The movie focused on a married woman, Clara (Florinda Bolkan), who is diagnosed with a dangerous lung disease. As the sole provider for her family, an unappreciative family at that, she faces her possible death with something less than a stoic view. Even getting to see the doctor, under Italy's socialized medicine, is nearly impossible (a social jab by the director at the pitfalls of Socialism), so when she is told that she needs to go to a sanatorium in order to recover, she is barely able to agree. Even though her husband beats her, her in-laws berate her, and the kids think she's their slave, it's her place in life. Eventually, she has no choice since the factory where she works cannot allow her to work (her condition is related to her dirty job) until the doctors sign off so she makes the journey to recover.

While at the hospital in the mountains (beautiful mountains), she finds the people there a breath of fresh air. While many are dying and suffering from incurable illnesses, they show her hope; something she had abandoned long ago when her marriage turned sour and life's little realities kicked in. All of the residents are potentially going to die there but they face their fate with the conviction that each day must be lived on its own terms. She even meets a man (Daniel Quenaud) that she could love, were it not for her husband. In the end, whatever happens to her will be a fate that she chooses, not one imprinted on her from before her birth (a common theme with the vignettes of the clips from the movie in the extras section).

The movie was very solid in terms of acting and direction but also the writing. With all three factors in place, is it any wonder that so many people have enjoyed this one over the years? Thankfully Home Vision Entertainment have given this release a cleaning up and the DVD looks better than the videotape some libraries have had to put up with. The care shows and it's a shame that other classics aren't treated equally as well. I'm rating this one as Highly Recommended for anyone with a heart and the ability to appreciate De Sica's messages (he threw a lot into this one, perhaps knowing his own demise wasn't far off at the time he made it). With wonderful replay value, I think a lot of people will be happy with this version of the acclaimed film.

Picture: The picture was presented in anamorphic widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, as originally shot by Director Vittorio De Sica. While the movie is over twenty years old, it looked pretty good with this remastered edition. Yes, there was grain and some video noise (mostly pattern noise limited to a few scenes) but even the English subtitles looked clean on this one. I didn't see any compression artifacts although there was a bit of a soft focus (which was intentional I believe).

Sound: The audio was presented in its original monaural Italian with optional English subtitles. It was also crisp and clear (for its age) with minimal problems arising from the DVD transfer. My receiver's Dolby Digital indicator went off when playing this one so I also believe it benefited from a cleaned up audio track.

Extras: The best extra for the actual release was the paper insert which provided some solid background to the movie. Written by noted author Ronald Falzone, it spent little time with the actual movie and more energy placing the movie in context, something every "classic" film should have included. I would've liked more background on the movie itself but I can hardly fault the writer since he was working within the constraints given him. The next best extra was two vignettes from De Sica's amusing Woman Times Seven, a 1960's release that explored the modern woman in terms of social change. It starred Shirley Maclaine and the two segments here (reportedly the best of the seven) featured Peter Sellers and Michael Caine. Although a bit dated, some of the themes were timeless and Maclaine's performances were among her best.

Final Thoughts: I hope more of the director's works are released by the company since they seem to understand the need to release classic works in clean prints as being important. The multitude of factors that went into this one, from the original movie to the DVD release, all combined to make this a winner. It wasn't a perfect movie and some of the minor threads were dated but the big picture themes here are timeless and I suspect De Sica knew it.