Ladri di biciclette (1948)

Director:

Vittorio De Sica

Writers:

Luigi Bartolini (novel)
Cesare Zavattini (writer) ...
(more)

Release Date:

13 December 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A man and his son search for a stolen bicycle vital for his job.

Plot Keywords:

Post War Italy | Rome Italy | Falsely Accused | Father Son Relationship | Neorealism

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 16 wins

Cast

Lamberto Maggiorani	...	Antonio Ricci
Enzo Staiola	...	Bruno Ricci
Lianella Carell	...	Maria Ricci
Gino Saltamerenda	...	Baiocco
Vittorio Antonucci	...	The Thief
Giulio Chiari	...	The Beggar
Elena Altieri	...	The Charitable Lady
Carlo Jachino	...	A Beggar
Michele Sakara	...	Secretary of the Charity Organization
Emma Druetti
Fausto Guerzoni	...	Amateur Actor
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Giulio Battiferri	...	Citizen Who Protects the Real Thief (uncredited)
Ida Bracci Dorati	...	La Santona (uncredited)
Nando Bruno	...	(uncredited)
Eolo Capritti	...	(uncredited)
Memmo Carotenuto	...	(uncredited)
Giovanni Corporale	...	(uncredited)
Sergio Leone	...	A Seminary Student (uncredited)
Mario Meniconi	...	Meniconi, the Street Sweeper (uncredited)
Massimo Randisi	...	Rich Kid in Restaurant (uncredited)
Checco Rissone	...	Guard in Piazza Vittorio (uncredited)
Peppino Spadaro	...	Police Officer (uncredited)
Umberto Spadaro	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Vittorio De Sica

Writing credits
Luigi Bartolini		(novel)
Cesare Zavattini		(writer) &
Suso Cecchi d'Amico		(writer) (as Suso D'Amico) &
Vittorio De Sica		(writer) &
Oreste Biancoli		(writer) &
Adolfo Franci		(writer) &
Gerardo Guerrieri		(writer)

Produced by
Giuseppe Amato	....	producer
Vittorio De Sica	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Alessandro Cicognini		(as Cicognini in closing credits)

Cinematography by
Carlo Montuori

Film Editing by
Eraldo Da Roma

Production Design by
Antonio Traverso

Production Management
Nino Misiano	....	production supervisor
Umberto Scarpelli	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Luisa Alessandri	....	assistant director
Gerardo Guerrieri	....	assistant director
Sergio Leone	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Biagio Fiorelli	....	sound technician (as Gino Fiorelli)
Bruno Brunacci	....	sound engineer (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Mario Montuori	....	camera operator

Music Department
Willy Ferrero	....	conductor

Other crew
Joseph Burstyn	....	distributor
Roberto Moretti	....	production secretary

Production Companies

• Produzioni De Sica

Distributors

• Ente Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche (ENIC) (1948) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Arthur Mayer & Joseph Burstyn (1949) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Image Entertainment (1996) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Image Entertainment (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Continental Home Vídeo (2002) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Vídeo Mercury Films (2003) (Spain) (DVD)
• Versátil Home Vídeo (2006) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Asociace Ceských Filmových Klubu (ACFK) (????) (Czech Republic) (theatrical)
• Continental Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (VHS)
• DVD Magic (2005) (Russia) (DVD)
• Homescreen (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Multimedia San Paolo S.r.l. (2002) (Italy) (DVD)
• RKO Radio Pictures (1951) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb (1953) (East Germany) (theatrical)

Also Known As:

Bicycle Thieves (UK)
The Bicycle Thief (USA)

Runtime:

93 min | Spain:80 min (DVD edition)

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | West Germany:12 (f) | Spain:T | Portugal:M/6 | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:U | South Korea:12

Filming Locations:

Citta Valmelaina, Via Salaria, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Produzioni De Sica

Trivia:

Vittorio De Sica claimed he selected the actors for the characters of both Bruno and Antonio because of their walks.

Quotes:

Antonio Ricci: "Why should I kill myself worrying when I'll end up just as dead?"

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing (2004)

No small thing.

This movie changed my life. It changed it in the sense that after seeing it I developed a life-long passion for Italian films after first seeing it in 1955 when it appeared at a local movie theatre in a revival five years or so after its original appearance. I was only 13 at the time and somewhat of a precocious chooser of what films to go see. I have seen THE BICYCLE THIEF ("Bicycle Thieves" in England and plural as well in its original Italian title) hundreds of times since and never tire of it. The fact that the film has almost never been out of circulation since its making and is constantly shown in revivals, festivals and film classes attests to its endurance. Martin Scorsese does a glorious appreciation of it in his documentary on the Italian cinema, IL MIO VIAGGIO IN ITALIA.

What makes it so enduring? What is so damn great about the movie? It is not its trenchant portrayal of post-war Italian poverty and misery. Lots of films did that even better. It is not in any sense of real drama, which is very schematic. Nor even the unforgettably truthful acting, that iconic face of pint-sized Enzo Staiola. We get truthful acting and iconic faces all over the place. It is, I believe, its sense of compassion, its sense of poetry. Those are rarer qualities. The movie is compassionate poetry. I don't know if writer Cesare Zavattini or director Vittorio De Sica would have appreciated that phrase. I feel they might have. I feel it is exactly the truth they were after. To be sure, the film is a story of father and little-boy in search of what is lost, a necessity yes, but also a lost dream. The endangered hope for a better life to come challenges this paternal/filial relationship. In that sense, this is a film-poem, God help me, about Everyfather and Everylittleboy.

The most chilling moment in the poem occurs when little Bruno sees his father steal, and a tearful horror glazes his face as a god seems to collapse. The most redemptive moment comes shortly thereafter when the boy slips his hand into his father's. That forgiveness is not cheap or facile. It is unassailable and all-comforting. It is a forgiving embrace of Virgilian dignity. For a magnificent instant the father, Antonio, has become the son; Bruno, the son, has become the father. At the end, when they walk off into the Roman crowd, they are as one.

I have written many thoughts about this film over the years, including an extended exegesis for a local newspaper. I have programmed it in film series, shown it to film classes, Italian classes. I know the movie. Friends, the movie is not about stolen bicycles, indifferent police, bicycle chop-shop gargoyles, mouth-foaming lowlife, desperate actions by the desperate, or mere journalistic human interest that is gone with tomorrow's edition. Its worth resides in its lyric portrayal of the eternal curative power of love. No small thing.

Two addenda: the song being rehearsed at the workers' club Antonio visits to see his friend is called "Ciccio Formaggio." The song being sung and played by the restaurant musicians when Antonio and his son eat together is "Tummuriata nera," about the mulatto offspring of an Italian woman and a black soldier. The lyrics for both songs, in Neapolitan dialect, can be found by Googling the titles. Recordings by Roberto Murolo of both songs are available.