Vittorio De Sica

I've watched seven movies directed by Italian filmmaker Vittorio De Sica in the last two weeks, and I think he is a great director for three main reasons :
First : His greatness lies in his simplicity. His stories are warm and you can fall easily in love with his humble and kind characters. He is able to transform the most cliched stories (like a woman losing her husband in war or an old man struggling with his dog) into something original and inviting.
Second : He is a master in portraying the local environment in his native country. Regarding this point, I think De Sica is a main inspiration for Giuseppe Tornatore (especially in Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, Malena and Baaria). Although De Sica's movies are very "italian"; he is able to touch you deeply wherever you are from.
Third : His fruitful collaboration with two of Italy's greatest actors, Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren. What a lovable and romantic couple they are! They're able to make you laugh, cry, to feel happy or depressed in such ease and credibility. Watch the last scene in (I Girasoli 1970) and focus on their painful facial expressions and you'll understand what I mean.
My personal ratings for De Sica's seven movies :
Bicycle thieves : 10
Umberto D. : 10
La ciociara : 9
Yesterday, today and tomorrow : 10
Marriage italian style : 9
I Girasoli : 9
The garden of the Finzi-Continis : 7

The first time I saw Bicycle Thieves I wept.

Bicycle thieves : 10
Umberto D. : 10

These are the only ones I watched. Both are in my top 200, I think I might watch his others if I have time.

I love Umberto D and Bicycle Thieves, they are simple, realistic and depict post war Italy wonderfully

__________________
I do not speak english perfectly so expect some mistakes here and there in my messages

He really is the figurehead of the Italian neorealist movement, and just a humanist all around who not only understood the human condition, but captured dismal post-war Italy perhaps better than any of his contemporaries.

Only seen Bicycle thieves and thought it's decent.

__________________
Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

I've seen 18 of his films as a director and 20 as an actor. Besides being at the forefront of neorealism with Visconti and Rossellini, he made several traditional melodramas and sex comedies. He even gave us a neorealist fantasy comedy (if you can imagine such a thing) in Miracle in Milan. If you think that Sophia Loren was only gorgeous, watch his Two Women (La ciociara) and be educated and amazed that she received an Oscar for speaking in her native tongue over 50 years ago. There are several world famous directors who are mostly known for a couple of movies but underseen as a whole, They don't all belong to the world of contemplative cinema or various new wave movements. Give all of them consideration when you have a chance.

__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

^^^^ Yep, De Sica is high on my shortlist of directors I really want to explore outside of their Greatest Films of All Time.

I have seen four, and so far the best is Umberto D. Just incredibly poignant, the train scene could very probably be the emotional peak of his cinema. It's one of my favorite Italian movies, and about the director, I prefer him overall to Rossellini (a typical Neo-Realist comparison), who is more... theatrical? All in all, De Sica looks more humanistic to me and that allows him to make his stuff more immediate to the viewer.

Bycicle thieves is very close to a masterpiece. I don't really know why it doesn't fully convince me as such, because it's such a heartrending story.

Miracle in Milan, being a fantastic comedy, is probably, to me, the most truly disenchanted movie he's made, from what I've seen. There's something inherently sad and to a point cynical about having to make up a whole world with different rules to fix the problems of reality. In Bycicle thieves and Umberto D, even though they are sad stories, he seems to believe in some sort of essential goodness in the characters. I didn't get this feeling from Miracle in Milan. Anyway, just another great movie.

And Two women is indeed an amazing performance by Sofia Loren but not as fulfilling as the other three. Still, outstanding enough and with some very intense sequences.

So, this is how it goes:

1. Umberto D
2. Bycicle thieves
3. Miracle in Milan
4. Two women

I watched this the other day on MUBI. It was fascinating, personal, entertaining.and is highly recommended.

I'm not familiar with him, or neorealism for that matter... this interests me very much though.

I've seen Bicycle Thieves and Umberto D 2 fantastic films, realistic and historically interesting

Last month if you asked who my favorite director was, I'd say Frank Capra. Now, I have to go with Vittorio De Sica.

Umberto D - 10/10
Bicycle Thieves - 10/10
Shoeshine - 10/10
The Roof - 9/10
Sunflower - 9/10
Two Women - 8/10
Marriage Italian style : 7/10
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis : 7/10

The only movie of his I couldn't finish was "Miracle In Milan" - the comedy genre for 99% of movies isn't funny or good. After an hour, I thought I'd finish this some other time, which is very rare, usually I wouldn't bother, but because it's him, I'll be somewhere in between.

Wow I was such a pleb.

1. Umberto D -
2. Bicycle Thieves -
3. Two Women -
4. Shoeshine -

I cannot wait to explore more of De Sica's filmography. So far I've only seen 5 of his films, but I'm already a huge fan of his work.

1. Umberto D :
2. Miracle in Milan :
3. Shoeshine: -
4. Bicycle Thieves : -
5. The Children Are Watching Us :

He's my favorite director.. Those you saw are great, I'd also recommend:

-Sunflower (9/10)
-The Roof (Il Tetto) 9/10
-Two Women - 8/10
-Marriage Italian Style
-The Gold in Napoli

I must confess to only having seen one of his films, the 1957 remake of A Farewell to Arms, but I do remember him being very good in it.

I've seen about 15 of the movies he's directed, but never a movie he acted in. I always see one starring Anthony Quinn, with "Fisherman" in the title.

Shoes of the Fisherman

So frickin sad when he lost his little dog.