The Bicycle Thief (De Sica; Mayer-Burstyn), an Italian-made film by Vittorio De Sica (Shoeshine) arrives in the U.S. heavy with prizes and praise collected in Europe. Rene Clair has called it "the best film for 30 years." It is a fine, sentimental tragedy, filled with bitter social comment and presented in the realistic style which the modern Italian moviemakers have made their trademark.
The story concerns a typical Italian unheroic hero: a vacillating, tortured, sour-faced working man (Lamberto Maggiorani) whose only talent is to attract misery. He and his small son (Enzo Staiola) spend...
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