Vittorio De Sica

[charliechaplinfan]

I've long been a fan of De Sica's both his acting and his directing career. Perhaps the best role I've seen him act in is in Madame De, he's so suave as the Madame De's lover. I can't possibly pick a favorite from his directing career, his most important is probably Bicycle Thieves but I also like, Miracle in Milan, Statione Termini, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow and Marriage Italian Style. I want to watch Umberto D but after watching Martin Scorsese's documentary, I think it might break my heart. I'd love to see Two Woman and Garden of the Fitzcontis.

I discovered something else about him today whilst browsing that he was a singer too and it looks like he was quite a successful one too.

[Mr. Arkadin]

Umberto D is a film that endeavors to display the bleakness of existence, but it's through this prism that we also realize its value. Flag might be just a dog, but he teaches his owner that life is a precious gift that should not be squandered or taken for granted.

P.S.

You should also add Senso (1954) to your list.

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[charliechaplinfan]

I don't know how I managed to forget Senso, there was a segment on it in Martin Scorsese's look at Italian film, a great film in itself. I'll take a look at Senso later

[Mr. Arkadin]

Perhaps because Senso is Visconti. Oops!

[charliechaplinfan]

I realised when I sat down to watch it but thought never mind, perhaps De Sica acts in it, I'm half way through, it's a great film but I admit I was confused.

[ChiO]

Don't deprive yourself of UMBERTO D. As marvelous as BICYCLE THIEVES is, it is -- for me, at least -- surpassed by UMBERTO D, which is far more hopeful than BICYCLE THIEVES.

[charliechaplinfan]

I'll have to trust you on this one, I only have the clip from Martin Scorsese's film to go off and that had me getting the tissues. I do like De Sica's way of storytelling. I might have to have a double bill and watch Umberto D and follow it with Miracle in Milan which is uplifting.

[charliechaplinfan]

Senso was just the kind of film I love, beauifully filmed although I wish my copy had the vivid colours of the Scorsese's documentary. It's one I'll watch again, I wrote about it on the what have you watched lately thread.

[charliechaplinfan]

Thanks to AnnHarding I got to watch some of Vittorio De Sica's early movies, I'll Give a Million 1935 and The Department Store 1939 both made with Assia Noria and discussed more completely here

http://silverscreenoasis.com/oasis3/vie ... =80&t=5183

When I started the thread it was because I'd discovered that he was a singer as well as actor, director, screenwriter. This is my first chance to see De Sica in his earlier roles, he's utterly charming, very good looking, obviously typecast as the romantic comedy matinee idol yet he moved beyond that and on to his directing career. Now I need to find a good article to discover just how he did it.

[ChiO]

I couldn't find much online that discusses his transition from acting to directing other than this:

At 16, he appeared in the film "The Clemenceau Affair." His career took off in the 1920s when he joined a local theater company and became a matinee idol. He later formed his own company, producing plays and co-starring with his first wife, Giuditta Rissone. At the same time, he made a name for himself as a suave leading man in Italian films, and became immensely popular with female audiences.

During World War II, De Sica turned to directing. His first four films were routine light productions in the tradition of the Italian cinema of the day. But his fifth, "The Children Are Watching Us," was a mature, perceptive, and deeply human work about the impact of adult folly on a child's innocent mind. The film marked the beginning of De Sica's collaboration with author and screenwriter Cesare Zavattini, a creative relationship that was to give the world two of the most significant films of the Italian neorealism movement, "Shoeshine" and "The Bicycle Thief."

From http://www.italiamia.com/cinema_desica.php

A tidbit from that article that may be old news for you: His father's name was Umberto...Umberto De Sica. Umberto D. for short?

[charliechaplinfan]

Thanks Chio. I didn't know about his father, I haven't yet watched Umberto D or Shoeshine, his realism is something I need to prepare myself for, compelling journeys but pulling very hard at the heart strings.

Thank you for the article, I followed the link you left.

[Ann Harding]

Maria Mercader and Vittorio de Sica in W. Saroyan's The Time of Your Life, c. 1945 (theatre)

During the past few days, I have been reading Maria Mercader's memoirs where she recalls her life with Vittorio de Sica. Maria Mercader was a Spanish actress, born in Catalonia. She studied acting in Paris with the great French actor Louis Jouvet. In 1940, she landed a movie contract with Italian producers. At the studios in Rome, she met Vittorio de Sica. He was just starting to work as a director. Considered a matinee idol, he struggled to get a chance to direct his own pictures. Maria Mercader got a part in one of his early features, Un garibaldino al convento (1941), a costume drama. They fell in love, but there was a serious obstacle for them, Vittorio was already married. And according to Italian laws of the time, divorcing was impossible. So for decades, Maria lived separately with her two sons (who couldn't even be recognised legally by their father!) while Vittorio commuted between his two homes. As you can imagine, it was a very difficult situation for Maria who did her best against the odds. Reading about her life as the 'other woman', I kept thinking of all the brilliant Italian comedies which describe this kind of Kafkaesque situation. I felt that screenwriters didn't have to look very far to find subjects for their films! Italian life, very family-centred, was constrained by some rigid laws, almost medieval in their outlooks. She describes very warmly the man whom she lived with for 34 years. They finally got married in 1968, but only after acquiring the French nationality. He had serious flaws like the inability to make decisions regarding his two homes and his compulsive gambling. Otherwise, she describe him as generous and nice. I was very interested by her memories of his first films after the war which started the 'neo-realism' movement in Italy. Actually, Sciuscià (1946) was a flop with the Italian public. The film was considered depressing and financially it was a disaster, in spite of the fact that it became a highly regarded film abroad. The story was about the same for Ladri di biciclette (1948). One of the most famous Italian films was at the time critised by the Italian Prime Minister as giving Italy a bad image. Only after its success abroad, did Italians start to take notice of the film's quality and novelty. After Umberdo D. (1952), de Sica accepted to make more 'commercial' pictures of the kind Italian producers liked. I never realised what a struggle it had been for him to get all those 'neo-realist' pictures with little money and amateur actors. When he needed money later on, he took on a massive amount of small parts in big pictures which allowed him to feed his mad gambling habits. She mentions Il giardino dei Finzi Contini (1970) as one of his best later efforts. (I agree with her.) In 1974, Vittorio de Sica died of lung cancer.

[charliechaplinfan]

Thank you for adding that extra information to our thread. I knew about his womanising and a little about the confining nature of Italy's family law. I don't know too much about his struggle to make his neo realistic films. Did it say anything about his Communist leanings, I'd believed this was something always levelled against him but he never actually was, besides what communist gambles so much money.

As a coincidence I watched Shoeshine and Umberto D today, a very emotional experience. I can understand the Italian governments not liking his films, they are a bleak portrayal of Italian life, he wasn't the only neo Realistic director but his subjects were always close to home about the common man and perhaps more of a criticism of how the country was run.

[Ann Harding]

Maria Mercarder doesn't mention anywhere any political activities on De Sica's part. It is true that many Italian film directors after the war were left-wing. It's totally understandable when you know that Italy had suffered under a fascist regime since 1923 and right-wing parties were all compromised. Luchino Visconti was the heir of a great aristocratic family and a member of the Italian communist party. He was perfectly happy in both.

[charliechaplinfan]

I think it would be difficult not to have a strong social conscience in post war Italy. I like Visconti too but his films are even less available than De Sica's, he filmed quite a few operas I believe. I love Senso.

Part of me always thinks of Chaplin both when I see de Sica and when I watch his Neo Realistic movies. De Sica resembles Chaplin albeit De Sica is more handsome but I think the biggest similarity is in the films. They both made films about humanity and human conditions. Chaplin had charges of Communism levelled at him throughout his life whereas he would have said he was a humanist, perhaps the same could be said of De Sica.