| Contact:
Jeff Morgan, Jeff.Morgan@iowa.gov,
(515) 281-3858
Movies
at the Museum: “The Bicycle Thief”
May 3, 7 p.m. and May 5, 2 p.m., $5 on Iowatix.com
or at the door
(DES
MOINES) – In a year that saw Cecil B.
DeMille and Fred Astaire receive special Oscars, an
Italian movie called “Ladri di biciclette”
was voted by the Academy Board of Governors as the
most outstanding foreign language film released in
the United States during 1949.
Its English translation is “The Bicycle Thief”
and it will be screened at the State Historical Museum
May 3 at 7 p.m. and May 5 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5
through www.iowatix.com
or at the door. The film is being screened in cooperation
with local Bike to Work Week organizers and bikeiowa.com.
People who ride bicycles to the movie and show a bicycle
helmet at the door will receive $1 off the ticket
price. Wine, beer, soft drinks and snacks will be
available.
“The Bicycle Thief” is a remarkable drama
of desperation and survival in Italy’s post-war
depression. Shot in the streets and alleys of Rome,
Director Vittorio De Sica (“Shoeshine,”
“Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” and “The
Garden of the Finzi-Continis”) uses the real-life
environment of contemporary life to frame his moving
drama of a desperate father whose new job delivering
cinema posters is threatened when a street thief steals
his bicycle.
Too poor to buy another, he and his son take to the
streets in an impossible search for his bike. Cast
with nonactors and filled with the real street life
of Roma, this landmark film helped define the Italian
neorealist approach with its mix of real life details,
poetic imagery and warm sentimentality. De Sica uses
the wandering pair to witness the lives of everyday
folks, but ultimately, he paints a quiet, poignant
portrait of father and son whose understated performances
carry the heart of the film.
The State Historical Society of Iowa is a division
of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs and serves
as a trustee of Iowa’s historical legacy and
as an advocate for understanding Iowa’s past.
Its dual mission of preservation and education involves
identifying, recording, collecting, preserving, managing
and providing access to Iowa’s historical resources.
As an advocate of understanding Iowa’s past,
SHSI educates Iowans of all ages, conducts and stimulates
research, disseminates information, and encourages
and supports historical preservation and education
efforts of others throughout the state.
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