The mood is set with the opening with excerpts from the Excelsior Ball, a famous ballet at the turn of the century that heralded the advances of the upcoming century, for a book-dealer to introduce the various stories in this compilation film. The first story chosen is (English titles) “Less Than a Day”, a comedy of would-be lovers meeting in a country-side rendezvous; “A Question of Property” is a story of two men who fight over the ownership of a load of manure; “The Idyll” is the story of a well-to-do young boy who has a crush on the girl next door, and he has been told by his mother that babies are born when two people kiss. After the fact, though; a selection of popular songs serves as an intermission before the next story, “The Vise,” where a woman has committed adultery with her husband’s best friend, and the merciless husband knows about it; the last episode revolves around the farcical trial of a woman for murdering her mother-in-law.
(IMDb)
An all-star cast graces this Italian “omnibus” feature. The film consists of eight short stories, each based on nostalgic literary efforts. Linking the various stories is bookseller Aldo Fabrizi, who passes the time by reading the works dramatized herein. In “The Excelsior Ball,” dancer Alba Arnova arouses the libido of several observers. In “Less Than a Day,” a three-hour train delay wreaks havoc on the romance between Arnova and Andrea Checchi. In “Sardinian Drummer Boy,” the title character (Enzo Cerusico) becomes an unexpected hero on the battlefield. In “Matter of Interest,” two farmers (Arnoldo Foa and Folco Lulli) quarrel over a compost pile. In “The Idyll,” two very young people (Maurizio Di Nardo and Geraldina Pariniello) fall in love. “Potpourri of Songs” delivers on its title through the musical versatility of Barbara Florian and Elio Pandolfi. “The Trial of Frine” finds accused murderess Gina Lollobrigida being defended by colorful lawyer Vittorio De Sica. And in “The Trap,” an accusatory husband (Amedeo Nazzari) drives his far-from-innocent wife (Elisa Cegani) into an act of extreme desperation. Also known as In Olden Days, Altri Tempi was distributed worldwide by RKO Radio.
(Allmovie)

2.35GB | 2h 1mn | 765×574 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/8A46A7529AC482F/Altri_tempi_(1952).mkv

Language(s):Italian, English
Subtitles:Italian, English (custom)

The post Alessandro Blasetti – Altri tempi AKA Times Gone By (1952) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:

A crowd forms in front of a government employment agency, as it does every day, waiting – often in vain – for job announcements. Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani), one of the unemployed laborers who participates in this daily ritual, is selected to hang posters in the city, a job requiring a bicycle, which he has long sold in order to sustain his family’s meager existence for a few more days. He and his wife, Maria (Lianella Carell), return to the pawn shop with a few remaining possessions, their matrimonial linen, in order to redeem the bicycle. During his first day at his new work, his bicycle is stolen. He combs the city with his young son, Bruno (Enzo Staiola), in search of the elusive bicycle.

Within this unremarkable premise lies the pure eloquence and profoundly affecting story of Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves. Filmed in the ravages of postwar Italy, Bicycle Thieves is a searing allegory of the human condition, a caustic narrative of despair and hope, loss and redemption, poignantly told in subtle actions and spare words. A singular camera shot follows an employee climbing several stories of pawned linen in order to store another acquisition. A panning film sequence in a restaurant juxtaposes the father and son “feasting” on bread and mozzarella with an affluent family dining nearby. A long, traveling shot of a street bazaar shows Antonio and Bruno searching through an endless sea of nondescript bicycles, all presumably stolen. Bicycle Thieves is an honest examination of a soul torn by responsibility and moral consequence, a simple man incapable of articulating his pain, a film devoid of the proselytizing tirades endemic to the rose-colored lenses of contemporary Hollywood. Bicycle Thieves is the story of humanity, in all its imperfect beauty and heartbreaking cruelty, the quintessential definition of an artistic masterpiece… truly a cinematic landmark.

1.64GB | 1h 29mn | 784×576 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/59703C38E6C6CE1/Vittorio_De_Sica_-_(1948)_Bicycle_Thieves.mkv

Language:Italian
Subtitles:English

The post Vittorio De Sica – Ladri di biciclette AKA Bicycle Thieves (1948) first appeared on Cinema of the World.