(Wed 7th - Fri 9th / 7pm / £4/3)
(Babycinema: Weds 7th / 11am / £2 babies free)

(Vittorio De Sica / 1948 / Italy / 93 minutes / cert U / Italian with English subtitles)

An undisputed classic, De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves follows a man and his son as the walk the streets of Rome trying to find a stolen bicycle they desperately need, a simple search which reveals complex truths about human existence. As Bosley Crowther wrote in the New York Times in 1949, De Sica “laid hold upon and sharply imaged in simple and realistic terms a major — indeed, a fundamental and universal — dramatic theme. It is the isolation and loneliness of the little man in this complex social world that is ironically blessed with institutions to comfort and protect mankind. . . . Every incident, every detail of the frantic and futile hunt is a taut and exciting adventure, in which hope is balanced against despair. Every movement of every person in it, every expression on every face is a striking illumination of some implicit passion or mood. . . . a film that will tear your heart, but which should fill you with warmth and compassion. People should see it — and they should care.”