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List Price: $29.95Amazon.com's Price: $26.99 You Save: $2.96 (10%)Prices subject to change.
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780780026476
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC
ISBN: 0780026470
Label: Criterion
Manufacturer: Criterion
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Criterion
Region Code: 1
Release Date: July 22, 2003
Running Time: 89 minutes
Sales Rank: 17616
Studio: Criterion
Theatrical Release Date: November 07, 1955
Editorial Review:
Description:
Shot on location with a cast of nonprofessional actors, Vittorio De Sica’s neorealist masterpiece follows Umberto D., an elderly pensioner, as he struggles to make ends meet during Italy’s postwar economic boom. Alone except for his dog, Flike, Umberto strives to maintain his dignity while trying to survive in a city where traditional human kindness seems to have lost out to the forces of modernization. Umberto’s simple quest to fulfill the most fundamental human needs—food, shelter, companionship—is one of the most heartbreaking stories ever filmed and an essential classic of world cinema.
Amazon.com:
Umberto D. is one of the enduring masterpieces of Italian neorealism, considered by many to be one of the greatest films ever made. Everything that neorealism represents can be found in this simple, heartbreaking story of an aged Roman named Umberto (played by Carlo Battisti, non-professional actor and retired college professor) who struggles to survive in a city plagued by passive disregard for the post-World War II plight of the elderly. With his little dog, Flike, as his only companion, Umberto faces imminent eviction, and his insufficient pension and failed attempts to raise money lead him to contemplate suicide... if he can find a home for Flike. His dilemma--and director Vittorio De Sica's compassionate, unsentimental handling of it--results in a film of uncompromising grace and authenticity. Like De Sica's earlier masterpieces Shoeshine and The Bicycle Thief, Umberto D. earns its teardrops honestly; if this timeless classic doesn't make you smile and cry, you'd better check for a pulse. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Great
Lost between the glare of his earlier The Bicycle Thief, and his later films with Sophia Loren, Vittorio De Sica's 1952 film Umberto D. stands as an almost forgotten masterpiece of Italian Neo-Realism, and one of the last films that could claim to be of that movement alone. It was pilloried by myopic critics upon its opening- mostly Left Wing dilettantes who thought that the formerly middle class civil servant's tale was not `socially conscious' enough for the filmmaker to waste his talents on, and ... Read More
Rating: - Crushingly Sad.
*Minor Spoiler at End*
I don't know what to say. I don't recall ever crying from a movie and I cried when I saw this picture. I'm almost sorry I saw it, but it is indeed a masterpiece.
The sadness I felt surprised me; this movie seemed to strike a nerve with its simplicity: just life as it is. Buddha taught that the first truth is that "life is suffering," and here we see it shot in black-and-white.
I'm not familiar with the film concept of 'neo-realism,' but 'real' ... Read More
Rating: - De Sica`s greatest work
This is one of the greatest works of Italian cinema.It is a lamentable chronicle of a poor retiree trying to maintain his dignity and hold on to his dog.There are some depressing elements here,but those who can really feel for it`s protagonist will not find it "too depressing " or "boring "as some reveiwers have said;and while a few dramatic devices may be used ;I think this movie gives a faithful account of social conditions in postwar Italy,and is a good neorealist effort.If you want to see a real ... Read More
Rating: - Umberto D.
Portraying the plight of the elderly dispossessed in an acknowledged masterpiece of the neorealist style, De Sica's "Umberto D." may surpass his own "Bicycle Thief" for heartbreaking poignancy. What in less skillful hands could have been treacly melodrama becomes instead a wrenchingly honest tale about a forgotten human being searching in vain for some shred of human kindness. Half a century later, "Umberto D." remains a monumental achievement of simple, eloquent storytelling.
Rating: - A masterpiece of neorealism
Having seen the film I read a bit about it. The Criterion Collection provides a booklet with an excellent review by Stuart Klawans and a bit of an interview with director Vittorio De Sica. What I learned was that Umberto D. was a big flop at the box office in Italy primarily because the Italian government didn't like the film because they thought it was insulting since it made Italy seem so unfeeling, poverty-stricken, and mercantile. I was struck by this because, yes, poor Umberto and his dog are pretty ... Read More
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