ABSTRACT
As strange as it might seem on first consideration, Vittorio De Sica is an accursed filmmaker. I may sound paradoxical, or I may seem to be looking for an argument, because my statement increases in ambiguity when you simultaneously consider the popularity of De Sica the actor and the criti cal importance assigned to Bicycle Thieves (1948). However, all we have to do is to reflect a litde to realize that Miracle in Milan (1952) has enjoyed critical but not popular success and that Umberto D. (1952) hasn’t enjoyed any success at all. The conditions under which the latter film was released in Paris, moreover, amounted to a guarantee of failure. The festival prize lists are also quite significant in this regard. The year Umberto D. was shown in Cannes (at a matinee screening), the jury preferred to honor Cops and Robbers (1951; dir. Mario Monicelli). In 195 3, the jury underlined the Hollywood-style immorality of De Sica’s Stazione Termini (a.k.a. Indiscretion or Indiscretion o f an American Wife, 1953) by deciding to ignore it; this year again, the audience and the jury have coldly received Gold o f Naples (1954), and De Sica wasn’t even awarded a tiny tin palm. In the end the film is going to be released in Paris only at the cost of cutting two of its six original episodes, including the best one, or at least the most sig nificant. In the meantime, however, De Sica’s popularity as an actor con tinues to grow thanks to films like Bread, Love, and Jealousy (1954; dir. Luigi Comencini).1
