Product Details

• Actors: Franco Balducci, Eleanora Brown, Andrea Checchi, Sophia Loren, Curt Lowens
• Directors: Vittorio De Sica
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Alpha Video
• DVD Release Date: September 28, 2004
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0002PYSYM
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #99,011 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

TWO WOMEN - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Great movie, real bad DVD, September 13, 2005

By 

R. Morris (La Habra, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Two Women (DVD)

This is one of Sophia Lorens best movies and she's fantastic in it.
Unfortunately the DVD quality is really bad.

The video was grainy and out of focus in many places. Quality reminded me of a bootlegged DVD.
The language is dubbed in english, there is no option for using the original Italian dialog and using english subtitles (there are no subtitle options at all).

Should have known that this DVD quality would be crap...it comes from Alpha Video, well known for selling cheap, low quality DVD's. Wish I had paid closer attention before ordering.

I saw this movie just recently on either AMC or TCM and the picture and sound was fantastic. I hope that some video company uses that print to put out a quality DVD worthy of this great movie.

FYI: The remastered HD DVD of Lorens "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" that is put out by NoShame films is absolutely fantastic. The picture and sound quality is the best. Anyone who has purchased one of the poorer quality DVD's of this movie should get this one and trash their other DVD. Well done NoShame Films, thanks!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An unexpected punch adds deeper meaning to this remarkable film..., March 3, 2009

By 

Andrew Ellington (I'm kind of everywhere) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Two Women (DVD)

When `Le Ciociara' ends, in what may be the most brutal manner possible, one is caught off guard. We didn't see that coming; but what is remarkable with this particular film is that we should have. When one goes back through and watches the film, after knowing its devastating finale, you can pinpoint why this ending, why this utter travesty was necessary.

`Le Ciociara' tells the story of Cesira and her beautiful young daughter Rosetta. During World War II Cesira and her daughter flee from Rome in order to spare their lives and wind up staying in the town where Cesira grew up. A younger man, Michele, falls in love with Cesira and forms a close bond with her and her daughter. As the war rages on Cesira and those around her are subject to the cruelty of the soldiers and the inconvenience that comes from hiding.

For the majority of the films running time it feels as though this is all this film is about, and it manages to be very engrossing and very enlightening; but there is much more lurking around the corner.

I won't go into the tragedy that is soon to befall Cesira and her daughter, even though it is a major plot point that has been divulged before and you can easily uncover before watching the film. I feel that to walk into this film knowing how it ends is a shame and ultimately takes away from the intended feeling delivered by director Vittorio De Sica and his impressive cast. Walking into `Le Ciociara' blind, so-to-speak, adds to the velocity of the films conclusion, which is a resounding shock to the viewers emotional core. It challenges all that we think we know about these two women, this mother and her daughter and serves as the moral dilemma with which movies like this thrive.

Sophia Loren made history when she became the first actress to win an Academy Award for a foreign language performance. Her performance may very well be one of the best in the history of cinema, a truly outstanding and dynamic portrayal of a real woman, trying to give her daughter the best she can, who is destroyed (almost literally) by the realization that she simply cannot do that. Eleonora Brown, who plays Rosetta, is almost a ghost throughout the film, playing second fiddle to her mother and merely floating in and out of scenes, but as the film plummets towards its conclusion she rises to the occasion and delivers an equally devastating and real performance as her characters world is shattered and her innocence becomes stained with the harsh realities of this world.

`Le Ciociara' is a film that will touch you, that will reach you in a way you may not have expected. It's stark depiction of the fragile relationship between mother and daughter is disarming, for it is an unexpected peek at a brutal reality. Superbly done, `Le Ciociara' is a masterpiece.

*I just want to note that I do not own the DVD and thus cannot comment on the quality, which I hear is rather poor. Please note that this is a review of the film, and the film only.

5.0 out of 5 stars "Two Women"...Two Horrific Experiences, September 22, 2011

By 

Kendalene Markston "Grateful Movie Locator" (Lebanon, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Two Women (DVD)

I first saw this black and white film on TV...in the Italian language with underlying English wording. I thought so much of this movie I had to purchase it. Was made in 1960; starring Sophia Loren. She won a much-deserved Oscar for her role. Sophia's role in the film is a war-ravaged widow with a sickly young daughter. The two of them escape daily air raids in Rome by escaping into the countryside. They endure many, many hardships in trying to survive. One sad experience is that they're both brutally raped by soldiers when they attempt seeking shelter in an abandoned church. Bad enough, but of all places for this to happen to them...Sophia does all she can--not only to help her devastated daughter, but herself...cooperate with soldiers and hard living conditions...and bands together with other individuals for solace, comfort, and the will to live. They tough things out, persevere--and in the end, they're helped/rescued, so eventually they move on with their lives, fortunately. It's a truly well-acted film and shows us all that where there's a will, there's a way. BTW, the DVD is NOT in Italian. English was dubbed in for the Italian, making it that much better...and the words were finely done to sound exactly as if in English. Truly a fantastic DVD which I most highly recommend.