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"The Legacy of Mario Camerini in Vittorio De Sica's The Bicycle Thief (1948)" Cinema journal [0009-7101] 40.4 (2001).
Prior to becoming one of the most respected directors in Italian Cinema, Vittorio de Sica was a very successful actor. One of the directors that de Sica frequently worked for was Mario Camerini. In the essay "The Legacy of Mario Camerini in Vittorio de Sica's The Bicycle Thief (1948)," Carlo Celli argues that there are stylistic influences from the films of Camerini found in Bicycle Thief. Because of Camerini worked with de Sica pre-war and Bicycle Thief is a post-war motion picture, Celli believes that it is the romantic comedies that these two men collaborated on that provides a link to the films made prior to neorealism. As Celli points out, it is de Sica and Zavattini who credit Camerini with an early influence on their films. In fact, de Sica was quoted as saying that Camerini taught him how to be "truthful and sincere" in his filmmaking.
Another characteristic of Camerini's works found in Bicycle Thief, according to Celli, is the characterization of the privileged in Italian society. For instance, in the films of both Camerini and Zavattini, the privileged "have refinement and grace . . . but also a forced and vulgar irony." Camerini also advocated used inexperienced actors long before this became en vogue with the neorealism filmmakers. Other Camerini traits found in the works of de Sica include poor characters inpersonating the rich, the use of montage to indicate the desires of the protagonist, and sympathetic depictions of proleterian organizations.
belongs to Vittorio de Sica's Bicycle Thief project
tagged Cinema Neorealism bicycle_thief de_sica by colliert ...on 09-JUN-06
tagged Cinema Neorealism bicycle_thief de_sica by colliert ...on 09-JUN-06