Francesca Bertini

1900

The epic tale of a class struggle in twentieth century Italy, as seen through the eyes of two childhood friends on opposing sides.

Salomé

Based on Oscar Wilde's version of the story, what is noteworthy is the sheer luxury of the production, an attempt to capture the wild and weird Aubrey Beardsley illustrations that transfigure the work. The sets are elaborate, with stonework and palm trees and draperies. There seem to be dozens of dress extras, courtiers at Salome's dance and soldiers.

La Femme d'une nuit

A lieutenant of the French navy, ready to kill himself in despair, renounces his project after spending a night with a beautiful stranger, the Princess of Lystrie.

Beatrice

It tells the story of Dante Alighieri's love to Beatrice Portinari, loosely based on Dante's poetry.

La Possession

La Possession is a 1929 French film directed by Léonce Perret.

Diva Dolorosa

In this mesmerizing collage of silent Italian melodrama, found-footage filmmaker Peter Delpeut (Lyrical Nitrate) affectionately captures the spirit of the World War One-era cinema diva. In all-but-lost gems such as La donna nuda (1914), and Tigre reale (1916), superstars such as Lyda Borelli and Pina Menichelli portrayed heroines teetering dangerously between defiant indulgence in sexual passion and hysterical remorse at their own cruelties. Delpeut’s inventive celebration of Black Romanticism is both striking and heartbreaking in its composition—a beautifully woven narrative of tempted fate and self-torment, elegantly guided by Loek Dikker’s original score. Zeitgeist Films is proud to present Delpeut’s stunningly experimental work in all its heaving bosomed, luridly tinted glory.

Il Trovatore

A film based on the drama of the same name by Antonio Gutiérrez, which formed the basis for Giuseppe Verdi's famous opera Il Trovatore. Count di Luna gives his sons identical medallions so that they can always find each other. Separated by fate for many years, they meet again when they both seek the hand of the same girl.

Assunta Spina

Assunta and Michele are in love, but others come between them and jealousy arises. Assunta Spina stands out as an early landmark of naturalistic acting and a blueprint for the Italian Neorealist films to come.

A sud niente di nuovo

Cabiria

Young Cabiria is kidnapped by pirates and sold as a slave in Carthage. Just as she's to be sacrificed to Moloch, Cabiria is rescued by Fulvius Axilla, a good-hearted Roman spy, and his powerful slave, Maciste. The trio are broken up as Cabiria is entrusted to a woman of noble birth. With Cabiria's fate unknown, Maciste punished for his heroism, and Fulvius sent away to fight for Rome, is there any hope of our heroes reuniting?

The Lady of the Camellias

La Signora delle Camelie chronicles the tragic love story of courtesan Marguerite Gautier and provincial bourgeois Armand Duval. Armand’s father disapproves of the relationship and convinces Marguerite to leave Armand, making him believe that she has left him for another man.

King Lear

Hand-tinted Italian verison of the Shakespeare Classic King Lear.

Romeo e Giulietta

The 1912 Italian version of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet.

The Merchant of Venice

With a friend desperate for money, a merchant takes out a loan from a ruthless money-lender. Confident that his ships will soon be bringing him great wealth, the merchant willingly agrees to conditions of the loan that put him at great personal risk.

The Clemenceau Affair

The Clemenceau Affair (Italian: Il processo Clémenceau) is a 1917 silent Italian adventure film directed by Alfredo De Antoni. The film features the first onscreen performance from Vittorio De Sica.

Blue Blood

The Princess of Monte Cabello is divorced and is granted custody of her beloved daughter. Her ex-husband's mistress hires private detectives who take seemingly incriminating photographs of the Princess with the actor Jacques Wilson. The Princess is devastated when these cause her daughter to be taken from her, and the Princess then falls into the clutches of Wilson. In order to pay his gambling debts, Wilson forces her to humiliate herself by appearing in a play. The Princess sends a note to the Prince of Monte Cabello saying that after the first performance she will not compromise his name again.

Fedora

An Italian melodrama. Only the final reel survives.

The Masked Amazon

Silent adventure film in which a horse riding woman has to save her husband from prison in a enemy country.

La Ferita

Raymonde (Bertini) has had a passionate affair with Giacomo (Giorgio Bonaiti) and has a son with him. Life has taken a different turn, however, and Giacomo has married Elena (Mary Fleuron).

Una ragazza di Praga

A woman from Czechoslovakia escapes her homeland after the occupation by the armies of Warsaw pact to Italy to tell the tale...

Mariute

The actress Francesca Bertini, as every diva worthy of her name, always arrives on the set extremely late. One day, in the studio, she happened to hear a colleague actor who, back from the front, tells about the brutalities suffered by the civilians in the occupied territories. At night, still troubled by that story, Bertini falls asleep and dreams: in her dream she plays the role of Mariute, a young Friulian countrywoman, mother of three kids waiting for her husband homecoming from the frontline. One day, while she is going to the well for water, she is assaulted and molested by three enemy soldiers. Her father-in-law will avenge her. In the meantime Bertini, waking up with a start, will arrive to work on time and she will end the film inviting the public to put their savings into the war bonds.

Shattered Idol

"Idolo infranto is a fantastic way to appreciate Francesca Bertini in the mood for cruelty. From a tender shepherdess who inspires sublimely artistic acts, she becomes a vampire who drains souls and bank accounts with equal efficiency." - Andrea Meneghelli

Pierrot the Prodigal

A example of female fantasy is L'Histoire d'un Pierrot (1913), based on a musical pantomime by Mario Costa with Francesca Bertini in the role of Pierrot and Leda Gys as Louisette. The young and naive Pierrot is led astray by the evil wine merchant Pochinet (Emilio Ghione). He hopes to distract Pierrot with drinking and gambling while he tries to seduce Louisette.

You Belong to Me

The frenetic pace of the edit was intended to match the action, based on Article 635 of the French criminal code stipulating that after 20 years on the run, a penal colony escapee can regain his freedom if he evades capture by the police.