RyothChatty ridiculous rating

Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

popcorninhell Just two years before Vittorio De Sica changed the world with The Bicycle Thieves (1948), the universally famous actor/director made a small, simple and beautiful movie by the name of Shoeshine (1946). Taking place in war ravaged Italy, the film features the stories of two young shoeshine boys who are tasked with delivering black market goods and get caught in a web of intrigue. Once they are caught by the police, their friendship is challenged when they're sent to an overcrowded boy's penitentiary.The majority of the film takes place in the penitentiary where the two boys (Franco Interlenghi and Rinaldo Smordoni) are separated from each other almost instantly. Forced into separate cells each holding five boys, they become the center of their own maelstroms when one mistakenly betrays the other. I won't ruin the whole picture other than mentioning that the main source of motivation early on is a horse they bought together.The period sets the tone for the film. Despite a bouncy score that highlights every small victory experienced by the characters, the lack of sustenance and poor conditions of life in and out of the penitentiary keeps things gloomy. The boys eat gruel which the warden calls "passable", medical help is slow and ineffective and beds are riddled with lice. Even one of the more kind-hearted superiors finds objection to the state of things. Yet at one point one of the boys calls his new home "paradise" because of its only slightly better living standard than sleeping in an elevator.The film is considered one of the first Italian neorealist works which would leave an indelible mark on Italian cinema and movies worldwide. The form contends with economic hardship and moral denigration as a canvas. Many times they would shoot in and around the streets of Italian cities and even hire non-professional actors to intensify the realism. Often this was for practical reasons. The aftermath of World War Two left the film industry (previously under the close watch of Mussolini) unable to maintain their studios.The Bicycle Thieves stands as the pinnacle of Italian neo-realism but for my money Shoeshine is the better movie. Both stories are quite compelling but from an outsider's perspective, the multiple Italian customs and the research required to understand them are much more-a- plenty in Bicycle Thieves. Additionally the main characters of Shoeshine are children no older than twelve. While in many cases this would be a slight when comparing one movie to another, the actors in Shoeshine act much more authentically to their predicament. There is one scene where the boys trot a horse down the street as the other shoeshine boys either cheer in zeal, or jeer in jealousy. They preen and strut like they're the talk of the town, the belle of the ball, or to put another way; two poor kids with a horse. How can you not smile at that image?There is a famous review of Shoeshine by the famous Pauline Kael where she mentions a "… petulant voice of a college girl complaining to her boyfriend, 'well, I don't see what was so special about that movie.'" She then claimed alienation from those who could not experience "the radiance of Shoeshine." In many ways I feel the same about it. If you're not effected by De Sica's first classic then you're not fully human.http://theyservepopcorninhell.blogspot.com/

Fred Salter Since the review the movie has been re-released from a new Italian Print. http://eurekavideo.co.uk/moc/catalogue/shoeshine/ That should cure the grainy problem mentioned by the reviewer. I just got it so I can't give a review rating. The Masters of Cinema Series is a well done project so I'm sure I'll be satisfied with their work. To quote from their web site "Shoeshine is widely regarded as one of the finest films to have emerged from the Italian neo-realist cinema." They have released many silent films and from what I've watched so far, the quality of their releases is amazing. They have extra bonus material on their DVDs as well and the project is well worth you looking at if you are interested in old films. This film comes with a 24 page booklet as does many of the other films.

Ganesh selvaraj Honestly speaking I watch movies based on their ratings and IMDb is one site that I rely on (despite the fact that many good movies are underrated; anyway I suppose it is because movies are subjective) and if I find any movie rated 8 and above I would just die to watch them. One of that kind is Vittorio De Sica's The shoeshine and not just because it was rated 8 and above, but also for the movie being a European product.Unlike American movies most of the European movies have close ends rather open ends which make them phenomenal. Now let me tell you why 'The shoeshine' is phenomenal. After having seen the movies Umberto D, Bicycle thief and The Shoeshine(the third movie of De Sica which I watched) it became evident to me that the narrative is spun around the characters (emphasising on the dimensions of the character)where there is a transformation of the character from being vibrant to becoming docile or vice-versa and the like. This can be encountered in all the three movies which I have stated above. Say it be the Father and the son in The Bicycle thief or the old man and the dog in Umberto D or the two boys in The shoeshine. For movie buffs this movie is one gem to archive.

d_fienberg Despite producing all of the requite emotions of sadness, tragedy, and horror you expect from a fine Italian Neorealist film, I can't help but feel that Shoeshine is more staged and thus less effecting than DeSica's greatest works of the period, The Children Are Watching Us and The Bicycle Thieves. There are moments where the plot actually imposes itself on the viewing of the film, where the action takes on a "genre" quality that isn't entirely successful for me.MINOR SPOILERThe escape from the children's prison, for example, feels like it could have been taken from any narrative film and seems out of place in a film whose essential story is about the depths of friendship and the longing for simple pleasures (if you call a horse a simple pleasure) in post-war Italy. The bumbling court and police sequences also seem far too scripted.I suppose my principle problem is the performance by Rinaldo Smordoni as Giuseppe, one of the two shoeshine-boy heroes of the film. He seems much too self-conscious, as if mugging to the camera. Compare this with other child performances in DeSica's films (including Franco Interlenghi's Pasquale in this film) and I think it's clear that there's a decent sized hole in the center of Shoeshine.That being said, the major flaw hardly keeps Shoeshine from being heartbreaking in that "Oh God, since this is Neo-realism, something horrible's bound to be lurking around the corner" way. DeSica was a master at that. He understands that in a war-torn country, sometimes caring too much (like Pasquale, or the kind hearted supervisor of the prison) can be the greatest mistake.The print that I saw, projected and 35 mm, was missing complete subtitles. I think all of the important stuff was translated, but tiny conversations were mostly ignored. I don't suppose this had anything to do with my take on the film, but it's still worth mentioning.Probably still a 7.5/10