La Strada - Criterion Collection
by Federico Fellini
List Price:
Our Price: $33.99
You Save: $5.96 (15%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $19.21 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Aldo Silvani, Anthony Quinn, Giulietta Masina, Marcella Rovere, Richard BasehartDirector: Federico Fellini
Brand: Image Entertainment
Cinematographer: Carlo Carlini
Cinematographer: Otello Martelli
Writer: Federico Fellini
Editor: Leo Cattozzo
Producer: Carlo Ponti
Producer: Dino De Laurentiis
Writer: Ennio Flaiano
Writer: Tullio Pinelli
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Italian (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 108 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-11-18
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Criterion
Movie Reviews of La Strada - Criterion Collection
Movie Review: Remembering a Black and White 1954 Classic Italian Film with Fondness.
Summary: 5 Stars
This rather bleak picture of human nature is obscured by the mixed feelings we see Director Federico Fellini bestow upon the wretched characters in this intense black and white 1954 Italian film. The simplistic theme of La Strada reminds me of the famous Alfred Hitchcock classic, Rear Window, with Jimmy Stewart's amazing charm running the show. While a bored photojournalist, laid up with a broken leg, spies on his neighbors, he suspects one of them (Raymond Burr) has committed murder. What could a man of physical limitations do?
What could a man of emotional limitations do? We see the shrewd and calculating Zampano (Anthony Quinn), eager to take advantage of anything coming his way. He makes financial arrangements with a poor family by bargaining for one of their daughters, a young and innocent Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina), eager to have her assume the role of his wife. At first, he is delighted\\ with her participation in his circus act, reasoning that she will enhance their financial intake each time they perform. At night, he viciously manipulates her, forcing her to do his deeds. Soon, however, he tires of her and ventures into local bars with the extra money he earned to pursue other women. Of course, a fight breaks out in one of his escapades and Zampano winds up at the losing end, never realizing that his chain-defying mentality is only circus born and cannot demonstrate the might he needs to muster in the real world.
They begin to perform in miniature circuses. As Gelsomina learns the ropes, she begins to steal the act, sending Zampano into rages. In their quest to take part in a real circus, she meets the fool, (Richard Basehart) who represents hope for her. Although he is allusive in his communication attempts, he appears to support her contentions to be her own woman. This arrangement only angers Zampano even more, pushing him to take strong action against the fool. Later in the film, Gelsomina and Zampano meet the fool again, this time on the road in a remote place. Zampano becomes so outraged at him that he fatally strikes him in the head. Zampano is left in a state of desperation to make his death look like an accident. Even though he appears sorry for having pushed his anger so far, his only alternative is to make Gelsomina feel responsible for the deed.
He summons the strength to realize his inadequacies, which comes, ironically at the end when he realizes what he missed when she finally leaves him. Believing he is invincible, he moves on, but eventually, comes to terms with his shortcomings in a strange twist. She never knew that he searched for her fruitlessly.
Federico Felini's attempt to give our exaggerated Italian macho man an invulnerable character is very successful, flavoring the mid 50's yarn with believable sketches that endure and reach out to our hearts with their limitations and human potential. Before the movie ends, Zampano does reveal his human frailty. When we see films like this, it's easy to understand how young Anthony Quinn rose to become one of the truly great icons of the screen. I could see this film again and again and again...
Summary of La Strada - Criterion Collection
Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 11/18/2003 Run time: 108 minutesConsidered by many to be Federico Fellini's most beautiful and powerful film, La Strada was the first film to reveal the range of Guilietta Masina, whose poignant performance as the childlike Gelsomina recalls Chaplin's Little Tramp. The bubbly, waiflike Gelsomina is a simpleton sold to the gruff, bullying circus strongman Zampan? (Anthony Quinn) as a servant and assistant. Treated no better than an animal, Gelsomina nonetheless falls in love with the brute Zampan?. When they join a small circus they meet Il Matto (Richard Basehart), a clown who enchants Gelsomina and relentlessly taunts Zampan?, whose inability to control his hatred of Il Matto (literally, "the Fool") leads to their expulsion from the circus and eventually to the film's fateful conclusion. Masina is heartbreaking as the wide-eyed innocent, whose generous spirit and love of life leads her to try to "save" Quinn's unfeeling, brutal Zampan?. Though the film resonates with mythic and biblical dimensions, Fellini never loses sight of his characters, lovingly painted in all their frailties and failings. Fellini's lyrical style reaches back to the simple beauty of his neorealist films and looks ahead to the impressionistic fantasies of later films, but at this unique period in Fellini's career, they combine to create a poetic, tragic masterpiece. --Sean Axmaker
Art House & International DVD Video
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Movies most talked about in FAVORITE FOREIGN FLICKS
Let The Right One InRelease date: 2009-03-10; DVD
Best price: $13.00
Price in other shops:
Battleship Potemkin (The Ultimate Edition) (2pc) (Full B&W)Release date: 2007-10-23; DVD
Best price: $18.38
Price in other shops:
Ran - Criterion CollectionImage Entertainment; Release date: 2005-11-22; DVD
Best price: $25.45
Price in other shops:
Amores Perros (Territorio Arriaga) (Spanish Edition)by Guillermo Arriaga
Verticales de Bolsillo; Published: 2007-10-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.13
Price in other shops:
La Strada - Criterion CollectionImage Entertainment; Release date: 2003-11-18; DVD
Best price: $25.84
Price in other shops:
Pather PanchaliRelease date: 2003-10-28; DVD
Best price: $26.44
Price in other shops:
Diabolique (Criterion Collection Spine #35)Image Entertainment; Release date: 1999-01-26; DVD
Best price: $19.82
Price in other shops:
AmelieTAUTOU,AUDREY; Release date: 2002-07-16; DVD
Best price: $11.16
Price in other shops:
Nosferatu (The Ultimate Two-Disc Edition)Release date: 2007-11-20; DVD
Best price: $16.17
Price in other shops:
Pan's LabyrinthWarner Brothers; Release date: 2007-05-15; DVD
Best price: $2.21
Price in other shops:
Similar DVD Movies
BreathlessGenius; Release date: 2001-11-20; DVD
Best price: $10.68
Price in other shops:
The Seventh Seal - Criterion CollectionImage Entertainment; Release date: 1999-01-26; DVD
Best price: $28.78
Price in other shops:
I Vitelloni - Criterion CollectionImage Entertainment; Release date: 2004-08-24; DVD
Best price: $17.83
Price in other shops:
Fellini's RomaTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2001-04-10; DVD
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops:
Cinema Paradiso (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition)WELLSPRING/GENIUS; Release date: 2006-11-07; DVD
Best price: $13.98
Price in other shops:
Juliet Of The Spirits - Criterion CollectionImage Entertainment; Release date: 2002-03-12; DVD
Best price: $20.00
Price in other shops:
Amarcord (Criterion Collection)Image Entertainment; Release date: 2006-09-05; DVD
Best price: $26.99
Price in other shops:
The Bicycle ThiefImage Entertainment; Release date: 1998-11-24; DVD
Best price: $11.65
Price in other shops:
8 1/ 2 - Criterion CollectionImage Entertainment; Release date: 2001-12-04; DVD
Best price: $18.51
Price in other shops:
Nights of Cabiria - Criterion CollectionImage Entertainment; Release date: 1999-09-07; DVD
Best price: $27.90
Price in other shops: