Bitter Rice
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.
Special Features
- New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Giuseppe De Santis, a 2008 documentary by screenwriter Carlo Lizzani
- Interview with Lizzani from 2003
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: An essay by critic Pasquale Iannone
New cover by Ken Laager
Special Features
- New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Giuseppe De Santis, a 2008 documentary by screenwriter Carlo Lizzani
- Interview with Lizzani from 2003
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: An essay by critic Pasquale Iannone
New cover by Ken Laager
Cast
- Vittorio Gassman
- Walter Granata
- Doris Dowling
- Francesca
- Silvana Mangano
- Silvana Meliga
- Raf Vallone
- Sergeant Marco Galli
- Checco Rissone
- Aristide
- Nico Pepe
- Beppe
- Adriana Sivieri
- Celeste
- Lia Corelli
- Amelia
- Maria Grazia Francia
- Gabriella
- Dedi Ristori
- Anna
- Anna Maestri
- Irene
- Mariemma Bardi
- Gianna
- Maria Capuzzo
- Emilia “Argentina” Carpenetti
- Isabella Zennaro
- Giuliana
- Carlo Mazzarella
- Gianetto “Mascheroni”
- Ermanno Randi
- Paolo
- Antonio Nediani
- Erminio
- Mariano Englen
- Foreman
Credits
- Director
- Giuseppe De Santis
- Produced by
- Dino De Laurentiis
- Story by
- Giuseppe De Santis
- Story by
- Carlo Lizzani
- Story by
- Gianni Puccini
- Screenplay by
- Corrado Alvaro
- Screenplay by
- Giuseppe De Santis
- Screenplay by
- Carlo Lizzani
- Screenplay by
- Carlo Musso
- Screenplay by
- Ivo Perilli
- Screenplay by
- Gianni Puccini
- Cinematography by
- Otello Martelli
- Edited by
- Gabriele Varriale
- Costumes by
- Anna Gobbi
- Production director
- Luigi De Laurentiis
- Music by
- Goffredo Petrassi
1/1
