Bicycle Thieves [1948]

Customer Reviews:

Not my cup of tea!.......2008-02-29

This is a great film and if I had been asked to watch it as part of film studies course would have found it of great interest. The characters are fantastic and it is a beautiful peice of art. However at times I found it painfully slow and the conclusion to the story very unsatifying. The missing subtitles were very annoying at times which added to the lack of overall entertainment value. This is a great film but beware that in an age of fast moving films this slow style is not everyones cup of tea.

In a Class Of its Own.......2007-12-23

A film of real life, real emotions, real people. Bicycle Thieves was a film like no other because it was made like no other. With non actors, natural light, filmed on locations, the film captured the truth of Neorealism. The film is made up of a series of "small moments." The fact is, the entire movie is made up of pureness. It tackles issues of class, politics, and post war activities. Overall, the film is about life and hope. The unhappy ending only makes the film more real. If you are a son who loved his father and understood who he was and why he was the way he was........watch this movie.

A marvellous classic of the Italian cinema.......2007-07-26

Vittoria de Sica's famous film is as powerful, raw and moving now as it was when it was made - and in addition it has something of the feel of a historical document, portraying as it does the desperation of an honest man with a wife and children in the social and economic maelstrom of post-War Italy. He gets a job - hundreds do not - as a bill-poster, but he must have a bicycle ; the job depends on it. With difficulty he gets one, but on his first day at work, it is stolen. What looked like a promising future will turn to ashes for him, his wife and his two children, one a baby, if the bicycle is not recovered. With his son Bruno, wonderfully, wonderfully played by Enzo Staiolla, he sets out on a desperate quest to find the bicycle among the thousands and thousands in the city. The film moves through a series of episodes in the market place, a church ministering to the poor, the riverside, a brothel, a seedy quarter where he actually comes upon the thief, and so on until, at the end, despair drives him mad and, in view of his son, he himself turns thief and is hunted like a criminal. There is no silver lining and no solution ; the film just ends. It is constantly involving, beautifully made, marvellously acted and even has little touches of humour, but in the end we are left with the memory of the strength of the relationship between father and son and the hope, but not the certainty, that somehow things will turn out all right. It is a wonderful film.

No translation given.......2006-10-01

Bicycle Thieves is of course a marvelous movie. I have just one issue with the DVD. For about one third (I'm not exaggerating) of the dialogue, which is (thankfully) in its original Italian, there is no translation given. Maybe the subtitlers deemed these parts unimportant or obvious. Well, I'd like to decide that on my own, and would therefore appreciate it, if in a new edition ALL dialogue had subtitles. I mean no offence by that and hope Arrow understands my frustration with being lost in, well, missing translation.

Realistic representation of post-war Italy.......2006-03-09

An excellent representation of Italy, post-Fascism. De Sica's use of non-professional actors realistically portrays the bleak situation for the working-class masses.
De Sica himself does not offer much in terms of a message, or ideology, it is up to the audience to do this themselves, to analyse the situation and decide how they feel about it.
Bruno and Ricci are excellent in their roles, and the comaraderie evident is synonymous of the whole working-class socialst movement of that time.
If your interested in the history of Italy, post-war, and would like to discover the real situation, watch this!

Bicycle Thieves [1948] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Average customer rating:

Oscar worthy look at post war Italy
Not boring- an observation of post- WWII Italy
A beautiful compelling film
Neo-realisim
booooooooooooring

Bicycle Thieves [1948] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Starring: Lamberto Maggiorani , Enzo Staiola , Lianella Carell , Gino Saltamerenda , and Vittorio Antonucci
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000KRNGO0
Release Date: 2007-02-13

Amazon.co.uk Review

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 a real-life environment 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 non-professional actors 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 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 Thieves. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

Oscar worthy look at post war Italy.......2007-08-26

Truly magical and emotional exploration of life in post war Italy. wonderfully filmed and great story. The extras are worth a look as they have a bit on revisiting the scene many years later. Classic and well worth seeing.

Not boring- an observation of post- WWII Italy.......2006-05-08

I too saw The Bicycle Thief in a film appreciation class and I didn't find it boring at all. It was a little difficult to get into because it was in Italian of course, but it is an important film in Neo-Realism. (It's not true that only Europe made movies reflecting the destruction caused by WWII- what about Film Noir?) This film makes you question the doctrine, "stealing is wrong" and it also packs a huge emotional punch. Throughout the film, Ricci's ethics are deteriorating, and this is seen in the treatment of his son, Bruno. In the beginning of the film, they were best buds, but soon he forgets all about his son, and the poor kid almost gets run over. But at the end, after being caught stealing a bicycle, the way Ricci's face crumples and how he squeezes his son's hand, makes you want to cry. I enjoyed the movie a lot. If you can stand foreign black-and-white films that make you think, you should definately see this one.

A beautiful compelling film.......2005-09-03

Nice to see such insightful reviews by the film studies students ('boooooooooring')... perhaps well acted, intelligent, and ground breaking films aren't their style?!

This classic film depicts the quiet desperation of a poor family in Rome attempting to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of World War 2. The social impact of Italy's shattered economy is reflected by the heartbreaking scene at the beginning where a crowd of unemployed men wait desperately for work.

The simple premise of a man in search of a bicycle (which he needs to sustain his family)takes the viewer on a spiritual and political quest for identity and meaning through all levels of society. Along the way we meet priests, police, the bourgeoise, fortunetellers, peddlers, crooks, beggars and thieves.

The direction is compelling and the cinematography decades ahead of its time. The father son relationship is especially well explored - the acting of young boy who watches his father's gradual moral and spiritual collapse is unforgettable. The Bicycle Thief also has one of the most emotionally powerful endings I have ever seen.

Neo-realisim.......2004-11-05

Had to watch this film over and over for italian history and film degree...it's a little dull the first time round but when you start asking questions that go deeper than what is shown its ok.
think of the film as a journey of a common person and see how it progresses.

booooooooooooring.......2004-06-09

I watched this film for film studies when we were going through the topic of Italian Neo Realism. I have to say in it's defense it is a good italian neo realist film, if one would be so inclined to watch an italian neo realist film. However, I feel obligated to tell the flipside of the coin to the person getting ready to buy this film as a fair warning not to get it. Whilst this film is italian neo realist, you must take into consideration what that entails. In this case it means pure unadulterated bordem for 2 hours straight. The worst part was I had to watch this film several times for revision for my course, and I wouldn't wish that amount of pain on anybody. No one deserves to suffer like that. The main protagonist in this movie is a man named Ricci who is the biggest loser the world has ever created, he spends three quarters of the movie just feeling sorry for himself and acting all melodramatic, which by the end makes the audience want to smack him sooo hard, and also takes away from the intention of feeling sorry for the guy. The best bit in the movie is when ricci gets slapped by lots of men infront of his own son because he tried to knick someone elses bike, but this is still not worth watching for 2 hours for. WASTE OF MONEY, TIME AND ENERGY, as it offers absoloutly zero entertainment value!! There you've been fairly warned, I leave it up to you. If I could give it no stars I would!

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