Darlings, Would You Believe I Never Saw "The Bicycle Thief" Until Now???????????????????????

                               Having reached the age of 71, and approaching 72 in November, I can live with the idea that certain books--like Joyce's "Ulysses"--I may never read.  But there are so many films that I am embarrassed to say I have never seen, and while the lists may help, there is so much out there it boggles the mind.   Having seen "GWTW," 'Oz',' and 'Bernadette' combined over 100 times, there is so much I am lacking.  So, I decided, especially with the imminent approach of cataract surgery that now is the time to make up for lost time.

                                 The other day, I was talking with a film friend of mine about "The Bicycle Thief," and she could not believe I had not seen it While I took many film courses in college, the Vittorio De Sica film the professor chose to show was 1952's "Umberto D," which for reasons I won't spoil viewers I cannot sit through again.

                                  What a revelation "The Bicycle Thief" turned out to be.  This 1948 film is a cinematic meditation on father and son, child and adult, good and evil, beauty and ugliness, and visual patterns.  The opening shot panning people walking the streets through a ravaged post-war Rome is only the beginning.  The narrative impetus is a husband, played by Lamberto Maggiorini, and his son Bruno, played by Enzo Staiola.  The film follows them on a journey of justice throughout the city in an effort to reclaim the bicycle stolen from Antonio Ricci, and the journey is long and hard, culminating in two tragedies that are heartbreaking and question the heartlessness of the world.

                                     So, where is the beauty?  Never have I seen geometric patterns used to such visual effect. Crescent moon shaped arches, especially in the night club and church sequences, square patterned cobblestones, and the linear geometrics of the apartment buildings in Rome that De Sica places his camera on. are compelling to behold.   This film is as much a visual treat as a narrative one, and in exploring Antonio and Bruno's quest for justice, the film visually explores post war Rome.

                                        Really, I have never seen ugliness pictured as a kind of beauty, which is what makes this film special.  De Sica displays a grasp on the material that not even the finest of American directors of the time could touch.  I loved every minute of "The Bicycle Thief".  I have known the title as this all my life, though some label it "The Bicycle Thieves."  Which will make sense once viewed.

                                        So, that is my first step, a baby one, into the waters of film exploration.

                                        I will be back, with others!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!