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S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Sciuscià" or "Shoeshine" or "Shoe Shine")

 

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/direct-chair/desica.htm
Italy 1946

 

An international breakthrough for neorealism, Vittorio De Sica’s Academy Award–winning film is an indelible fable of innocence lost amid the hardscrabble reality of 1940s Italy. On the streets of Rome, two boys—best friends Giuseppe (Rinaldo Smordoni) and Pasquale (Franco Interlenghi)—set out to raise the money to buy a horse by shining shoes. When they are inadvertently caught up in a robbery and sent to a brutal juvenile detention center, their loyalty to each other is severely tested. A devastating portrait of economic struggle made all the more haunting by its child’s-eye perspective, Shoeshine stands as one of the defining achievements of postwar Italian filmmaking.

***

Vittorio De Sica's 1946 neorealist masterpiece Shoeshine (original title Sciuscià), set in the impoverished streets of postwar Rome, follows two young shoeshine boys, Pasquale (Franco Interlenghi) and Giuseppe (Rinaldo Smordoni), who dream of buying a horse and escape their harsh reality by shining shoes for American soldiers, only to become unwitting accomplices in a black-market scam that lands them in a brutal juvenile reformatory.

As the corrupt and overcrowded prison system erodes their innocence and friendship—through physical abuse, psychological manipulation, and forced betrayals—the film poignantly exposes the devastating effects of poverty, societal neglect, and institutional failure on vulnerable children, blending raw documentary-style realism with heartfelt lyricism to critique Italy's fractured postwar society.

A foundational work of Italian neorealism, Shoeshine garnered international acclaim, including an Honorary Academy Award, for its unflinching humanism and De Sica's masterful direction of non-professional actors, influencing generations of filmmakers with its blend of social commentary and emotional depth.

Posters

Theatrical Release: April 27th, 1946 (Milan)

 

Review: Criterion - Region FREE - 4K UHD

Box Cover

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BONUS CAPTURES:

Distribution Criterion Spine #1272 - Region 'A' - 4K UHD / Blu-ray
Runtime 1:31:42.788        
Video

1.37:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 46,258,781,226 bytes

Feature: 26,886,973,440 bytes

Video Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate Blu-ray:

Audio

LPCM Audio Italian 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit

Subtitles English, None
Features Release Information:
Studio:
Criterion

 

1.37:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 46,258,781,226 bytes

Feature: 26,886,973,440 bytes

Video Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Edition Details:

• Sciuscià 70 (2016), a documentary by Mimmo Verdesca, made to mark the film’s seventieth anniversary (1:01:44)
• New program on Shoeshine and Italian neorealism featuring film scholars Paola Bonifazio and Catherine O’Rawe (18:56)
• Radio broadcast from 1946 featuring director Vittorio De Sica (3:24)
• Trailer (1:23)
PLUS: An essay by film scholar David Forgacs and “Shoeshine, Joe?,” a 1945 photo-documentary by De Sica


4K UHD / Blu-ray Release Date:
August 19th, 2025
Transparent 4K UHD Case

Chapters 14

 

 

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray and 4K UHD captures were taken directly from the respective disc.

ADDITION: Criterion 4K UHD (August 2025): Criterion have transferred Vittorio De Sica's "Shoeshine" to Blu-ray and 4K UHD. It is cited as a "New 4K digital restoration, undertaken by The Film Foundation and the Cineteca di Bologna, and the package has one 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film (also sold separately) and special features." A further text screen, before the presentation states "Shoeshine has been restored in 4K using the best existing elements. Restored by The Film Foundation and the Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna at L'Immagine Ritrovata, in association with Orium S.A. Restoration funded by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation." Back in 2011 we compared three DVDs of De Sica's "Shoeshine"; Image Entertainment, Eureka and Entertainment One, HERE, and below. With a marginalized source the SD transfers were mostly less-effective (interlacing, contrast boosting etc.) so the resolution improvement raised immense expectations. The new image has a consistent, natural, thickness of texture, layered contrast that enhances the neorealist visuals with rich tones, that preserves the film's gritty postwar authenticity without introducing artifacts or over-processing, making the Roman streets and confined prison spaces feel vividly immersive on modern displays. Stylistically, De Sica crafts a neorealist masterpiece through Anchise Brizzi's (Edgar Ulmer's The Pirates of Capri, Orson Welles films Othello, Black Magic) cinematography, which immerses viewers in the boys' perspective via eye-level shots, natural lighting, and location filming in Rome's streets and prisons, blending documentary authenticity with lyrical composition - such as framing scenes through iron bars to symbolize entrapment. Non-professional child actors add to the unvarnished feel, their natural performances blending seamlessly with the environment. All things considered the new 1080P and 2160P HD presentations look fabulous. The De Sica deep-focus photography for layered compositions, allows foreground and background actions to unfold simultaneously - they have never looked better for this film for home theater. 

While we are in possession of the 4K UHD disc, we cannot resolve the encode yet, and therefore, cannot obtain screen captures. We hope to add to this review at some point in the future. So, the below captures are from Criterion's 2025 1080P Blu-ray transfer.

Like 4K UHD transfers of The Long Wait, I, the Jury, and many others below, Criterion's 2160P transfer of Shoeshine does not have HDR applied (no HDR10, HDR10+, nor Dolby Vision.) We have seen many other 4K UHD transfers without HDR; Mondo Macabro's Dr. Jekyll and the Werewolf, Cult Film's Django 4K UHD, Umbrella's 4K UHD transfer of Peter Weir's The Last Wave, Radiance's Palindromes, and Criterion's 4K UHD transfers of The Burmese Harp, Fires on the Plain, Killer of Sheep, Chungking Express, Winchester '73, The Mother and the Whore, I Am Cuba, The Others, Rules of the Game, Branded to Kill, In the Mood For Love, Night of the Living Dead, and further examples, Masters of Cinema's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Kino's 4K UHDs of Bob le Flambeur, Last Year at Marienbad, Nostalghia, The Apartment, For a Few Dollars More, A Fistful of Dollars, In the Heat of the Night, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, as well as Koch Media's Neon Demon + one of the 4K UHD transfers of Dario Argento's Suspiria.

NOTE: We have added 54 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray and 4K UHD, Criterion use a linear PCM mono track (24-bit) in the original Italian language. Audio in Shoeshine aligns with neorealist practices, often recorded post-production due to location shooting without advanced equipment, leading to dubbed dialogue for clarity—a common economic necessity in postwar Italian cinema. This uncompressed audio transfer appears to faithfully restore the original soundtrack's naturalistic elements, including the dubbed dialogue, ambient street noises, and Alessandro Cicognini's (Ulysses, De Sica's Bicycle Thieves, Stazione Termini, Umberto D., Miracle in Milan) emotive score, all with clarity and subtlety that avoid modern embellishments. While the mono format reflects the era's limitations, the restoration ensures clean, balanced sound free of hiss or distortion, allowing emotional cues like the boys' cries and muffled prison songs to resonate powerfully without overwhelming the neorealist restraint. Criterion offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray. and Region FREE 4K UHDs.

The package includes one 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features (also available separately), offering a robust set of supplements starting with the 2016 documentary Sciuscià 70 by Mimmo Verdesca, running over and hour. It commemorates a significant milestone: the 70th anniversary of the release of Vittorio De Sica's "Shoeshine," that became the first Italian film to win an Oscar and the inaugural recipient of the Nastro d'Argento, an award presented by Italian journalists. Centering on the production of this landmark film in 1946, the documentary serves not merely as a historical report of those events but as a vibrant revival of memories through the candid stories of its protagonists, taking viewers on an emotional and captivating journey. Plus we get a new 20 minute program on Shoeshine and Italian neorealism by scholars Paola Bonifazio (Schooling in Modernity: The Politics of Sponsored Films in Postwar Italy) and Catherine O’Rawe (The Non-Professional Actor, The: Italian Neorealist Cinema and Beyond); a 3 1/2 minute radio broadcast from 1946 featuring Vittorio De Sica ("In the Giuditta Rissone-Vittorio De Sica archive, a recording of Vittorio De Sica's radio speech on April 27th, 1946, the day of the release of Shoeshine in Italian theaters, was found."); the original trailer and a liner note booklet with an essay by film scholar David Forgacs (Italian Cultural Studies: An Introduction); and “Shoeshine, Joe?,” a 1945 photo-documentary by De Sica. Additionally, the release boasts a new cover by F. Ron Miller, providing contextual depth and historical insights that enrich appreciation of this neorealist classic.

Vittorio De Sica's "Shoeshine" remains a poignant drama set in the ruins of post-World War II Rome, and stands as a cornerstone of Italian neorealism, marking a deliberate shift from the escapist "white telephone" cinema of the Mussolini era toward raw depictions of poverty, social injustice, and human suffering. Co-written by Cesare Zavattini (Boccaccio '70, Two Women, Love in the City, Stazione Termini, Miracle in Milan) and inspired by De Sica's observations of real shoeshine boys on the streets, this early entry in De Sica's "Trilogy of Solitude" - preceding Bicycle Thieves (1948) and Umberto D. (1952 - not only critiques institutional failures but also inaugurates a new era of political cinema by blending personal tragedy with broader societal commentary, influencing global filmmakers through its humanistic lens. Thematically, Shoeshine delves into the erosion of innocence by societal forces, portraying how poverty and institutional corruption transform easy childhood friendships into deadly enmities, with the horse Bersaglieri symbolizing unattainable dreams crushed by economic desperation and legal indifference. De Sica's use of non-professional actors lends authenticity, with the boys' profane, adult-like dialogue and emotional breakdowns highlighting their premature loss of childhood. Criterion's 4K UHD / Blu-ray editions of Shoeshine is a exemplary restoration that honors De Sica's heartbreaking tale of postwar poverty and lost innocence, delivering superior video and audio that breathe new life into the film while the thoughtful extras provide valuable scholarly and historical context, making it an essential purchase for cinephiles and neorealism enthusiasts alike - highly recommended for its technical excellence and emotional impact. Own this. 

Gary Tooze

 


Menus / Extras

 


CLICK EACH BLU-RAY and 4K UHD CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL RESOLUTION

 

1) Entertainment One - Region 0 - NTSC TOP
2) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 


1) Entertainment One - Region 0 - NTSC TOP
2) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

NOTE: Entertainment One DVD is interlaced (combing)

 

 


1) Image Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC TOP
2) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 


1) Eureka - Region 0 - PAL TOP
2) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 


1) Image Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC TOP
2) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 


1) Entertainment One - Region 0 - NTSC TOP
2) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 


1) Image Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC TOP
2) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

NOTE: One of the potential scenes that caused the 2002 Image Entertainment version to be immediately pulled from release...

 

 


More Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray Captures

 

 


 

 


 

 


 

  


 

More full resolution (1920 X 1080) Blu-ray Captures for DVDBeaver Patreon Supporters HERE

 

 

 
Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

4K UHD

  

Blu-ray

  

BONUS CAPTURES:

Distribution Criterion Spine #1272 - Region 'A' - 4K UHD / Blu-ray


 


 

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