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THE
TOP 5
PROJECT

WEEK NO. 44
Main Page (including links to all past Top 5 weeks)

THE TOP 5 ITALIAN NEOREALIST FILMS:

view full results       see how points are awarded
Rank Film Points L #1
#1 Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio de Sica, 1948) 39 12 3
#2 Umberto D. (Vittorio de Sica, 1952) 31 10 3
#3 Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945) 28 10 1
#4 La Strada (Federico Fellini, 1954) 22 7 2
#5 La Terra Trema (Luchino Visconti, 1948) 20 7 -
L=How many lists each film appears on             #1=How many number one votes each film recieves

Overall this was a pretty quiet week here at the Top 5 Project, with just 14 participants, but I believe this is also a first in Top 5 Project history, where the final top 5 actually match my own picks. The order may be a bit off, but it was the same five films. And not surprisingly at all, it was Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves that took home the gold (to use a blatant Olympic metaphor - I am completely obsessed with them right now, sorry) with a total of 39 points. Second place? De Sica again, this time with Umberto D., garnering 31 points.

The rest of the top 5 was rounded out by Rosellini's Rome, Open City with 28 points, Fellini's La Strada with 22 points and Visconti's La Terra Trema with 20. Just missing out was Rossellini's Germany Year Zero. No other film (with such a narrow category this week, only 20 films received votes) came even close to breaking into the top 5.

Individual lists:

Albert H. Muth
Auteurophile

  1. Ladri di biciclette (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)

    (spaced accordingly)

  2. Roma, citta aperta (Roberto Rossellini, 1945)

  3. Umberto D (Vittorio De Sica, 1952)

  4. La Strada (Federico Fellini, 1954)

  5. La terra trema (Luchino Visconti, 1948)



David Sterritt
Chairman, National Society of Film Critics

  1. Germania, anno zero (Roberto Rossellini, 1948)

  2. La terra trema (Luchino Visconti, 1948)

  3. Viaggio in Italia (Roberto Rossellii, 1954)

  4. Francesco, giullare di Dio (Roberto Rossellini, 1950)

  5. Il Grido (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1957)



Jeffrey M. Anderson
Film Critic, Cinematical.com, Las Vegas Weekly,
San Jose Metro, Combustible Celluloid.com

  1. La Strada (Federico Fellini, 1954)

  2. La Terra Trema (Luchino Visconti, 1948)

  3. Germany Year Zero (Roberto Rossellini, 1948)

  4. Umberto D (Vittorio De Sica, 1952)

  5. Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)

With a special honorable mention to Martin Scorsese's loving My Voyage in Italy (1999) for its generous selection of clips from this period.


Michael Parent
Film Student

  1. Umberto D (Vittorio De Sica, 1952)

  2. La Strada (Federico Fellini, 1954)

  3. L'Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960)

  4. The Bicycle Thief (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)

  5. Rome Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945)



Matt Severson
Film Enthusiast
& Photograph Department Supervisor, Margaret Herrick Library

  1. Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945)

  2. Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)

  3. La Terra Trema (Luchino Visconti, 1948)

  4. Paisan (Roberto Rossellini, 1946)

  5. Ossessione (Luchino Visconti, 1943)



Jesse Richards
Filmmaker

  1. Umberto D. (Vittorio De Sica, 1952)

  2. Germany Year Zero (Roberto Rossellini, 1948)

  3. Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)

  4. Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945)

  5. Ossessione (Luchino Visconti, 1943)



Mathew Viola
Film Enthusiast

  1. I Vitelloni (Federico Fellini, 1954)

  2. La Terra Trema (Luchino Visconti, 1948)

  3. Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945)

  4. Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)

  5. Umberto D. (Vittorio De Sica, 1952) – Sorry, but using a cute little mutt to sentimentalize Umberto’s plight is a bit much, is it not? Far from “realism”, this is pure emotional manipulation of the most blatant kind, which explains why this would-be tearjerker doesn’t leave me in the least bit misty. The film’s pretense to realism is further betrayed by its use of a gooey music score. I mean, do we walk around in our mundane daily lives with syrupy music playing?



Vasili Mamulashvili
Geographer & Film Enthusiast from Tbilsi, Geaorgia

  1. Mamma Roma (Pier Paolo Pasollini, 1962)

  2. Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)

  3. Accattone (Pier Paolo Pasollini, 1961)

  4. La Strada (Federico Felini, 1954)

  5. Ciociara (Vittorio De Sica, 1960)



Dennis Schwartz
Film Critic Ozu's World Movie Reviews

  1. Umberto D. (Vittorio De Sica, 1952)

  2. The Red Desert (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1964)

  3. Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)

  4. Rocco and his Brothers (Luchino Visconti, 1960)

  5. Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945)



Ben Dalton
Film Student & Enthusiast

Attempting to give a concept as abstract as a movement a definite start and end date is obviously tricky, but for all intents and purposes I think we can say that Italian Neorealism as such lasted from 1945 to 1952, though there are works that came before and after that bear many of the hallmarks. That being said, and admitting to never having seen Shoeshine (1946), La Terra Trema (1948), Stromboli (1950) nor Miracle In Milan (1951):

  1. Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)

  2. Umberto D. (Vittorio De Sica, 1952)

  3. Paisan (Roberto Rossellini, 1946)

  4. Germany Year Zero (Roberto Rossellini, 1948)

  5. Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945)



Steven Reed
Film Enthusiast

  1. La Strada (Federico Fellini, 1954)

  2. Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)

  3. Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945)

  4. Umberto D. (Vittorio De Sica, 1952)

  5. La Terra Trema (Luchino Visconti, 1948)



Jesse Walker
Film Enthusiast and Managing Editor, Reason Magazine

  1. Stromboli (Roberto Rossellini, 1949)

  2. Miracle in Milan (Vittorio De Sica, 1951)

  3. Germany, Year Zero (Roberto Rossellini, 1948)

  4. La Strada (Federico Fellini, 1954)

  5. Ossessione (Luchino Visconti, 1943)



Matthew Griffiths
Film Enthusiast

  1. Accattone (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1968)

  2. Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945)

  3. Umberto D. (Vittorio De Sica, 1952)

  4. Paisan (Roberto Rossellini, 1946)

  5. The Bicycle Thief (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)



Kevyn Knox
Film Critic, Essayist + Historian

  1. Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)

  2. Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945)

  3. La Terra Trema (Luchino Visconti, 1948)

  4. La Strada (Federico Fellini, 1954)

  5. Umberto D. (Vittorio De Sica, 1952)


*points are given as follows: for numbered lists, first place recieves 5 points, second place recieves 4, third place 3, fourth place 2 and fifth place gets 1 point; for unumbered lists, each film will recieve 3 points; total points are then tallied up and a comprehensive Top 5 list is created


The Next Topic is:
Name The Top 5
Final Films by a Director

e-mail me at kevynknox@thecinematheque.com with your picks for week #45,
no later than 6pm on Sunday, August 17, 2008.

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