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Francesca Bertini was an Italian silent film actress. She was one of the most successful silent film stars in the first quarter of the twentieth-century.
Emilio Luigi Carlo Giuseppe Maria Ghione, known as Emilio Ghione, was an Italian silent film actor, director and screenwriter. Ghione was best known for writing, directing, and starring in the Za La Mort series of adventure films, in which Ghione played a likeable French Apache and 'honest outlaw'. Ghione directed, wrote, and acted in every genre of film, and directed some of the most famous stars of the time, including Francesca Bertini, Lina Cavalieri, Alberto Collo, and Hesperia. After his final film role in 1926, Ghione briefly performed on a theatrical tour of Italy. Ghione wrote three novels based around his Za La Mort character, an autobiography, and an essay on Italian Silent Cinema, before his death from tuberculosis in 1930.
Giuseppa Iolanda Menichelli, known professionally as Pina Menichelli, was an Italian actress. After a career in theatre and a series of small film roles, Menichelli was launched as a film star when Giovanni Pastrone gave her the lead role in The Fire (1916). Over the next nine years, Menichelli made a series of films, often trading on her image as a diva and on her passionate, decadent eroticism. Menichelli became a global star, and one of the most appreciated actresses in Italian cinema, before her retirement in 1924, aged 34.
The Table of the Poor is a 1932 Italian drama film directed by Alessandro Blasetti and starring Raffaele Viviani, Leda Gloria and Salvatore Costa. It was based on a play by Viviani set in Naples. It was shot at the Cines Studios in Rome. The film's sets were designed by Gastone Medin. It portrays the adventures of an impoverished Marquis who continues to lead a grand lifestyle.
The Opium Den is a 1947 Italian crime film directed by Raffaello Matarazzo and starring Emilio Ghione Jr., Mariella Lotti, and Emilio Cigoli. It was an unsuccessful attempt to revive the Za La Mort character, who had been a popular figure during the silent era. Ghione jr. was the son of the actor Emilio Ghione who had originally played the role.
Za La Mort is a fictional character who featured in a number of Italian films. Along with characters such as Maciste and Saetta, he was a pulp hero of the silent era. Ze La Mort was noted as a gentleman thief with an essentially honourable heart who often tackles those more villainous than himself. The character resembles other well-meaning criminals, particularly Arsène Lupin and Raffles.
Giuseppe Barattolo (1882–1949) was an Italian lawyer, politician and film producer. In 1913, during the silent era, Barattolo founded Caesar Film. Caesar made a series of popular films, some of which starred Francesca Bertini. In 1919 he joined and became an influential figure at the conglomerate Unione Cinematografica Italiana which dominated Italian film production during the early 1920s, but this came to an end following the box office failure of Quo Vadis (1924). In the early 1930s he tried to re-establish Caesar Film as a serious force in Italian production, but this also failed.
Ivo Illuminati was an Italian film director, actor and screenwriter and a pioneer of the Italian silent movie.
Giselda Lombardi, better known by her screen name Leda Gys, was an Italian film actress of the silent era. The poet Carlo Alberto Salustri gave the aspiring actress her new name and introduced her to the film business in 1913. Her breakthrough role came in the epic Christus, which was shot in Palestine and Egypt. She then married the producer Gustavo Lombardo and worked for his Naples-based Lombardo Films, generally appearing in comedies that were often directed by Eugenio Perego.
Blue Blood is a 1914 Italian silent drama film directed by Nino Oxilia and starring Francesca Bertini, Amedeo Ciaffi and Anna Cipriani.
Odette is a 1916 Italian silent drama film based upon the play by Victorien Sardou, directed by Giuseppe de Liguoro, and starring Francesca Bertini, Alfredo De Antoni, and Carlo Benetti. It was remade in 1928 and 1935, with both versions starring Bertini.
King Lear is a 1910 Italian silent historical drama film directed by Gerolamo Lo Savio and starring Ermete Novelli, Francesca Bertini and Olga Giannini Novelli. It is an adaptation of William Shakespeare's King Lear.
The Lady of the Camellias is a 1915 Italian historical drama film directed by Gustavo Serena and starring Francesca Bertini. It is an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas, fils' novel The Lady of the Camellias.
Mariute is a 1918 Italian silent drama film directed by Edoardo Bencivenga and starring Francesca Bertini.
The Fiery Cavalcade is a 1925 Italian silent film directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Emilio Ghione.
Broken Idol is a 1913 Italian silent film directed by Emilio Ghione and starring Francesca Bertini, Angelo Gallina and Alberto Collo.
Caesar Film was an Italian film production and distribution company founded in 1913. The studio's owner Giuseppe Barattolo built it into one of the more successful silent film companies of the 1910s, thanks partly to signing up the diva Francesca Bertini to make a series of films.
Gustavo Lombardo (1885–1951) was an Italian film producer. He founded the Naples-based production company Lombardo Film in 1917, having previously made his reputation in film distribution. He was married to the actress Leda Gys who starred in his company's films He later moved his operations to Rome, setting up Titanus which he ran until his death in 1951. He was succeeded by his son Goffredo Lombardo.
Latest Night News is a 1924 Italian silent action film directed by Emilio Ghione and starring Ghione and Kally Sambucini. It is part of the long-running series featuring the gentleman thief Za La Mort, who in this film takes on the role of an investigative journalist.
Kally Sambucini (1892–1969) was an Italian film actress, known for playing the female sidekick Za La Vie in the Za La Mort series of action films alongside Emilio Ghione.
References
- ↑ Moliterno p.33
