Cesare Giulio Viola Movies
- 1948
In this operatic film, a traveling clown, convicted of killing his wife and lover, serves his 20-year sentence and then begins searching for his daughter. He finds her living in a wealthy woman's home. To ensure that the girl will not reject him, the clown hires a composer to write an opera about his sad story. Upon hearing it, the sympathetic girl and her father at successfully reunited. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alida Valli, Paul Hoerbiger, (more)
- 1947
Vittorio DeSica's Shoeshine (Sciuscia) is a must-see example of Italian neorealist cinema, ranking with such other neorealist classics as DeSica's Bicycle Thieves (1948) and Umberto D. (1952) and Roberto Rossellini's Rome, Open City (1945). Using nonprofessional actors, DeSica and co-screenwriter Cesare Zavattini, also one of neorealism's leading figures, paint an uncompromising picture of the lives of Italian street children abandoned by their parents at the end of World War II. The film concentrates on two such children, Giuseppe (Rinaldo Smerdoni) and Pasquale (Franco Interlenghi). With no one else to turn to, the boys form a solid friendship, as well as a "corporation" of sorts: they eke out a living shining the boots of American GIs. The boys' hope for a rosier future is manifested in their dreams of owning a beautiful white horse. This, along with all their other aspirations, is eradicated when the boys are inadvertently shipped off to a reformatory. A failure in Italy (director DeSica noted that postwar Italian audiences preferred the glossy escapism emanating from Hollywood), Shoeshine was a huge success worldwide, as well as the winner of a special Academy Awards. Like Bicycle Thieves, it combines DeSica's frequent focus on children with his emphasis on post-war social problems. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pacifico Astrologo, Franco Interlenghi, (more)
A very early Vittorio De Sica effort, The Children Are Watching Us was originally released in Italy as I Bambini Ci Guardano. Director De Sica collaborated with another neorealist pioneer, Cesare Zavattini, on the screenplay. The film, a real tearjerker, concerns a young mother (Isa Pola) who can't stand the pressures exerted on her by family responsibilities. She deserts her husband (Emilio Cigoli) and her brood, permanently ruining the life of her four-year-old son, Prico (Luciano de Ambrosis). Avoiding the rococo gestures and dramatic overstatement that might have attended this film had it been made in Hollywood, De Sica fashions a subtle tale about real people caught up in a real situation. De Sica's sensitivity toward the younger cast members of The Children Are Watching Us would manifest itself in many of his formative films, notably Sciuscià and The Bicycle Thief. Made in 1942, the film was not released in Italy until 1944. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emilio Cigoli, Isa Pola, (more)
- 1938
Its title translating as Naples of Former Days, this Italian musical romance takes an bittersweet backward glance at the 19th century. Vittorio de Sica plays Maestro Perla, who hopes to arise from poverty to become a renowned composer and symphony conductor. He is helped along by a mysterious benefactor (Emma Gramatica) who turns out to be his aunt. On the verge of fame and fortune, Perla is disappointed romantically when the family of his wealthy fiancee (Elisa Regard) opposes the impending marriage. Realizing that he'll be happier in his own back yard, Perla returns to his hardscrabble Neapolitan neighborhood and to his childhood sweetheart (Maria Dennis). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio De Sica, Emma Gramatica, (more)
