The Bicycle Thieves DVD Review

by AVForums
Movies & TV Shows Review

The Bicycle Thieves DVD Review
MSRP: £17.99

Picture

It's nearly fifty years old and unfortunately the film looks it. Made on an obvious low budget and with what seems poor film stock, the film however appears to be some form of re-mastered or restored edition as it features new Italian credits before the actual feature starts. The film's print is severely damaged but whoever did the restoration job must be commended as it is more then watchable, but don't expect a digital re-mastering masterpiece such as 'Gone With The Wind'. It's a shame whoever owned the negative didn't care for it as much as other film studios.
The Bicycle Thieves

Sound

The film is presented in its original Italian mono and thankfully Arrow have seen sense not to include any dodgy dubbed English language version as some companies tend to do. The soundtrack unfortunately suffers from lots of hiss and crackle, but thankfully the spoken dialogue is clear. As one doesn't speak Italian I am glad the subtitles were of good quality and could be easily read.
The Bicycle Thieves

Extras

A detailed and informative documentary is included on the disc about Vittorio De Sica. The documentary is in Italian with English subtitles and lasts almost an hour. The trailer is of a vintage flavour and lasts almost four minutes, again in Italian. Finally, my favourite of the extras is a short gallery of lobby cards and film posters. I like these on DVD's as you can capture them and print them off (if the quality is good) for framing. I am glad to say the quality on this disc for the pictures is good.
The Bicycle Thieves
Like I said above, the film left me a little cold. However I can appreciate that it is a very good piece of cinema but not one for me. However for fans of the film, it is an essential purchase and obviously for them the overall mark will be much higher.

Scores

Movie

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4

Picture Quality

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2

Sound Quality

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2

Extras

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5

Overall

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5
5
AVForumsSCORE
OUT OF
10

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