Bicycle Thieves Pawn Shop Scene

As one of the most iconic and recognizable shots of bicycles thieves the massive vertical tower at the pawn shop is made up of linen bundles visually to the ones and maria and antonio sold to receive enough money to retrieve the bike this power of this imagery rests on the camera pan revealing over twice as many bundles as had been visible from the ground in previous.

Bicycle thieves pawn shop scene. Bicycle thieves opens with a slow pan cinematography camera movement that follows a bus into a shabby suburban housing estate mise en scene location. A long continuous take editing shot duration then dissolves into a tracking shot cinematography camera movement as a group of men gather hurriedly at the foot of some steps. Bicycle thieves plays in a new restoration today at film forum and the vittorio de sica retrospective of films he both directed and starred in runs through october 8. At the moment his bicycle is at the pawn shop but antonio s wife maria says they can pawn their six sheets instead.

Bicycle thieves the bicycle thief 1948 a one of the 15 films listed in the category values on the vatican film list. He needs a bicycle and maria pawns the couple s bed linens one set has never been used so her husband can get his trusty fides out of hock. This telling shot proves that antonio s family is just one of the many families affected by the tragic realities of human post war. It s not until the end of the scene when antonio collects his bicycle that we re given a look at the common area and even that s barely a.

The good times don t last. The first day at work antonio s bicycle is stolen. A scene from bicycle thieves one of the 45 films of the 1995 vatican film list in the values category bicycle thieves 1948 is new on blu ray from the criterion collection. The film dissolves from a previous scene in antonio and maria s house directly to a shot of maria at the little window pushing her bundles through to be appraised.

Below are some more of my favorite posters from de sica s long and illustrious and quite eclectic directorial career. A friend offers to help him search for it the next morning at piazza vittorio where the street vendors sell stolen bikes. As the pawn shop worker is seen in the back of the store next to what it appears to be a depository the camera slowly tilts all the way up to the ceiling following him as he climbs multiple brimming shelves in order to put the newly acquired bed linens aside. Interestingly this pawn shop isn t established in any conventional way.

When antonio can t come up with a solution his wife take the initiative to take the sheets to be pawned to get his bike back. Stack of pawned sheets.