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A special event of
the 38th New York
Film Festival
presented by the
Film Society of
Lincoln Center
and the Cineteca del
Comune di Bologna
Sponsored by
La Perla
with special thanks to the
Italian Cultural Institute
This program was curated
by Angela Dalle Vacche
and Gian Luca Farinelli.
Dr. Dalle Vacche, Associate Professor of Film Studies at
Emory University, Gian Piero Brunetta, Professor of Film History and
Criticism at the University of Padua, and William Weaver, Professor of
Literature at Bard College, are the principal
contributors to Passion and
Defiance: Silent Divas of Italian
Cinema, a scholarly study
made possible by La Perla
and published by Edizioni Olivares. This important
book is on sale in the Walter Reade Theater and Alice
Tully Hall during the 38th
New York Film Fesival.
An article by Angela Della Vacche on Italian divas Francesca Bertini,
Lyda Borelli and Pina Menichelli appears in the Sept/Oct issue of FILM
COMMENT.
Our silent films are accompanied by the following artists:
Guido Sodo and Fran?ois Laurent have been working together for some
years on a project which reproposes Neapolitan music and songs from the
13th century on in a classical-contemporaneous key, work which has been
presented in concert in Italy and abroad.The duo was asked by the
Cineteca di Bologna to accompany the Neapolitan silent films live
(including Assunta Spina) when they were presented at MoMA in New York,
at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, in Haifa, at the Festival in Bologna
and at other Italian and foreign film archives.
Curtis Salke has enjoyed a relationship with the Film Society that spans
over 23 years, accompaning everything from 10-hour marathons over two
days for the New York Film Festival to M?li?s shorts. In addition, he
regularly performs for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's film program.
Other credits include: American Museum of the Moving Image, Brooklyn
Museum, Jewish Museum, New York Historical Society, New York Public
Library, Film at the Public Theatre, and the Whitney Museum, as well as
recorded soundtracks.
Donald Sosin's career as a silent film composer spans 30 years. This
year he appeared at AMMI, MoMA, Bologna's Cinema Ritrovato, and the
Telluride Film Festival. In October he will be in Sacile for the fifth
time,and will do a series at BAM each month. He also writes for the
media.
ASSUNTA SPINA
Gustavo Serena, 1915; 73m
Assunta Spina (Francesca Bertini) is a beautiful young laundress engaged
to marry Michele. One sunny holiday, the couple attends a banquet where
Assunta innocently dances with another man. Mad with jealousy, Michele
kills the rival and is arrested. To save him from almost certain
execution, Assunta gives herself to a lawyer in return for an expert
defense. When her lover is unexpectly freed from jail, he discovers her
"perfidy" and takes revenge, scarring her terribly. (Based on a 1906
play by Salvatore Di Giacomo.)
and
VEDI NAPULE E PO' MORI
Eugenio Perego, 1924; 54m
An American director comes to Italy to shoot a film about the beautiful
city of Naples, casting Pupatella (Leda Gys), a native of Santa Lucia,
the sailors? neighborhood, in the movie. Eager to become a film star,
Pupatella returns to America with Billy, but their relationship is
destroyed by a misunderstanding. Eventually, the couple meet again in
Naples, to fall in love all over again.
Sun Sept 24: 3 (Sodo and Laurent)
Tues Sept 26: 6 (Donald Sosin)
Wed Sept 27: 8:30 (Donald Sosin)
RAPSODIA SATANICA / SATANIC RHAPSODY
Nino Oxilia, 1917; 55m
Aging aristocrat Alba D?Oltrevita (Lyda Borelli) makes a bargain with
the devil: in exchange for eternal youth, she promises never to fall in
love again. Later, wooed by two brothers?Tristano and Sergio?Alba drives
them both wild with a Salome-like erotic dance. When she chooses
Tristano?s embrace, Sergio is so shattered he commits suicide;
naturally, Satan leaps to call off their deal. Does love conquer all?
The answer lies in a fantastic sequence featuring the old Alba emerging
from her dance of veils as a human butterfly.
Sun Sept 24: 7:30 (Sodo and Laurent)
Thurs Sept 28: 8:30 (Donald Sosin)
FIGLI DI NESSUNO / NOBODY'S CHILD
Ubaldo Maria del Colle, 1921;
Part One: 100m & Part Two: 72m
This tragic saga begins with the rape of Luisa (Leda Gys), beloved of
working-class Poldo, by evil aristocrat Count Arnaldo. When a child is
born of this violent union, Arnaldo?s mother makes Gualberto disappear
and marries her son off to a noblewoman named Edvige. On her deathbed,
this monstrous mother repents, deciding to leave her fortune to little
Gualberto?but Edwige destroys the will. Years later, Luisa, now a nun,
strews rose petals on her son?s coffin?he?s sacrificed himself for some
fellow workers?and then expires in true tragic style.
Mon Sept 25: 6 (Part One); 8:30 (Part Two) (Sodo and Laurent, both
Parts)
Sun Oct 1: 3 (Part One); 5:30 (Part Two)
(Curtis Salke, Part One; Donald Sosin, Part Two)
TIGRE REALE / ROYAL TIGER
Piero Fosco, 1916; 62m
Countess Natka (Pina Menichelli), a Russian emigré, recounts her sad
life story to her lover, diplomat Giorgio La Ferlita: Back in Russia,
her madly jealous husband exiled Dolski, the revolutionary the Countess
adored, to Siberia. When Natka managed to make her way to Dolski, she
discovered he?d taken up with another woman. Stricken by guilt, the
unfaithful lover committed suicide. In the present, after a long
separation during which Giorgio has married a wealthy heiress, he and
the Countess reunite at the Grand Hotel-?where they are almost burned
alive by Natka?s still-obsessed Russian husband.
Tues Sept 26: 9:15 (Donald Sosin)
Wed Sept 27: 6 (Donald Sosin)
IL FIOR DI MALE / FLOWER OF EVIL
Carmine Gallone, 1915; 80m
As Lyda (Lyda Borelli), a corrupt prostitute, abandons her child in the
middle of nowhere, a terrible tattoo on its body imprints itself in her
memory. Subsequently, when her life changes for the better, she becomes
the surrogate daughter of an old Count whose own child has passed away.
Lyda herself adopts a young orphan, who eventually falls in love with
Davuski, a famous violinist. Lyda loves him, too, but refuses to mar the
romance between Cecilia and Davuski. One night, a burglar breaks into
the Count?s villa; during a terrible struggle, Lyda catches sight of the
tattoo she has never forgotten. As he stabs her to death, she recognizes
the son she deserted so long ago.
Thurs Sept 28: 6 (Donald Sosin)
Fri Sept 29: 8:30 (Curtis Salke)
LA STORIA DI UNA DONNA / STORY OF A LADY
Eugenio Perego, 1920; 78m
When a beautiful woman (Pina Menichelli), dying of a gunshot wound, is
taken to a hospital, her doctor discovers a diary in which he reads
about Beatrice?s tragic life. As a penniless orphan, she became the
lady-in-waiting of a rich old countess whose son Paolo seduces Beatrice.
Bereft of the baby and thrown out of the house, the hapless girl takes
up with Fabiano, a gambler. With his help, she spins a terrible web to
take revenge on Paolo and his wife. In the end, she repents, so a
furious Fabiano shoots her down. Paolo and their son comfort Beatrice on
her deathbed.
Fri Sept 29: 6 (Curtis Salke)
Sat Sept 30: 8:30 (Curtis Salke)
Mon Oct 2: 6 (Donald Sosin)
IL QUADRO DI OSVALDO MARS / THE PAINTING OF OSVALDO MARS
Guido Brignone, 1921; 90m
A countess (Mercedes Brignone) is unjustly rumored to be having an
affair with painter Osvaldo Mars, who is said to have portrayed her as
Salome in a portrait. Distraught, the countess decides to visit Mars?
studio?-for she?s never met the man. Later the artist is found dead, the
Salome portrait ripped to shreds. The police interrogate various
witnesses; every one offers a different version of what happened. The
plot is punctuated by images of a sick child and the doctor who is
trying to save her life. Suddenly, the girl awakes from her coma,
screaming "So much blood!" and announcing that she saw Mars commit
suicide. The puzzle is solved: the painter loved the model for
Salome-?who much resembled the Countess?-and died for love of the woman
for whose tomb he requested perpetual care.
Sat Sept 30: 3 (Curtis Salke)
Mon Oct 2: 8:30 (Donald Sosin)
MALOMBRA
Carmine Gallone, 1917; 87m
While living in her uncle?s caste on Lake Como, Marina di Malombra (Lyda
Borelli) discovers a terrible family secret. As she reads letters
written by her mother-?who was unjustly persecuted and driven to a lonely
death by the uncle?-Marina begins to over-identify with Cecilia?s pain
and anger. The haunted past blights the young woman?s future: the writer
she has loved grows distant and the suitors proposed by her family are
unacceptable. Eventually, Marina succumbs to the dark shadows of
madness, murdering both her lover and the uncle responsible for her
mother?s demise. (Based on an 1881 novel by Antonio Fogazzaro.)
and
CENERE
Febo Mari, 1917; 30m
Print courtesy of the George Eastman House
Now an old woman, Rosalia (Eleonora Duse) once gave birth to a child out
of wedlock. When by chance she meets her son Anania and his new wife,
she comes to realizes that she could only be an embarrassment in his
perfect, bourgeois world. Accordingly, she disappears?-Stella
Dallas-style?-to die alone in poverty. (Based on a 1904 novel by Grazia
Deledda.)
Sat Sept 30: 5:30 (Curtis Salke)
Sun Oct 1: 8 (Donald Sosin)
SANGUE BLUE / BLUE BLOOD
Nina Oxilia, 1914; 54m
After the Prince di Montvallon?s affair with the Countess Simone de La
Croix, his wife Elena (Francesca Bertini) divorces him, keeping custody
of their daughter Diana. Elena keeps herself busy by participating in
many charitable activities; during a fund-raiser she meets the famous
mime Jacques Wilson who falls madly in love with her-?though she sees him
only as a cherished friend. Having driven Wilson to the house where his
mother lies dying, the Princess is photographed by agents of the wicked
Countess Simone. The pictures are then used as evidence of Elena?s
unfitness as a mother and after Diana is returned to her father, she
succumbs to the corrupt,
vulgar Wilson, who soon has her dancing in a cafe. Deeply shamed, Elena
stabs herself in the breast while dancing "the tango of death." Luckily
the wound isn?t fatal and the straying Prince decides to reunite his
family.
and
L'INAMORATA / THE LOVER
Gennaro Righelli, 1920; 55m
Femme fatale Mara Flores (Italia Almirante Manzini) will stop at nothing
to overcome the indifference of Franco Arnaldi. After using his best
friend to make Franco jealous (the friend suicides), Mara slowly begins
to mesmerize the man she desires-?to the extent that he quits work to
drown himself in all manner of pleasure and vice. When Franco?s mother
and sister beg for the vamp?s help, Mara experiences a change in heart.
When she realizes that she can never really possess Franco, Mara kills
herself-?in one of the most spectacular suicides in cinema?-attaching
herself to the two poles of a dynamo which sends a fatal charge through
her body. Her apotheosis can be seen as an allegory of modern
technology?s power to eradicate outdated icons such as the 19th-century
femme fatale.
Tues Oct 3: 6 (Curtis Salke)
Wed Oct 4: 8:30 (Donald Sosin)
SCAMPOLO
Augusto Genina, 1928; 80m
Scampolo (Carmen Boni) is a ragtag orphan who survives by doing odd
jobs. Her only comfort in life is a little dog, as homeless as she is.
By chance, she meets a young penniless student, the soon-to-be engineer
Sacchi, who?s embroiled in an affair with an experienced femme fatale.
Scampolo becomes his maid and the two gradually fall in love. One day,
the government asks Sacchi to leave for an assignment in Africa.
Scampolo, faithful as ever, goes to the station to bid her love
farewell?-but at the last moment, Sacchi pulls her up onto the moving
train and the two head for Africa together. (Freely based on the play by
Dario Nicodemi.)
Tues Oct 3: 8:30 (Curtis Salke)
Wed Oct 4: 6 (Donald Sosin)
DER BASTARD
Gennaro Righelli, 1926; 80m
This incredible tale begins with Latin lover Sergio seducing the
innocent Maria (Maria Jacobini), daughter of a Marquis, who cannot find
it in his heart to forgive her or her illegitimate son. Nor can Giorgio,
her former suitor, returning after a long absence. Maria decides to
follow Sergio to Paris; he?s a womanizer, but the couple decide to take
a sea-cruise around the world to give themselves a chance at happiness.
Sergio can?t resist an old lover and is soon carrying on a shipboard
affair. When the ship catches on fire and begins to sink, Maria loses
her little boy. Only one place is left on the last rescue boat and
Sergio?s evil inamorata claims it. But Sergio pushes Maria on to the
boat, screaming "Take this one! She is a mother after all!". Hard to
believe, but even further melodrama ensues, after which Maria finds her
son again and is reunited with her true love Giorgio.
Thurs Oct 5: 6 (Donald Sosin)
Fri Oct 6: 8:30 (Donald Sosin)
MAMAN POUPEE / MOTHER DOLL
Carmine Gallone, 1919; 85m
A lovely little woman (Soava Gallone) earns the affectionate nickname
"Maman Poupee" from her husband because of the innocent joy with which
she constantly plays with their children. Unfortunately, her vain,
self-centered spouse?-full of political ambition-?has come under the
malign influence of a femme fatale. The confrontation between Maman
Poupee and the "other woman" comes perilously close to violence, but the
good wife stops short of murder. Sadly, her innocence and happiness
shattered, the woman once fondly called Maman Poupee is gone forever.
Thurs Oct 5: 8:30 (Donald Sosin)
Fri Oct 6: 6 (Donald Sosin)
The 38th New York Film Festival is sponsored by Grand Marnier
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