Amleto Palermi

Based on a play by Luigi Capuana, the black-and-white movie revolves around a comical matchmaker.

Carmine Gallone and Amleto Palermi’s The Last Days of Pompeii 1926 stages in sumptuous colour tinting the epic fall of the ancient city buried by Mount Vesuvius’ eruption. Adapted from Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s love story, the film was innovative in its special effects and an early major box-office hit. A beautiful tinted restoration print was prepared using photochemical processes by Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia-Cineteca Nazionale in the mid-1990s and the premiere screening of the restoration print was held in the amphitheatre in Pompeii, followed by a screening at the major restoration festival ‘Il Cinema Ritrovato’ in Bologna in 1998.

Gianni is a poor, young newspaper salesman in Rome. However, during his vacations he poses as Count Max Varaldo, an aristocrat. Once, on a cruise in Naples, he meets Donna Paola, a wealthy snob, and her shy maid Lauretta. After trying to establish a relationship with Donna Paola, Gianni, disappointed, decides to drop his alter ego Max and propose to Lauretta. However, she now believes that he is a Count, which leads to a series of comic misunderstandings.

Alberto, a newspaper man, tries a one-time shot of living the good life with the help of his penniless mentor.

A silent precursor to the Indiana Jones adventures. Sydney played a double role as an American billionaire who has robbed a precious jewel from an Eastern temple and as a penniless painter who substitutes the other, not knowing that the Khama devotees are plotting a merciless revenge. Two kind souls, however, are watching over the menaced painter and help him out of many dangers; one is his girlfriend (Dolly Morgan).