Bicycle Thieves

Ladri di biciclette

The Oscar-winning drama that represents post-war Italy more vividly than any other.

  • Director

    Vittorio De Sica

  • With

    Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell

  • Italy 1948. 90min

  • Digital 4K (restoration)

  • Certificate

    U

  • English subtitles

An unemployed workman, with nothing else to pawn but his family’s bedlinen, finally finds a job, but one dependent on his owning a bicycle. When the bike is stolen on his first day of work, the man sets off on a harrowing quest with his son, through the streets of Rome, to recover it. De Sica and screenwriter Zavattini – two poets of a hard-bitten reality – find the drama of everyday life in this moving and profoundly humane masterpiece.

Restored in 4K in 2018 by Cinecittà, Cineteca di Bologna and Compass Film. Courtesy of Cinecittà.

Also available on BFI Player