![]() ![]() However, some did make other films after this 1948 feature. None of the leading roles in The Bicycle Thief were played by professional actors. Italian Cinema: From Neorealism to the Present by Peter Bonadella The story of a man led to make a fateful choice that ultimately costs him his dignity, The Bicycle Thief stands with Arthur Miller's classic play Death of a Salesman as an influential work in reshaping tragedy for a modern world where working-class men and women have replaced kings and queens as central figures. With its out-of-luck lower-class protagonist, careful attention to gesture and subtle shifts from tragic to comic, The Bicycle Thief, more than any other of De Sica's films, demonstrates the influence of Charles Chaplin on his work. film industry's Production Code and its subsequent distribution by three independent theatre chains that had never before carried a film without the Code's Seal of Approval, The Bicycle Thief, became a key factor in bringing an end to the film industry's self-censorship in America.Īs Antonio searches the city for his stolen bicycle, De Sica presents a cross-section of post-war Rome's working-class world, from neighborhood cafes to pawnshops to a brothel. With the controversy over the film's failure to pass the U.S. De Sica would later comment on directing non-actors: "It is not the actor who lends the character a face which, however versatile he may be, is necessarily his own, but the character who reveals himself, sooner or later in 'that' particular face and in no other.their ignorance is an advantage, not a handicap.The man in the street, particularly if he is directed by someone who is himself an actor, is raw material that can be molded at will." Drawing on his experience as an actor (the director had been a stage and screen star long before moving behind the camera), he drew subtly nuanced performances from his cast, often catching emotional responses and physical changes of which the performers themselves were unaware. Vittorio De Sica's direction of mostly non-actors in The Bicycle Thief is one of the most effective uses of non-professionals in film history. The movement was both a reaction against the slick, state-controlled studio films made in Italy in the '30s, dubbed "white telephone" films by their detractors, and a public confession of guilt by the artists who had attempted to collaborate with Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime. ![]() Many critics have hailed The Bicycle Thief as the definitive example of Italian Neorealism, a cinema style that came to prominence after World War II as directors took their cameras into the streets to film stories of everyday, working-class life, often with non-professional actors in key roles. Screenplay: Cesare Zavattini, Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Oreste Biancoli, Adolfo Franci & Gerardo GuerrieriĬast: Lamberto Maggiorani (Antonio), Lianella Carell (Maria), Enzo Staiola (Bruno), Elena Altieri (The Lady), Vittorio Antonucci (The Thief), Gino Saltamerenda (Baiocco) As his odyssey through working-class Rome grows in stature, Antonio becomes a powerful metaphor for the plight of humanity caught in a hostile universe. As his search leads him to a union hall, a fortune teller's and a whorehouse, he grows more desperate until he sees a theft of his own as the only way of saving his family. With his son in tow, he explores working-class Rome in search of the thief, who always seems a few steps ahead of him. But on his first day of work, the bicycle is stolen. In order to travel from location to location, he has to have a bicycle, which he gets out of hock by pawning the family's linens. ![]() After two years of unemployment, Antonio, a laborer, finally secures a job putting up movie posters around Rome. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |