Email here for additions & corrections.

Ishtar
(May, 1987)
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (OOP)
(Ross, 1976)
The Devils
(Russell, 1974)
The Pirates of Penzance
(Papp/Leach, 1983)
The Fortune
(Nichols, 1975)
-30-
(Webb, 1959)
Betrayal
(Jones, 1983)
Play It As It Lays
(Perry, 1972)
The Outfit
(Flynn, 1973)
Alex in Wonderland
(Mazursky, 1969)
The Legend of Lylah Clare
(Aldrich, 1968)
In The Cool of the Day
(Stevens, 1963)
That Cold Day in the Park
(Altman, 1969)
Thumb Trippin'
(Masters, 1972)
Midas Run
(Kjellin, 1969)
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1973)
Brewster McCloud
(Altman, 1972)
Outcast of the Islands
(Reed, 1951)

Reader Submissions
1930's-1950's
The Moon's Our Home
(Seiter, 1936)
Sh! The Octopus
(McGann, 1937)
The Mating Season
(Leisen, 1951)
Bad for Each Other
(Rapper, 1953)
The Phenix City Story
(Karlson, 1955)
Run of the Arrow
(Fuller, 1956)
House of Secrets
(Green, 1956)
Saint Joan
(Preminger, 1957)
Macabre
(Castle, 1958)
The Fiend Who Walked the West
(G. Douglas, 1958
Five Gates to Hell
(Clavell, 1959)
1960's
Key Witness
(Karlson, 1960)
Summer and Smoke
(Glenville, 1961)
The Chapman Report
(Cukor,1962)
Bachelor Flat
(Tashlin, 1962) [on Hulu]
The L Shaped Room
(Forbes, 1963)
The Chalk Garden
(Neame, 1964)
A Thousand Clowns
(Coe, 1965)
You're a Big Boy Now
(Coppola, 1966)
The Whisperers
(Forbes, 1967)
Dark of the Sun
(Cardiff, 1968)
Skidoo
(Preminger, 1968)
Last Summer
(Perry, 1969)
The Comic
(C. Reiner, 1969)
1970-1974
The Revolutionary
(Williams, 1970)
The Landlord
(Ashby, 1970)
Diary of a Mad Housewife
(Perry, 1970)
Tropic of Cancer
(Strick, 1970)
I Never Sang for My Father
(Cates, 1970)
Sometimes a Great Notion
(Newman, 1971)
Marriage of a Young Stockbroker
(Turman, 1971)
The Music Lovers
(Russell, 1971)
Drive, He Said
(Nicholson, 1971)
The Steagle
(Sylbert, 1971)
The Last Movie
(Hopper, 1971)
Made For Each Other
(Bean, 1971)
The Day the Clown Cried
(Lewis, 1972)
Hickey & Boggs (OOP)
(Culp, 1972)
The Carey Treatment
(Edwards, 1972)
Pete 'n' Tillie
(Ritt, 1972)
Slither
(Zieff, 1973)
Man on a Swing
(Perry, 1974)
Open Season
(Collinson, 1974)
The Tamarind Seed
(Edwards, 1974)
Law and Disorder
(Passer, 1974)
Homebodies
(Yust, 1974)
Stardust
(Apted, 1974)
Celine and Julie Go Boating
(Rivette, 1974)
1975-1979
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins
(Richards, 1975
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1975)
Hearts of the West
(Zieff, 1975)
Welcome to L.A.
(Rudolph, 1976)
W.C. Fields and Me
(Hiller, 1976)
Citizens Band
(Demme, 1977)
Twilight's Last Gleaming
(Aldrich, 1977)
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
(Brooks, 1977)
Girlfriends
(Weill, 1978)
Movie Movie
(Donen, 1978)
The Medusa Touch
(Gold, 1978)
American Hot Wax
(Mutrux, 1978)
Hot Stuff
(DeLuise, 1979)
Scavenger Hunt
(Schultz , 1979)
Players
(Harvey, 1979)
Rich Kids
(Young, 1979)
Nightwing
(Hiller, 1979)
Screams of a Winter's Night
(Wilson, 1979
When You Comin' Back Red Ryder?
(Katselas, 1979
1980's
Resurrection
(Petrie, 1980)
The Awakening
(Newell, 1980)
Simon
(Brickman, 1980)
God's Angry Man
(Herzog, 1980)
Fast-Walking
(Harris, 1982)
Twice Upon a Time
(Korty & Swenson, 1983)
Trouble in Mind
(Rudolph, 1985)
When the Wind Blows
(Murikami, 1986)
Housekeeping
(Forsyth, 1987)
The Glass Menagerie
(Newman, 1987)
Patty Hearst
(Schrader, 1988)
Drowning by Numbers
(Greenaway, 1988)
Haunted Summer
(Passer, 1988)
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
(Spheeris, 1988)
1990's
Old Times
(Curtis, 1991)
Prospero's Books
(Greenaway, 1991)
City of Hope
(Sayles, 1991)
The Baby of Macon
(Greenaway, 1993)
King of the Hill
(Soderbergh, 1993)
Dadetown
(Hexter, 1995)
SubUrbia
(Linklater, 1997)

Upcoming

January 8

Bitch Slap

Waiting for Armageddon

Wonderful World

Youth in Revolt

January 15

January 22

Drool

Extraordinary Measures

The Girl on the Train

Burned

email this story
read comments (33)
post a comment

I was in a mood for Italian cinema after last night's showing of Rob Marshall's Nine (which of course is primarily based on Federico Fellini's 8 1/2) so I went up to the Lincoln Plaza cinemas to catch Vittorio DeSica's The Bicycle Thief (1948). I assumed I'd be seeing it in pristine form, based on a claim by the distributor, Corinth Films, that a new print was being shown. I should have also figured on the projection and sound standards at the theatre, of course.

The fact is that the Lincoln Plaza's presentation of this beautiful film is a rip -- an insult to anyone who understands that old classics don't have to look in any way compromised or underwhelming any more. Or sound murky. DVD and Blu-ray technology has totally transformed our common old-movie viewing standards. Last night's Bicycle Thief experience was like watching a movie at the rundown Bleecker Street Cinema again -- pallid-looking print (no scratches but grayish murky tones, no decent blacks), moderately squawky sound, and a way-too-small screen.

My first thought when I walked into the LP's tunnel-like shoebox theatre and saw this economy-sized image playing on the far wall was "Oh, no!" The screen was bigger than any plasma or LCD I've seen in a Best Buy, but nowhere near large enough for a proper theatre-viewing experience with 30 or 35 people watching. Movie screens have to be a certain height and width in proportion to the seating area or you feel ripped off. On top of which the image has to be projected at SMPTE-recommended foot-lambert levels and the sound has to be strong, sharp, bassy and clear. None of these conditions were part of my Bicycle Thief experience last night, and all I can say is "never again."

I should have gone down to Kim's Video and bought the Criterion Collection DVD version and watched it on my 42-inch plasma instead.

I stuck my head into another LP shoebox playing An Education and thought, "Oh, my God!" Another bedsheet-sized screen, soft-focus image, sound that was far too muffled, etc. If I had seen Lone Scherfig's film under these conditions for the first and only time it would have been quite possible to be under-impressed.

Before last night I had only seen The Bicycle Thief once. I can't remember if it was at the Bleecker in the late '70s or on VHS during the mid '80s, but I know it wasn't great looking. So I still haven't seen it in any kind of decent form.

Sidenote: DeSica's 1948 classic should always, always be called The Bicycle Thief and not The Bicycle Thieves. I don't care if DeSica favored the plural. The point is that the singular title is either (a) ambiguous or (b) presses the viewer to decide which character -- Lamberto Maggiorani's desperate-for-work father or the guy who's stolen his bicycle -- is the one referred to by the title. (I've always thought the singular reference to Thief referred to Magiorrani, although it would be perfectly fine for someone to presume it refers to the the other guy.) One could just as easily shift between the two and never finally decide. The term "thieves' is, for me, way too literal-minded.

Wheezy Gut<< previous | next >>"Dumptruck Directors"

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on November 15, 2009 at 8:52 AM

comment #1

erniesouchak says ...

Kim's Video is gone, isn't it?

Posted by erniesouchak at November 15, 2009 10:45 AM

comment #2

Deathtongue_Groupie says ...

Talk about sounding like some red-state rube, Jeff...

The actual title in Italian is BICYCLE THIEVES and it's far more apt (and devastating) in the context of the film.

You know for someone who chastises others for their failings of certain films in regards to being considered a serious cinemaphile, to have only seen this movie once 30 years is pretty damning.

Also, seeing that the film was made only a few years after the Nazis and WW II in general had devastated the Italian film industry, not sure a pristine print every existed.

Posted by Deathtongue_Groupie at November 15, 2009 11:00 AM

comment #3

btwnproductions says ...

The St. Marks one, yes, its holdings now in Italy. The First Ave. location isn't the same.

Posted by btwnproductions at November 15, 2009 11:00 AM

comment #4

Jonathan Spuij says ...

Saw it on a beamer once at filmschool. Instantly totally loved the film. Such passion and heartbreak. I must get the blu-ray too when I get a player.

Posted by Jonathan Spuij at November 15, 2009 11:01 AM

comment #5

lipranzer says ...

They still have a sales-only store in the East Village.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - as good as it is to have people like Scorsese raise money to restore movies, if they think they should play at repertory theaters, I wish they'd raise money to make the theaters better as well.

Posted by lipranzer at November 15, 2009 11:15 AM

comment #6

George Prager says ...

Lincoln Plaza is the worst theater in New York. 2nd worst: Angelika. I always waited until the films shown there went wider.

Deathtongue: Polanski didn't direct THE BICYCLE THIEF. Please try to stay on topic. You're worse than DeeZee. Jeez.

Posted by George Prager at November 15, 2009 11:16 AM

comment #7

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Wells to Deathtongue Groupie: Your remark about not being sure if there's ever been a pristine print of The Bicycle Thief is, no exaggeration, fairly idiotic given the evidence of the stills I ran, which came from DVD Beaver's screen captures of the Criterion disc. I'm not even going to respond to your claim that my not having seen the film since the '80s (not counting last night, of course) is "pretty damning." Seriously, you can go to hell and stay there.

Posted by Jeffrey Wells at November 15, 2009 11:57 AM

comment #8

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Wells to erniesouchack: You wouldn't want to exert yourself by clicking on the Kim's Video link, would you, before asking if it's "gone" or not...right?

Posted by Jeffrey Wells at November 15, 2009 1:02 PM

comment #9

Doug Pratt says ...

Since there ends up being two thieves by the end of the film, the plural is appropriate.

Posted by Doug Pratt at November 15, 2009 1:09 PM

comment #10

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Wells to erniesouchak: You wouldn't, like, want to click on the Kim's Video link that I provided before asking if it's "gone" or not...would you?

Posted by Jeffrey Wells at November 15, 2009 1:12 PM

comment #11

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Appropriate but flat-footed.

Posted by Jeffrey Wells at November 15, 2009 1:13 PM

comment #12

Edward says ...

I'm ashamed to admit I've never seen The Bycicle Thief. Shameful on my part.

Posted by Edward at November 15, 2009 1:40 PM

comment #13

Matthew Starr says ...

I saw Lust Caution at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas in 2007. The screens there are very small and there is also very little leg room between rows. So if you happened to be at a packed screening, which I was, it could be very uncomfortable.

I have not been back to that theatre. I saw An Education at Union Square.

Posted by Matthew Starr at November 15, 2009 1:46 PM

comment #14

Gordon27 says ...

Union Square is only better if you judge solely by screen size. If you judge by projector bulbs, service, or "not being infested by rats and bugs", Union Square ranks last on the list of NYC theaters.

Posted by Gordon27 at November 15, 2009 1:49 PM

comment #15

Gordon27 says ...

Jeff - isn't there going to be a new DVD soon based on this restoration?

Posted by Gordon27 at November 15, 2009 1:49 PM

comment #16

OtownRog says ...

Gotta love the City that Never Sleeps, and still occasionally revives something worth reviving. Even if it is at the LP.

Posted by OtownRog at November 15, 2009 2:39 PM

comment #17

Phreaker says ...

Edward, treat yourself. It is a great movie, even seen on a tiny TV screen. A great movie. One of the best ever.

Also love the reference to it in The Player.

Posted by Phreaker at November 15, 2009 2:54 PM

comment #18

DarthCorleone says ...

Sorry, I know it's not the correct translation, but I think it's an improvement. I agree with Mr. Wells that the singular is a better title. If you go in thinking that there is more than one thief, don't you subvert the climax? And even knowing what happens in the climax, I agree the singular is still effective in providing extra narrative punch via the ambiguity.

Phreaker >> I'm with you on The Player reference. The way this story started, I flashed to a late-night homicide over the quality of Lincoln Plaza's showing.

By the way, if any of you haven't seen it, check out De Sica's Umberto D. I like it every bit as much as The Bicycle Thief.

Posted by DarthCorleone at November 15, 2009 3:38 PM

comment #19

Deathtongue_Groupie says ...

George: forget to take those pills again?

Posted by Deathtongue_Groupie at November 15, 2009 3:44 PM

comment #20

M. Hulot says ...

[M. Hulot, an animal, has been banned for life for the usual offenses.]

Posted by M. Hulot at November 15, 2009 3:47 PM

comment #21

Ephemerinko says ...

Programmed a rep house once, we always wanted to do a double bill of this and PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE.

Posted by Ephemerinko at November 15, 2009 4:19 PM

comment #22

EdHavens says ...

My wife and I bought Bicycle Thieves last night, as part of a couple hundred dollar birthday spending spree, thanks to Barnes and Noble's 50% Criterion sale.

Posted by EdHavens at November 15, 2009 4:51 PM

comment #23

jackfly11 says ...

[Deleted, poster banned.]

Posted by jackfly11 at November 15, 2009 7:07 PM

comment #24

Gabe@ThePlaylist says ...

The idea that shitty presentation of movies affects the quality of the movie is a snob's game. All great movies look and sound the same- great. We should be fortunate a theater is willing to show "The Bicycle Thieves." Optimal presentation is fantastic, but a less-than-optimal showing won't affect the quality of something like "An Education."

Posted by Gabe@ThePlaylist at November 15, 2009 7:17 PM

comment #25

EdHavens says ...

Perception is reality with some people, Gabe. Take it from someone who manages a cinema with some theatres even smaller than the ones at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas.

Posted by EdHavens at November 15, 2009 7:39 PM

comment #26

Yuval says ...

If the title is pressing the viewer to decide which character is "the thief" then it's misleading the viewer. Thieves is the best title, and it doesn't "ruin the climax" since it is clear from the start there are multiple thieves running around.
Why stop there? Let's call Stephen Frears "The Grifters" just "The Grifter. It will press the viewer to decide which character the title is referring it. It's ambiguous.

Posted by Yuval at November 15, 2009 9:34 PM

comment #27

K. Bowen says ...

Something no one will say about Bicycle Thieves .... It sucks to watch. There are classics that you watch and love and important films that you put up with because they are truthfully important. This is the latter.

Posted by K. Bowen at November 16, 2009 4:22 AM

comment #28

K. Bowen says ...

Posted by K. Bowen at November 16, 2009 4:22 AM

comment #29

Floyd Thursby says ...

Have been going to Lincoln Plaza for 30 yrs., and while the screens are small and the seats cramped, I've never had any projection or sound problems I remember. The employees are sullen and rude, but that's true at most Manhattan theaters, the Walter Reader box-office creeps being the worst.

Posted by Floyd Thursby at November 16, 2009 5:00 AM

comment #30

Eloi Manning says ...

Union Square is alright. At least it has stadium seating.

Posted by Eloi Manning at November 16, 2009 6:13 AM

comment #31

DarthCorleone says ...

Yuval >> There are multiple thieves in the town, but there is only one particular thief that they are hunting throughout the film. Finding him is the entire driving force of the narrative. Hence, it makes sense to reference only one in the title. The singular title doesn't "press the viewer" to do anything. Given the film's resolution, it simply emphasizes that any single person in the film's unforgiving universe is capable of being a bicycle thief, even our hero.

Posted by DarthCorleone at November 17, 2009 10:23 PM

comment #32

Yuval says ...

DarthCorleone
It is Wells opinion, as stated above, that the singular title presses the viewer etc... I guess we both disagree with him.
"Given the film's resolution, it simply emphasizes that any single person in the film's unforgiving universe is capable of being a bicycle thief, even our hero." Yeah, and I feel it is stated much better with the original title. You go through the narrative thinking the title refers to all the bicycle thieves in town, with out hero trying to locate a specific one, which is impossible, and then he becomes one of them, one in the crowd, like the final shot of the film.

Posted by Yuval at November 18, 2009 6:11 AM

comment #33