33 Shoeshine

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peerpee · #1 Post by **peerpee** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 8:45 pm

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

godardslave · #2 Post by **godardslave** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 10:56 pm

this is good news!

any thoughts or information on possible extras yet?

Ashirg · #3 Post by **Ashirg** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 11:53 pm

There's special edition being released in Italy of this film on March 29. Perhaps, Eureka can licence some extras from that release (if it's worthy)...

HerrSchreck · #4 Post by **HerrSchreck** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 1:38 am

peerpee wrote:De Sica. Restored print.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful news. Egregious absence from home vid since the R1 Image disc vanished into space.

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 · #5 Post by **FilmFanSea** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 2:02 am

Funny. I just placed my Image edition on half.com this morning, with NO knowledge that MoC was releasing this one.

Lino · #6 Post by **Lino** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 4:54 am

peerpee wrote:De Sica. Restored print.

Yes, indeed. With the recent UK releases of Bicycle Thieves and Miracle in Milan and the upcoming CC The Children are watching us, this is proving to be an excellent year for De Sica.

But I'm still waiting for a decent english subtitled release of La Ciociara.

peerpee · #7 Post by **peerpee** » Tue May 16, 2006 9:24 am

A couple of things have now been slightly tweaked since that was posted, including the booklet details.

Monsieur Verdoux · #8 Post by **Monsieur Verdoux** » Tue May 16, 2006 7:48 pm

Cannot wait for this... up to now I've been able to keep up to date with masters of cinema... and once again, I will be trying to get this.

otis · #9 Post by **otis** » Wed May 17, 2006 11:19 am

Nick, is this going to be a straight port of the new Italian disc, or will you be applying some digital wizardry to improve the image further?

peerpee · #10 Post by **peerpee** » Wed May 17, 2006 12:33 pm

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.

otis · #11 Post by **otis** » Wed May 17, 2006 7:05 pm

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.

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:

Con gli occhi dei bambini - De Sica e SciusciÃ . 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.

peerpee · #12 Post by **peerpee** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 7:41 pm

The plan is now to include those three extras from the Italian set. Subtitled of course.

Here are some screens from the forthcoming MoC SHOESHINE (out in September):

otis · #13 Post by **otis** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 7:38 am

Those look lovely, Nick. Now if only you'd put Italian subs on it, I'd definitely wait till September!

What A Disgrace · #14 Post by **What A Disgrace** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 11:03 am

Following the Italian set may well make this one of the best releases yet.

How long do these supplements run?

peerpee · #15 Post by **peerpee** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 4:25 pm

What A Disgrace wrote:How long do these supplements run?

Interview with Giampiero Brunetta = 08'21"
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!

meanwhile · #16 Post by **meanwhile** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 5:08 am

That is very funny. Curiously, as a design, I think I prefer it without - I like the space between them that you can fill with your own speech bubble. The Italian equivalent of 'Got a fag mister?' maybe.

GringoTex · #17 Post by **GringoTex** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 4:26 pm

peerpee wrote:Out of interest, the film restoration of SHOESHINE was funded by Philip Morris (tobacco)

Have any idea why an American tobacco company is funding restoration of an Italian film?

Lemdog · #18 Post by **Lemdog** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 3:48 pm

Beaver review is up.

HerrSchreck · #19 Post by **HerrSchreck** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 8:47 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.

peerpee · #20 Post by **peerpee** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 9:31 am

MoC didn't tweak any levels. We used the new Italian film restoration, supervised by Manuel De Sica.

The Image release is very contrast boosted, brightness-raised, and from an unrestored dupe print.

We're very happy with how the MoC SHOESHINE looks.

HerrSchreck · #21 Post by **HerrSchreck** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 9:51 am

Obviously a must-own. I've been waiting for a definitive release on this for ages... especially since I held off on buying the Image disc one week long ago, planning to come back and grab it, then-- when I came back-- o well.. you can figure out the rest.

ogtec · #22 Post by **ogtec** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 3:42 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.

rollotomassi · #23 Post by **rollotomassi** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 12:47 pm

Mine came Saturday, generally an exceptional transfer, probably as good as the one for Rossellini's Francis film. Nice booklet, too.

#24 Post by **zedz** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 9:14 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 · #25 Post by **TheGodfather** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 6:15 am

zedz 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.

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 for