Film Forum

Italy, 1949
Directed by Giuseppe De Santis
Starring Silvana Mangano, Vittorio Gassman, Doris Dowling, Raf Vallone
Approx. 109 min. 

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.

Restored in 4K in 2025 by Cineteca di Bologna in collaboration with Cristaldifilm at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, from the original negative, a dupe negative and a positive print preserved by Cristaldifilm at CSC – Cineteca Nazionale and from the dupe positive of the 1994 restoration promoted by CSC – Cineteca Nazionale. Funding provided by “A Season of Classic Films”, an initiative of ACE – Association des Cinémathèques Européennes, supported by the EU Creative Europe MEDIA programme.

A JANUS FILMS RELEASE

Reviews

“A HIDDEN CLASSIC… Fuses the class-based politics— and the on-location authenticity—of neorealism with a smoldering romantic melodrama…. De Santis films the turbulent action with a blend of intimacy and spectacle, in exhilaratingly spontaneous dance scenes and shocking outbursts of violence.” 
– Richard Brody, The New Yorker

“As earthy and elemental as any picture you are likely to see.”
– The New York Times

“To this day, Mangano’s performance is one of cinema’s most memorable breakthroughs. Along with a stunning natural beauty, her physical stature exudes resilience and vitality. It’s impossible to see any other Italian actress of her generation in the role.”
– Pasquale Iannone, Criterion