The Sardinian Tambourine

Short costume picture on the infamous Roman Emperor.

Grand Duchy of Wallenstein. Elsa Holbein is the young beautiful daughter of General Julius, the Chief of the General Staff. After a spy named Moise Sthar steals military documents, Julius is accused of betrayal. He kills himself while Elsa is forced to leave. Homeless, she begins wandering the streets until, on the Riviera, she starts her performing career under the pseudonym of Diana Cadouleur and becomes a successful actress and singer. One day, in a small church, she meets an elegant young man and she falls in love with him. But during a tour on the Lucarno Lake she runs into Sthar who, rejected by Elena, spreads rumors about Prince Massimiliano’s behavior.

Claudio is married to Cesarina, a frivolous and unfaithful woman. After the death of their only son their marriage is cold. While his wife lives her free life, Claudio is dedicated to the development of sophisticated weapons, elaborating the project of a new cannon; but smitten by the virtuous Jew Rebecca he can not surrender to his feelings because his religion prevents him from getting a divorce.

Thibault de Croucy campaigns against the Jews, in the circle of rue Royale, before learning that he is the son of one of them: the prominent banker Gotlieb had been his mother's lover — an adaptation of an Henri Bernstein play first presented in Paris in 1908. The legendary French director André Antoine, working in Italy after the war, struggles to import his usual style, remaining close to the Italian melodramas of the 1910s. Taking a more incisive path than Bernstein, he frontally accuses the Catholic Church of being responsible for antisemitism. Not received well by Italian critics, the film's release is short-lived. A unique element was found by Philippe Esnault in the collections of the Cineteca Nazionale in Rome in 1973 and served as the basis for a 2005 restoration.

Young aviatrix Lyda spurns the advances of the Prince of Sèvre and falls in love with journalist Mario, who, although engaged to Cesarina, goes to Lyda's home. Cesarina sees them and manages to persuade Mario to leave Lyda.