Shoeshine

Two young boys living on the streets work shining shoes. In an attempt to buy a horse they get involved in a crime and end up in a reformatory. The brutality of the world there divides the two friends and, during an escape attempt, one of them is killed. Vittorio De Sica reveals keen and sympathetic understanding of the nature of embittered, frustrated youth and creates a sad and sensitive story about fragility of human relationship.