Vittorio De Sica's "The Bicycle Thief"

I've a student seminar presentation this Thursday. My topic is on the Italian Neorealist Movement which thrived from 1944 to 1952. I'm going to talk about The Bicycle Thief, a film directed by Vittorio De Sica. De Sica was first and foremost an actor before he became a director. This certainly gives him an advantage in the casting and acting department. Rob Reiner was also an actor before becoming a director. He's known as the actor's director. Reiner was famous for directing Stand By Me and When Harry Met Sally.

Anyway, back to De Sica's The Bicycle Thief. I watched it yesterday night and was really moved by the acting and De Sica's method of storytelling. A Neorealist film usually casts non professional actors, offers a bleak and stark outlook of the world and mostly gives an open ended ending, in the hope that the audience would try and make a difference to the world.

While doing research on De Sica's film, I found an interesting excerpt from Edward Murray's "Ten Film Classics: A Re-viewing" that I wish to share with my dear readers:

De Sica once described his success with non professionals by saying:

"I explain and explain, and I am very convincing. I seem to have a special gift for making myself understood by actors. Either I play the part or I explain it, slowly, patiently, with a smile on my face and never any anger."