33 Shoeshine
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- not perpee
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:41 pm
33 Shoeshine
Shoeshine
Directed by Vittorio De Sica (Bicycle Thieves, Umberto D), Shoeshine was filmed on location in postwar Rome using non-professional actors. It was inspired by the real stories of those struggling to overcome the oppressive forces of a corrupt and ineffective political system.
De Sica's film depicts the troubled lives of two young boys caught up in the chaos of a world plagued by poverty and unemployment. Giuseppe (Rinaldo Smordoni) and Pasquale (Franco Interlenghi) work on the street, where they shine the shoes of American troops. They dream of a better life, seeking solace in a horse that they ride to escape their harsh reality. When the boys are implicated in a petty crime, they are punished by the society that has robbed them of their innocence, resulting in tragic consequences.
Shoeshine is widely regarded as one of the finest films to have emerged from the Italian neorealist cinema. It was also the first foreign film to receive an Oscar. "The high quality of this motion picture," noted the Academy, "brought to eloquent life in a country scarred by war, is proof to the world that the creative spirit can triumph over adversity." On the film's 60th anniversary, The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Shoeshine for the first time on DVD in the UK.
SPECIAL FEATURES
• New progressive transfer from a brand-new Italian restoration
• Full length exclusive audio commentary by Bert Cardullo (author of Vittorio De Sica: Director, Actor, Screenwriter)
• New and improved optional English subtitles
• Through Children's Eyes – documentary with Manuel De Sica, Carlo Lizzani, Orio Caldiron, Italo Moscati, & Franco Interlenghi
• Ragazzi (The Boys) – interview with Giamiero Brunetta
• 24-page booklet featuring the writing of Vittorio De Sica, James Agee, Pauline Kael, and Bert Cardullo
Directed by Vittorio De Sica (Bicycle Thieves, Umberto D), Shoeshine was filmed on location in postwar Rome using non-professional actors. It was inspired by the real stories of those struggling to overcome the oppressive forces of a corrupt and ineffective political system.
De Sica's film depicts the troubled lives of two young boys caught up in the chaos of a world plagued by poverty and unemployment. Giuseppe (Rinaldo Smordoni) and Pasquale (Franco Interlenghi) work on the street, where they shine the shoes of American troops. They dream of a better life, seeking solace in a horse that they ride to escape their harsh reality. When the boys are implicated in a petty crime, they are punished by the society that has robbed them of their innocence, resulting in tragic consequences.
Shoeshine is widely regarded as one of the finest films to have emerged from the Italian neorealist cinema. It was also the first foreign film to receive an Oscar. "The high quality of this motion picture," noted the Academy, "brought to eloquent life in a country scarred by war, is proof to the world that the creative spirit can triumph over adversity." On the film's 60th anniversary, The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Shoeshine for the first time on DVD in the UK.
SPECIAL FEATURES
• New progressive transfer from a brand-new Italian restoration
• Full length exclusive audio commentary by Bert Cardullo (author of Vittorio De Sica: Director, Actor, Screenwriter)
• New and improved optional English subtitles
• Through Children's Eyes – documentary with Manuel De Sica, Carlo Lizzani, Orio Caldiron, Italo Moscati, & Franco Interlenghi
• Ragazzi (The Boys) – interview with Giamiero Brunetta
• 24-page booklet featuring the writing of Vittorio De Sica, James Agee, Pauline Kael, and Bert Cardullo
- godardslave
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 4:44 pm
- Location: Confusing and open ended = high art.
- HerrSchreck
- Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful news. Egregious absence from home vid since the R1 Image disc vanished into space.peerpee wrote:De Sica. Restored print.
Nick, do you have any idea what's the holdup on Murnaus PHANTOM? I know your group hasn't announced it, but thought you might have an ear to the ground to the chatter coming out of Transit as to what's the deal on the extras. Flicker Al. has been postponing up the wazoo on this title in R1 and I don't wanta bug my contact there as I think they're a little embarassed.
- FilmFanSea
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:37 pm
- Location: Portland, OR
- Lino
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:18 am
- Location: Sitting End
- Contact:
- Monsieur Verdoux
- Joined: Tue May 16, 2006 4:56 pm
- Location: Bristol, UK
- Contact:
- otis
- Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2005 11:43 am
Dunno, I haven't bought it yet! It's a 2-discer with the restored film on one and the following extras on the other:peerpee wrote:Haven't seen the Italian disc - is it good? -- We'll be doing our own progressive transfer from the restored materials the licensor has provided us with.
Con gli occhi dei bambini - De Sica e Sciuscià . With Manuel De Sica, Carlo Lizzani, Orio Caldiron, Italo Moscati, Franco Interlenghi
Ragazzi - Parallel interviews with Franco Interlenghi and Rinaldo Smordoni
Il Cinema del Neo-Realismo: Interview with Giampiero Brunetta
I'll probably wait for your version, though it is nice to have Italian subtitles.
- What A Disgrace
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 10:34 pm
- Contact:
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- not perpee
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:41 pm
Interview with Giampiero Brunetta = 08'21"What A Disgrace wrote:How long do these supplements run?
Interview with "the boys" = 21'22"
De Sica and Shoeshine = 25'28"
The Bert Cardullo commentary is full-length.
--
Out of interest, the film restoration of SHOESHINE was funded by Philip Morris (tobacco) and the Italian DVD sleeve rather savagely omits the pack of Lucky Strikes being offered to the lad. Doesn't even replace them with another brand!
- HerrSchreck
- Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am
Wow-- image quality on one hand is very good... but this sucker looks extremely dark:
Masters of Cinema:
Old Image Entertainment:
Was this a deliberate decision Nick, consciously correcting perhaps what we have been seeing as overly bright touring prints by going back to source material and determining this to be the genuine look of the film at release. It's a very drastic difference in all the caps-- surprised Gary didn't mention it.
Masters of Cinema:
Old Image Entertainment:
Was this a deliberate decision Nick, consciously correcting perhaps what we have been seeing as overly bright touring prints by going back to source material and determining this to be the genuine look of the film at release. It's a very drastic difference in all the caps-- surprised Gary didn't mention it.
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- not perpee
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:41 pm
- HerrSchreck
- Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am
- ogtec
- Joined: Fri Aug 26, 2005 3:13 am
peerpee wrote:We're very happy with how the MoC SHOESHINE looks.
There's now a review up at DVD Times.
There's a bit of confusion over the region coding (which I notice isn't mentioned on the new website) but the picture quality gets very good marks:
Shoeshine has been magnificently restored here for this release. I've seen a number of battered clips of the film in various documentaries on Italian realism, and the print here consequently seems almost incredible.
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- Joined: Thu Mar 23, 2006 3:23 pm
- Location: Kendal
- zedz
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm
A nice package, as usual, but did anybody else find the commentary exhausting? The nicest thing I could say about it is that it's screen-specific (boy, is it screen-specific!), but the overall impression I have is of the commentator continually badgering me to "Look at this! Look at that! Note the other!" All well and good, but it's generally to no particularly insightful end, or to a bleedin' obvious one ("Look at the worn shoes the beggar is wearing in this scene! They show us that he doesn't have any money!"; "Look at the hurt expression on the boy's face right here! He's really upset that his best friend is being cruelly thrashed!"). Ultimately, it adds up to not much hard information and an awful lot of plot description, or explaining at length obvious character motivations.
- TheGodfather
- Joined: Sun Sep 17, 2006 4:39 pm
- Location: The Netherlands
Yeah I agree. It was good that he pointed out some stuff about the style of filming and things like that, but I thought it was too much and pretty much the same over and over again. I`d rather like to get to know something about the filming process and De Sica himself. That`s in my opinion what a commentary track is forzedz wrote:A nice package, as usual, but did anybody else find the commentary exhausting? The nicest thing I could say about it is that it's screen-specific (boy, is it screen-specific!), but the overall impression I have is of the commentator continually badgering me to "Look at this! Look at that! Note the other!" All well and good, but it's generally to no particularly insightful end, or to a bleedin' obvious one ("Look at the worn shoes the beggar is wearing in this scene! They show us that he doesn't have any money!"; "Look at the hurt expression on the boy's face right here! He's really upset that his best friend is being cruelly thrashed!"). Ultimately, it adds up to not much hard information and an awful lot of plot description, or explaining at length obvious character motivations.