What is it about?
As part of his drive to recruit European acting and directing talent after the war, Selznick attempted to sign the Italian director Vittorio De Sica to a seven year, seven picture contract in 1947. During the negotiations, he found out about a project entitled The Bicycle Thieves, and attempted to have De Sica direct, with his financial backing, a second version in English, starring Cary Grant, Bing Crosby or William Powell. Those negotiations, the motivation behind them, and the outcome are the themes of this article, as well as a later attempt by De Sica in 1949 to sell Selznick on his idea for a picture starring Jennifer Jones.
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Why is it important?
These events, years before the "Hollywood on the Tiber" period, mark the beginning of the era of Euro-American co-productions, and shed an interesting light on Selznick's business and artistic motivations and sensibilities.
Perspectives
This article, which drew heavily on the Selznick papers (mainly letters and telegrams) available in the Harry Ransom Center at Texas-Arlington, gives a fascinating inside view of the Selznick operation, and shows a Selznick struggling to understand and take advantage of De Sica's talent.
Steve Eaton
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: To Catch a Bicycle Thief: David O. Selznick’s Failed Attempt to Co-Opt the Neorealist Classic, The Italianist, May 2019, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/02614340.2019.1591694.
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