UMBERTO D. (1952) Oversize Italian photo

Vintage original 16 x 11″ (41 x 30 cm.) double weight matte finish photo, Italy. Carlo Battisti, Maria Pia Casilio, dir: Vittorio de Sica; Rizzoli. Light creasing, near fine.

A magnificent and exceedingly rare large format photo, almost certainly made for use at the Cannes Film Festival.

Umberto D. is a simple and heartbreaking film about an old man who lives in a small room with his dog named Flike, and who simply does not have enough money to survive on (his tiny monthly pension is 18,000 lire, which might sound decent but his rent was 10,000 lire and his landlady just increased it). Surely the ultimate masterpiece of the post-WWII Italian neorealist movement.

In this scene, Umberto sells one of his last few possessions — a treasured pocket watch — for a fraction of its value, because he owes back rent and is in danger of losing the small room where he has lived for thirty years.