Vittorio De Sica grew up in Naples, and started out as an office clerk in order to raise money to support his poor family. He was increasingly drawn towards acting, and made his screen debut while still in his teens, joining a stage company in 1923. By the late 1920s he was a successful matinee idol of the Italian theatre, and repeated that achievement in Italian films, mostly light comedies. He turned to directing in 1940, making comedies in a similar vein, but with his fifth film 'The Children Are Watching Us' (1942), he revealed hitherto unsuspected depths and an extraordinarily sensitive t... Read More