Roberto Rossellini's War Trilogy [Criterion Collection] [3 Discs]

"The ""Trilogy"" in question refers to three milestones of neorealist cinema that made film history, all helmed by Roberto Rossellini within a span of several years: the 1945 Rome, Open City, the 1946 Paisan, and the 1948 Germany, Year Zero. This special edition, three-disc set from The Criterion Collection presents all of the said films in restored, high-definition digital transfers, with a plethora of bonus supplements that include: introductions to all three titles by Rossellini, shot in 1963; video interviews with experts including Rossellini scholar Adriana Apr?, The Taviani Brothers and a friend of the director, Father Virgilio Fantuzzi; and audio commentary on Rome Open City by Peter Bondanella. The collection also includes the making-of documentary Once Upon a Time. . . 'Rome Open City', produced in 2006; excerpts from a little-seen videotaped discussion that Rossellini had with students at Rice University about his filmmaking; Tag Gallagher's visual essay ""Into the Future,"" Carlo Lizzani's 2001 biographical documentary Roberto Rossellini, and ""Letters from the Front: Carlo Lizzani on Germany, Year Zero,"" a podium discussion with Lizzani shot at the 1987 Tutto Rossellini event. Finally, the collection also includes a host of bonus essays on Rossellini's life and work by such experts as Thomas Meder, Jonathan Rosenbaum, James Quandt, Irene Bignardi and Colin MacCabe."