Photofest
Vittorio De Sica, Italy 1948
Print source: George Eastman Museum
Running time: 89 minutes
About the print
An American release of the film, this print was donated to the museum by film distributor Joseph Burstyn in 1953. It has minimal wear, including some edge and perf damage. The print has English subtitles. Shrinkage: 0.75%
About the film
“Although he has again set his drama in the streets of Rome and has populated it densely with significant contemporary types, De Sica is concerned here with something which is not confined to Rome nor solely originated by postwar disorder and distress. He is pondering the piteous paradoxes of poverty, no matter where, and the wretched compulsions of sheer self-interest in man’s desperate struggle to survive. And while he has limited his vista to a vivid cross-section of Roman life, he actually is holding a mirror up to millions of civilized men. . . . That is the picture’s story—it is as stark and direct as that, and it comes to a close with a fade-out as inconclusive as a passing nod. But during the course of its telling in the brilliant director’s trenchant style, it is as full and electric and compelling as any plot-laden drama you ever saw. Every incident, every detail of the frantic and futile hunt is a taut and exciting adventure, in which hope is balanced against despair. Every movement of every person in it, every expression on every face is a striking illumination of some implicit passion or mood.”
– Bosley Crowther, New York Times, December 3, 1949