Beholds Spirit Film, 1948
The Bicycle Thief (Ladri di biciclette)
An Italian man who needs work finds a job that requires a bicycle, but he has pawned his. So he pawns the bed linens to get the bicycle back. The bicycle eventually gets stolen. This very simple plot idea serves as the framework for a beautiful film that explores human motivations and character. A simple idea in a well-told story about a universal human desire.
Uplifting Films: Brian’s 1948 Favorite Films
The Boy With Green Hair
An orphan whose parents were killed doing war relief work is treated like an outcast, a situation that is only made worse after he wakes up one morning with green hair. The boy finds out the green hair is intended as a way to help him spread the message of the negative outcomes of war.
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
A New York City couple are tired of apartment living and decide to build a house in Connecticut. The construction, decorating and moving costs become outrageous, and the only thing that can save the family is a career success for advertising man Mr. Blandings. Seventy years later we can watch this and realize that human foibles never change.
The Red Shoes
A ballerina feels torn between the man she loves and her career. She loves the composer of the ballet that is her big break, promising a celebrated career. The ballet is run by a man who resents her giving any attention to anything but her dancing. Based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, the film echoes the story’s combination of grim reality and fantastical elements. Also its sense of inevitability of the outcome. Notable as the first film to include a ballet sequence as part of its narrative structure.
State of the Union
An aircraft manufacturer has a devoted wife and children, and a mistress who happens to be a newspaper publisher with great political power. Kay Thorndyke (the publisher, Angela Lansbury in one of her best performances) decides that Grant should be president. She intends to use the power of her newspaper chain to make it happen. To run for president you need your wife on your side. The realities of party politics are presented without any filter. But this is a Frank Capra film, so the idealistic everyman values pulling on the conscience of the main character prevent a total win for corruption.
Under the Sun of Rome (Sotto il sole di Roma)
During the end of World War II in Rome, a group of poverty stricken young people try to live their lives as normally as possible. The main character seems very much an underachiever but we have sympathy for him because we can relate to him.