorio Gassman, Silvana Mangano, Doris Dowling, Raf Vallone, Checco Rissone.

35mm, b/w, in Italian with English subtitles, 108 min.

Without Pity (Senza pietà) (Italy, 1947)

Print courtesy of CSC-Cineteca Nazionale.

Directed by Alberto Lattuada

Co-written by Federico Fellini, Without Pity casts an unflinching eye on smuggling and prostitution in post-war Italy. A young Italian woman enmeshed in the seedy underworld of the port city Livorno turns for comfort to a sympathetic African American G.I., himself grappling with the U.S. Army’s racism. Together, they formulate a desperate plan of escape.

Producer: Clemente Fracassi. Based on a story by Ettore M. Margadonna. Screenwriter: Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, Alberto Lattuada. Cinematographer: Aldo Tonti. Cast: Carla Del Poggio, John Kitzmiller, Pierre Claude, Giulietta Masina, Lando Muzio, Daniel Jones.

35mm, b/w, in Italian with English subtitles, 90 min.

Part of:

Days of Glory: Masterworks of Italian Neo-Realism

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Bitter Rice (Riso amaro) (Italy, 1949); Without Pity (Senso Pietà) (Italy, 1947)