BITTER RICE - DVD-CRITERION COLLECTION

Details

• Release Year: 1949
• Genre: Drama
• Plot: During planting season in Northern Italy's Po Valley, an earthy rice-field worker (Silvana Mangano) falls in with a small-time criminal (Vittorio Gassman) who is planning a daring heist of the crop, as well as his femme-fatale-ish girlfriend, played by the Hollywood star Doris Dowling. Both a socially conscious look at the hardships endured by underpaid field workers and a melodrama tinged with sex and violence, this early smash for producer extraordinaire Dino De Laurentiis and director Giuseppe De Santis is neorealism with a heaping dose of pulp.
• Cast: Vittorio Gassman, Doris Dowling, Silvana Mangano, Raf Vallone, Checco Rissone, Nico Pepe, Adriana Sivieri, Lia Corelli, Maria Grazia Francia, Dedi Ristori, Anna Maestri, Mariemma Bardi, Maria Capuzzo, Isabella Marincola, Carlo Mazzarella, Ermanno Randi, Antonio Nediani, Mariano Englen, Attilio Dottesio, Manlio Mannozzi, Giuseppe de Santis, Corrado Alvaro, Carlo Lizzani, Franco Monicelli, Mario Monicelli, Carlo Musso, Ivo Perilli, Gianni Puccini
• Director: Giuseppe de Santis
• Runtime: 1:49
• Company: Janus Films, The Criterion Collection
• Media Format: Movie