One of the key films of the Italian neorealist movement, Shoeshine focuses on two Roman street urchins, working as shoeshine boys to ward off starvation, who become involved in petty crime and black-market dealings, winding up in the grim Regina Coeli prison where competition for survival is even more intense. Shoeshine is both pessimistic and compassionate. Pasquale and Giuseppe are already as cynical and clever as the adults caught up in the struggle for survival in the aftermath of war: social injustice is bitterly acknowledged as a main fact of life for the poor and outcast. Yet as in all de Sica's important films, some inner goodness emerges from the characters despite the squalor and despair of their circumstances.-Tribute to The George Eastman House, PFA '72