Umberto D.

The pension that Umberto D. receives as a former civil servant is so small that he can barely survive. The landlady of his shabby room threatens to put him out on the street because of unpaid rent. The only person he can confide in is his pregnant neighbor, his only friend is his dog. Narrated from the perspective of a lonely old man, the film was dedicated to Vittorio De Sica’s father. A commercial failure on its initial release, it is now seen as one of De Sica’s most significant films. “Even today, UMBERTO D. seems to me so full of life, so true, so profound that I hold it in the highest regard of all my films.” (hjf)