Book excerpt: This book offers a concise introduction to realist film theory and shows how this theory can be engaged to interpret Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves. Through three key concepts-Hollywood and realism, early realist theories and their influence, and realism and its relationship to melodrama-the book lays bare the debates and approaches within the vibrant history of realist film theory. In this way, the book provides a point of entry to realist film theory from its inception to today as well as a new way to conceive of realism. The discussion of Bicycle Thieves brings the concepts of realist film theory into practice through an interpretation of the film and demonstrates to students how detailed filmic analysis of film history, film theory, and close textual analysis of the film itself can yield a deeper understanding of all three, as well as being able to produce innovative ways to move forward with film theory.