Umberto D. (1952) (Blu-ray) (UK Import)
Umberto D. (1952) (Blu-ray) (UK Import)
The Blu-Ray was developed as a high-definition successor to the DVD and offers a significantly increased data rate and storage capacity compared to its predecessor. Blu-Rays can therefore store movies with significantly better resolution and offer enormously high picture quality on corresponding screens. Blu-Ray players are usually backward compatible with DVDs, so that they can also be played.
- Country of origin:
- Italien, 1952
- Age release:
- Dieser Titel ist nicht FSK-geprüft.
Delivery to minors is not possible.
Infos zu Titeln ohne Jugendfreigabe - Item number:
- 10902261
- UPC/EAN:
- 5050629825435
- Release date:
- 15.8.2022
- Genre:
- Drama
- Playing time ca.:
- 88 Min.
- Director:
- Vittorio de Sica
- Actor:
- Carlo Battisti, Maria Pia Casilio, Lina Gennari
- Language:
- Italienisch
- Subtitles:
- Englisch
Hailed by Martin Scorsese as “De Sica’s greatest achievement“, UMBERTO D surpasses even ‘Bicycle Thieves’ in many critics’ rating as one of the greatest films of all time.
A heartfelt portrait of an impoverished retired civil servant who lives in a rented room in postwar Rome with only his beloved dog and a teenage housemaid as companions. Faced with eviction when he can’t keep up with his rent, the old man struggles to make ends meet and maintain his dignity, but his growing despair leads him to contemplate suicide.
Written by De Sica’s long-standing collaborator Cesare Zavattini (who is the subject of an in-depth documentary extra on this DVD), UMBERTO D’s depiction of poverty, old age and loneliness – far from being a recipe for bleakness - is bursting with life.
This neorealist masterpiece by Vittorio De Sica follows an elderly pensioner as he strives to make ends meet during Italy’s postwar economic recovery. Alone except for his dog, Flike, Umberto struggles to maintain his dignity in a city where human kindness seems to have been swallowed up by the forces of modernization. His simple quest to satisfy his basic needs—food, shelter, companionship—makes for one of the most heartbreaking stories ever filmed, and an essential classic of world cinema.
Special Features
New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
That’s Life: Vittorio De Sica, a fifty-five-minute documentary about the director’s career, made for Italian television in 2001
Interview with actress Maria Pia Casilio from 2003
Trailer
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: A new essay by critic Stuart Klawans and a reprinted recollection by De Sica (DVD and Blu-ray); a reprinted recollection by actor Carlo Battisti (DVD only)
