21L011 The Film Experience
Professor David Thorburn

Lecture 17 - Italian Neorealism

1. The Opening of Bicycle Thieves
   • The multiplicity principle
     
     
2.  Historical Contex
   • WW II
   • Italian film under Fascism
   • Hollywood film
     
     
3.  Origins
   • Italian, German, French
     
     
4.  Key Features
   • Non-professional actors, outdoor camera, mise en scène style, documentary flavor,
     character vs. plot, focus on women, children, working-class figures
     
     
5.  Central Figures
   • Cesaré Zavattini (1902-77)
   • Luchino Visconti (1906-76)
   • Obsession (1942)
   • The Earth Trembles (1948)
   • Roberto Rosselini (1906-77)
   • Open City (1945)
   • Vittorio De Sica (1902-74)
     
     
6.  The Neorealist Counter-plot
   • The beginning of Open City