The Phantom Gondola | |
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Directed by | Augusto Genina |
Written by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | |
Edited by | Fernando Tropea |
Music by | |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Grandi Film (Italy) |
Release date |
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Running time | 85 minutes |
Countries |
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Language | Italian |
The Phantom Gondola (Italian: La gondola delle chimere) is a 1936 French-Italian drama film directed by Augusto Genina and starring Marcelle Chantal, Henri Rollan and Paul Bernard. [1] The film was a co-production between the two countries shot at the Cines Studios in Rome and based on a 1926 novel by Maurice Dekobra.
A British aristocrat falls in love with a Venetian Count, without realising that he is a spy against the Turks. When she discovers that he has been captured by the notorious Sélim Pacha she does everything she can to save him.
Writing for The Spectator in 1936, Graham Greene gave the film a poor review, characterizing it as "a cheap, trivial and pretentious story by a popular writer of rather low reputation." While acknowledging that "it is one of the only two films this last year I have found myself unable to endure till the end," and that he had not therefore completed the entire film, Greene explained his action "for never has a melodrama proceeded so slowly, with such a saga-like tread". [2]
Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux was a French journalist and author of detective fiction.
Serge Reggiani was an Italian-French actor and singer. He was born in Reggio Emilia, Italy and moved to France with his parents at the age of eight.
Marie Glory was a French actress.
Augusto Genina was an Italian film pioneer. He was a movie producer and director.
Claude Dauphin was a French actor. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1930 and 1978, including Barbarella, The Quiet American, and a voice role in The Tale of the Fox, considered to be one of the earliest stop-motion animated films.
Henri Rollan was a French film actor. He appeared in more than 40 films between 1910 and 1962.
Anchise Brizzi was an Italian cinematographer.
Marcelle Chantal (1901–1960) was a French stage and film actress. Chantal appeared in a number of leading roles in films such as Maurice Tourneur's In the Name of the Law (1932). Early in her career she married British banker Jefferson Davis Cohn and was billed as Marcelle Jefferson-Cohn.
Darling Caroline is a 1951 French historical comedy film in black and white, directed by Richard Pottier and starring Martine Carol, Jacques Dacqmine, and Marie Déa. It is based on Jacques Laurent's historical novel "The loves of Caroline Cherie: A novel". It was remade as Darling Caroline in 1968.
Gisèle Casadesus was a French actress, who appeared in numerous theatre and film productions. She was an honorary member of the Sociétaires of the Comédie-Française, Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor, Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and Grand-Croix of the National Order of Merit. In a career spanning more than 80 years, Casadesus appeared in more than a dozen films after turning 90.
Carlo Lombardi was an Italian stage and film actor. Later in his career he often worked in television. He appeared in a number of films during the Fascist era, including a leading role in the historical epic Scipio Africanus (1937).
Crime and Punishment is a 1935 French crime drama film directed by Pierre Chenal and produced by Michel Kagansky starring Harry Baur, Pierre Blanchar and Madeleine Ozeray. It is an adaptation of the 1866 novel of the same name by Fyodor Dostoevsky. The same year a separate American film adaptation was made featuring Peter Lorre.
Madonna of the Sleeping Cars is a 1955 French drama film directed by Henri Diamant-Berger and starring Giselle Pascal, Jean Gaven and Erich von Stroheim. The film is an adaptation of the 1925 novel of the same title by Maurice Dekobra, though the plot has been changed somewhat, and the action brought into the 1950s and set in Latin America rather than the Black Sea coast of the USSR.
Madonna of the Sleeping Cars is a 1928 French silent film directed by Marco de Gastyne and Maurice Gleize and starring Claude France, Olaf Fjord and Maurice Dekobra. It is an adaptation of Maurice Dekobra's 1925 novel of the same title, which was later turned into a 1955 sound film.
The Queen's Necklace is a 1929 synchronzied sound French historical drama film directed by Tony Lekain and Gaston Ravel and starring Marcelle Chantal, Georges Lannes and Diana Karenne. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects. The film is an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas's novel The Queen's Necklace which portrays the Affair of the Diamond Necklace which occurred before the French Revolution. The film's art direction was by Lucien Carré. The film was made and distributed by Gaumont. In Germany it was released by the major studio UFA.
Paul Bernard was a French actor. He appeared in thirty-five films, including A Friend Will Come Tonight (1946).
Nitchevo is a 1936 French drama film directed by Jacques de Baroncelli and starring Harry Baur, Marcelle Chantal and George Rigaud. It is a remake of the 1926 silent film of the same name.
Change of Heart is a 1928 French silent film directed by Marco de Gastyne and starring Philippe Hériat, Annette Benson and Olaf Fjord. It is based on the novel Mon coeur au ralenti by the French writer Maurice Dekobra.
Anne-Marie is a 1936 French drama film directed by Raymond Bernard and starring Annabella, Pierre Richard-Willm and Paul Azaïs. If features Annabella as an aspiring young pilot. It was shot at the Saint-Maurice Studios in Paris. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Jean d'Eaubonne and Jean Perrier.
The Dark Angels is a 1937 French crime drama film directed by Willy Rozier and starring Suzy Prim, Paul Bernard and Henri Rollan. It was adapted from the 1936 novel of the same title by François Mauriac.