Janus Films: First Look at New 4K Restoration of Bitter Rice
HomeJanus Films: First Look at New 4K Restoration of Bitter Rice
Posted January 10, 2026 07:59 PM by Webmaster
Janus Films has provided a promotional trailer for the new 4K restoration of Giuseppe De Santis' classic film Bitter Rice (1949), starring Vittorio Gassman, Doris Dowling, Silvana Mangano, Raf Vallone, and Checco Rissone.
Bitter Rice is available on Blu-ray via the Criterion Collection.
Also included with this article is a new theatrical poster.
Description: 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.
Bitter Rice is available on Blu-ray via the Criterion Collection.
Also included with this article is a new theatrical poster.
Description: 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.
