Licensor Information
Cristaldi Films
Directed by: Giuseppe De Santis
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.
Streaming Options
32897.
+23552
Rent
Release Information:
Technical Specifications
Format:
Blu-ray
Disc:
BD-50 (1 Disc)
Total: 1 Disc
Regions:
A (Blu-ray)
Aspect Ratio:
1.33:1
Audio Options:
Italian PCM Mono 1.0
Resolution:
1080p/24
Subtitles:
English
Supplements
Types of Supplements Included: Documentary, Interview, Theatrical Trailer, Poster Insert
- Giuseppe De Santis, a 2008 documentary by screenwriter Carlo Lizzani
- Interview with Carlos Lizzani from 2003
- Trailer
- Insert featuring an essay by critic Pasquale Iannone
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Film
Picture
Audio
Supplements
Artwork
Release Credits
Artwork: Eric Skillman
Producer: Issa Clubb
Artwork: Ken Laager
Release Notes on Restoration
Bitter Rice
Bitter Rice is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1. On widescreen televisions black bar will appear on the left and right of the image to maintain the proper screen format. This new high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, and flicker were manually were manually removed using MTI’s DRS, while Digital Vision’s Phoenix was used for small dirt, grain, and jitter.
The original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the optical track print. Clicks, thumps, hiss, hum, and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD and iZotope RX 4.
The original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the optical track print. Clicks, thumps, hiss, hum, and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD and iZotope RX 4.

