The first collaboration between trailblazing director Vittorio De Sica and screenwriter Cesare Zavattini, The Children Are Watching Us has now been minted with a Criterion Collection DVD. It’s a beautiful film, and though it’s definitely rooted in the melodrama genre, it’s also a clear precursor to the Italian neo-realist movement.

As a couple struggle with various marital problems, their sweet son looks on, alarmed. Mom is involved in a passionate affair and wants out of the marriage. Dad is devastated. In what was obviously unusual for a 1944 film, the disintegration of the relationship is seen through the child’s eyes. It’s both moving and cleverly told. Most intriguing is that De Sica wielded enough power in fascist Italy to stamp this thing with such a sad ending. As child actor Luciano De Ambrosis (who, now in his 60s, is interviewed for the disc) tells it, an alternate happy ending was filmed but De Sica refused to soften the blow. An indication of what was to come from Italy’s brilliant post-WWII film milieu. —Matthew Hays