Synopsis
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.
Cast
| Umberto Domenico Ferrari | Carlo Battisti |
| Maria | Maria Pia Casilio |
| Landlady | Lina Gennari |
| Man in hospital | Memmo Carotenuto |
| Flike, Umberto's dog | Napoleone |
Credits
| Director | Vittorio De Sica |
| Screenplay | Vittorio De Sica and Cesare Zavattini |
| From an original story by | Cesare Zavattini |
| Producer | Giuseppe Amato, Vittorio De Sica and Angelo Rizzoli |
| Sound | Ennio Sensi |
| Cinematography | Aldo Graziati |
| Editing | Eraldo Da Roma |
| Music | Alessandro Cicognini |
| Production Design | Virgilio Marchi |
| Assistant director | Luisa Alessandri and Franco Montemurro |
Disc Features
- New high-definition digital transfer, made from restored elements
- That’s Life: Vittorio De Sica, a 55-minute documentary made for Italian television in 2001
- New video interview with actress Maria Pia Casilio
- New essay by critic Stuart Klawans and a reprinted recollection on the film by De Sica
- Writings on Umberto D. by De Sica, Umberto Eco, Carlo Battisti and Luisa Alessandri
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition
From the Current
Seeing Clearly Through Tears: On the Smart Sentiment of Umberto D.
by Jul 22, 2003Umberto D. is perhaps the most astringent film ever made about a poor old man and his dog. Critics today tend to like the astringent parts: the long, deliberately undramatic sequences full of mundane activity (such as a housemaid’s morning routine), performed with little or no dialogue...
Umberto D.
by Mar 6, 1990Commercial Italian filmmakers of the early post-war era didn’t put much stock in the few crews shooting movies in the streets of Rome and Naples, casting local plumbers, masons, and slum children in plum roles. These “neorealists” made gritty, scaled-down films that took the problems of contemporary...
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