In Class Movie - Bicycle Thieves

Written, produced and directed by Vittorio De Sica, The Bicycle Thief takes us on a real journey of Lamberto Maggiorani who plays Antonio Ricci striving to put food on the table and be a good role model for his young son Bruno, played by Enzo Staiola. Of what we have seen so far in class, Antonio's struggles are very relevant even today, families looking for work so they can survive. To make matters worse, his only means of getting to work is stolen in the first third of the movie, and without it, Antonio doesn't work. His mission becomes to find the thief and bring him to justice, all while keeping his family fed and keeping his job.

Using very real and desolate actors (both father and son were first time actors), the director puts us into the situation of his main character in a very real way. Around where we left off, Antonio is justifying if only to himself to steal a bike in order to keep his job, all while in front of his child.

Homework Film - To Be or Not To Be

To Be or Not to Be took a long time for me to find in my area. After striking out in the local libraries and not wanting to check in the local Blockbusters and Hollywood videos, I checked with a less conventional store to buy the movie. Well worth the trip to Berkeley, Ernst Lubitsch's directing on this movie was amazing. Carole Lombard who is more known for her dramatic roles, was really funny in this picture, especially when she was "innocently" misunderstood by the pilot to be in love with him. Jack Benny played a wonderfully arrogant theater actor who is suspicious of his wife of cheating on him. All throughout I was thinking that this movie reminded me of Inglourious Basterds for it's themed ideas, although done in vary different ways.

In Class Movie - Lady From Shanghi

When we watched The Lady from Shanghai in class, I was really excited to see a movie with Orson Welles that most people my age haven't seen. I own Citizen Cane and The Third Man on DVD, so when Orson Wells had his accent in the movie, that was all that I could see or hear. One scene I remember was when Wells' costar Rita Hayworth was swimming in the ocean, she came out of the water with perfectly coifed hair. I can't imagine how that would happen. In any case, this movie was written, produced, directed and even stared in by Orson Wells.

Homework Film - Double Indemnity

Written and Directed by Billy Wilder, this 1944 drama stars Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson. I watched it one evening while finishing up other homework. The story was really entertaining and I remember thinking that it reminded me of a more recent movie, but couldn't remember that title. There was a line from Edward G. Robinson's character, Mr. Keyes, that struck me as odd. He leans over Mr. Neff (Fred) and says, "You know why you couldn't figure this one out. Because the guy you were looking for was too close. Right across the desk from you." Keyes responds, "Closer than that," suggesting that Keyes was in on the plot the whole time.

In-Class Movie - Sullivan's Travels

Sullivan's Travels was written and directed by Preston Sturges in 1941. The movie stared Joel McCrea as the title character, and the lovely Veronica Lake as The Girl. As the story unfolds, we see that Sullivan is a big time Hollywood movie director that wants to make a movie about living the life of a hobo, to which his producers tell him he knows nothing about being a hobo. He tells them that he will go out and live that way and then come back a report on it. They agree and then he's on his way. But much to his surprise, they follow him for the first leg of his travels. It doesn't work and Sullivan finds a ride from a young boy to prove a point. I thought it was rather funny to see the "Land yacht" going through the field and wreaking havoc in the passengers inside (including the cook going through the roof for a moment). He explains to his producers that he'll give them Hell if they follow him more and they agree to not follow him further. He's made his point and we see him attempting to make his own way. He finds Veronica Lake's character in a diner where she buys him ham and eggs and he gives her a ride home. She pleads with him to take her with him on his search for trouble. They continue their travels and get into many different catastrophes that are easily solved.

The movie is a great fish out of water story. Sullivan tries to go somewhere he knows nothing about in the beginning and finds out more about human nature than he would have imagined. I noticed that when there were large crowds the dialogue was replaced with montages. It was and still is a good way of transitioning many scenes together at a time. Like when "Sully" and the Girl are in the soup kitchen. It takes up a few moments of time in the movie but it is shown to have been days in the film. I urge anyone who enjoys films to see this movie more than once. For more info, check IMDb.com.