#1119: DE SICA, Vittorio: Miracle in Milan (1951)

DE SICA, Vittorio (Italy)
Miracle in Milan [1951]
Spine #1119
Blu-ray


Renowned filmmaker Vittorio De Sica followed up his international triumph Bicycle Thieves with this enchantingly playful neorealist fairy tale, in which he combines his celebrated slice-of-life poetry with flights of graceful comedy and storybook fantasy. On the outskirts of Milan, a band of vagabonds work together to form a shantytown. When it is discovered that the land they occupy contains oil, however, it’s up to the cherubic orphan Totò (Francesco Golisano)—with some divine help—to save their community from greedy developers. Tipping their hats to the imaginative whimsy of Charles Chaplin and René Clair, De Sica and screenwriter Cesare Zavattini, adapting his own novel, craft a bighearted ode to the nobility of everyday people.

96 minutes
Black and White
Monaural
in Italian and English
1:27:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2022

Director/Writers

From the novel Totó il buono by Cesare Zavattini.

The Film

a

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Thirty-two page booklet featuring an essay by film critic Christina Newland and Totó il buono, a 1940 treatment by Zavattini that is the earliest version of the story on which Miracle in Milan is based.

Commentary

None.

Interview

With neorealism expert and film scholar David Forgacs.

Audio interview

From the late 1960s in which director De Sica looks back on his career, conducted by film critic Gideon Bachmann.

Interviews

With actor Bovo and Manuel De Sica, the director’s son.

Feature-length documentary

From 2019 on screenwriter Zavattini.

Trailers

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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