Aug 27th
Bicycle Thieves***  
(Ita 1948)         

A man and his eldest son search Rome for his stolen bicycle upon which depends his livelihood.
Poignant Italian neo-realist social drama, rather sentimental to look at now but beautifully humanely observed from many different angles of destitute post-war Italian life, with moments of Chaplin-like pathos and The Crowd-style power.

Written by: Cesare Zavattini, Suso D'Amico, Vittorio De Sica, Oreste Biancoli, Adolfo Franci, Gerardo Guerrieri, from the novel by Luigi Bartolini.
Producer: Giuseppe Amato.
Director: Vittorio De Sica.
Starring: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staida, Lianella Carell, Gino Saltamarenda, Vittorio Antonucci, Giulio Chiari, Elena Altieri.
Photography: Carlo Montuouri.
Music: Alessandro Cicognini.

 

Preceded by:

Bugs Bunny in

Rhapsody Rabbit**

(US 1946. 7m.; d: Friz Freleng; voices of Mel Blanc.)

RHAPSODY RABBIT. A zanier performance of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody than the superior Cat Concerto, which led to lawsuits and counter-suits between Warner Brothers and MGM for alleged plagiarism, but also offers an interesting comparison between the differing animation styles of the two studios. Several moments seem eerily similar to the Tom and Jerry classic.