Most frequently celebrated as one of his country's most talented directors with a number of acknowledged classics under his belt (the 1946 Shoeshine and 1948 Bicyle Thieves among them), Vittorio De Sica was also a busy actor, appearing in over 150 films over the course of his long career. One of his most acclaimed performances was in Roberto Rossellini's 1959 Il Generale della Rovere, in which he plays Victorio Emanuele Bardone, an opportunistic rascal in wartime Genoa, conning and cheating his fellow Italians, exploiting their tragedies by promising to help find their missing loved ones in exchange for money. But when the Nazis force him to impersonate a dead partisan general in prison to extract information from fellow inmates, Bardone finds himself wrestling with his conscience for the first time. Roberto Rossellini's gripping drama, among his most commercially popular films, is further evidence of the compassionate artistry of one cinema's most important voices.

Il Generale della Rovere will be released on US region 1 DVD in March (exact date to be confirmed) by Criterion at the SRP of $29.95. The disc will feature a new, restored high-definition 1.33:1 digital transfer and the follow extras:

• New video interviews with Isabella, Renzo, and Ingrid Rossellini, as well as film scholar Adriano Aprà;
• New visual essay by Tag Gallagher, author of The Adventures of Roberto Rossellini;
• Original theatrical trailer;
• New and improved English subtitle translation;
• A booklet featuring an essay by film critic James Monaco and an excerpt from a 2000 interview with Indro Montanelli, author of the story that inspired the film.