Umberto D.
| Umberto D. | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Vittorio De Sica |
| Produced by | Rizzoli-De Sica-Amato |
| Written by | Cesare Zavattini (story and screenplay) |
| Starring |
Carlo Battisti Maria-Pia Casilio Lina Gennari Ileana Simova Elena Rea Memmo Carotenuto |
| Music by | Alessandro Cicognini |
| Cinematography | G. R. Aldo |
| Edited by | Eraldo Da Roma |
| Distributed by |
Dear Film (Italy theatrical) Janus Films (US theatrical) Fabulous Films (UK VHS) Criterion (Region 1 DVD) |
|
Release date
|
20 January 1952 (Italy) 7 November 1955 (USA) |
|
Running time
|
89 minutes |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
Umberto D. (pronounced [umˈbɛrto di]) is a 1952 Italian neorealist film directed by Vittorio De Sica. Most of the actors were non-professional, including Carlo Battisti who plays the title role of Umberto Domenico Ferrari, a poor elderly man in Rome who is desperately trying to keep his rented room. His landlady (Lina Gennari) is evicting him, and his only true friends, the housemaid (Maria-Pia Casilio) and his dog Flike (called 'Flag' in some subtitled versions of the film) are of no help.
According to Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies, this was De Sica's favorite of all his films. The movie was included in "Time Magazine's All-Time 100 Movies" in 2005. The film's sets were designed by Virgilio Marchi.
Police disperse an organized street demonstration of elderly men demanding a raise in their meager pensions. One of the marchers is Umberto D. Ferrari, a retired government worker.
He returns to his room, and finds that his landlady has rented it out for an hour to an amorous couple. She threatens to evict Ferrari at the end of the month if he cannot pay the overdue rent: fifteen thousand lire. He sells a watch and some books, but only raises a third of the amount. The landlady refuses to accept partial payment.
Meanwhile, the sympathetic maid confides in Umberto that she has her own problems. She is three months pregnant, but is unsure which of two soldiers is the father, the tall one from Naples or the short one from Florence.
Feeling ill, Umberto gets himself admitted to a hospital; it turns out to be tonsillitis, and he is discharged after a few days. When he returns to the apartment, he finds workmen renovating the entire place. The landlady is getting married. Umberto's room has a gaping hole in the wall; the maid tells him it is to become part of an enlarged living room. The maid was taking care of his dog, Flike, but a door was left open and Flike ran away.
...
Wikipedia