La Strada (World Cinema Collection)

Regarded by some as Federico Fellini’s (La Dolce Vita) finest work and the winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, La Strada is a masterpiece of 20th Century filmmaking. Sold by her impoverished mother to Zampano (Anthony Quinn, Zorba the Greek), a brutish fairground wrestler, waif-like Gelsomina (Giuletta Masina, Ginger and Fred) lives a life of drudgery as his assistant. After taking to the road with a travelling circus, a budding relationship with a gentle-natured tightrope walking clown offers a potential refuge from her master’s clutches. Trapped by her own servile nature, Gelsomina waivers and Zampano’s volcanic temper erupts with tragic consequences.