Italian Film in the Light of Neorealism

by Millicent Marcus

Book Overview

The movement known as neorealism lasted seven years, generated only twenty-one films, failed at the box office, and fell short of its didactic and aesthetic aspirations. Yet it exerted such a profound influence on Italian cinema that all the best postwar directors had to come to terms with it, whether in seeming imitation (the early Olmi), in commercial exploitation (the middle Comencini) or in ostensible rejection (the recent Tavianis). Despite...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691102082
• ISBN13: 9780691102085
• Release Date: March 1987
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

scholarly classic in its field is stimulating and very readable

ITALIAN FILM IN THE LIGHT OF NEOREALISM contains essays on seventeen Italian films, released between 1945 and 1982, which are either Neorealist classics or demonstrate the influence of Neorealism on Italian films made after the movement (7 yrs. duration, according to Marcus) ended. Marcus strikes a fine balance of theory, literary criticism, history, and readability. The book is an informative and stimulating companion to several of the finest Italian films, and several classics of international cinema. The essays are on the following films: Part I: Neorealism Proper: Open City (d. Rossellini) ; Bicycle Thieves (d. De Sica); Bitter Rice (d. De Santis); Umberto D. (d. De Sica) / Part II: Transitions Bread, Love, and Fantasy (d. Comencini); La Strada (d. Fellini); Senso (d. Visconti); Red Desert (d. Antonioni) / Part III: Return to Social Commentary: Il Posto (d. Olmi); Seduced and Abandoned (d. Germi); Teorema (d. Pasolini); Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (d. Petri) / Part IV: Fascism and War Reconsidered: The Conformist (d. Bertolucci); Love and Anarchy (d. Wertmuller); Christ Stopped at Eboli (d. Rosi); Night of the Shooting Stars (d. Paolo and Vittorio Taviani); We All Loved Each Other So Much (d. Scola). [back cover: Millicent Marcus is Associate Professor in the Department of French and Italian at the University of Texas, Austin] Marcus was until recently at the University of Pennsylvania, and is now at Yale. The latest DVD editions of CINEMA PARADISO (released 2006) sport her excellent feature length commentary, accompanied here and there by director Giuseppe Tornatore. She makes a brief appearance on a supplement on the MALENA DVD (d. Giuseppe Tornatore), and gives a brief historical background to Visconti's THE LEOPARD (Criterion Collection DVD, supplement). "NEOREALISM" is my favorite book by Marcus, and if you find you enjoy this title, check out her more recent work as well: After Fellini: National Cinema in the Postmodern Age ; Italian Film in the Shadow of Auschwitz (Toronto Italian Studies) P.S. Most of the films listed above are available on Region 1 DVD (U.S. & Canada coding). Some of them are out of circulation, and some are on Region 2 release. Region 2 DVDs are great for students of Italian who may not catch the often too-rapid dialogue through listening comprehension, but can read the Italian-language subtitles usually available on Region 2 (Europe) DVDs of Italian films; these "R2" DVDs often have English subtitle options, too. Unfortunately I can't post links here to two great Italian vendors of Italian-language books and DVDs (ibs dot it; bol dot it).