Il polentone a Pont Canavese

Shortly before the First World War, an Italian and an Austrian mountain guides take part in a mountaineering expedition together. Not long afterwards they find themselves fighting on different sides in the same area in the Dolomites, fighting to conquer the same high pass (Col Alto). When the war is over, they meet again. Their friendship has survived the war. There are two other versions of the film. The original was shot in German the same year (Berge in Flammen). The other, shot in English the year after, was produced by the American Universal Pictures (The Doomed Battalion). Both uses scenes from the original German version.

American businesswoman Muriel falls in love with an impoverished nobleman who is too proud to reciprocate her advances. Disappointed, she then succumbs to the persistent pursuit of a fortune hunter who is only after her. The fortune hunter's girlfriend becomes jealous, and to distract her, he persuades the impoverished nobleman to court his girlfriend. This, in turn, makes Muriel jealous, and so, in the end, the right couples are finally brought together.

The Merry Farmer is based on the 1907 operetta of the same name.

Son of the Red Corsair (and nephew of the Black Corsair), departs for the Americas to search for his long-lost half-sister.

When his mother falls gravely ill after emigrating to Argentina, young Marco leaves Italy behind on a desperate quest to find her. Alone in a vast, unpredictable continent with no money and only his determination to guide him, he sets out on a seemingly impossible journey to bring his family back together. Based on the timeless 1886 classic, this epic adventure captures the extraordinary lengths a child will go to for love.

Early biopic of Dante. From the Cineteca Milano collection.

A married society woman strikes up a romance with a young musician. She introduces the man to high society. The society woman eventually decides to break off the relationship and the musician attempts to blackmail her.

Il Fiacre n. 13, from the novel of the same title by Xavier Henri Aymon Perrin, Count of Montépin, a highly prolific and much-loved author whose books were vehicles for the depiction of social inequality, narrating stories of love, death, betrayal, blackmail, and redemption. The sweeping narrative of Il Fiacre n. 13 was mutilated by the Italian censor’s suppression of its first part, the most cynical episode, which sets the scene for a scheme discernable in the other three episodes, as the story develops from a sordid murder through plotting and deceit to finally reach a happy ending.

Flower petals in the background create different shapes while actress Mary Cleo Tarlarini salutes the audience.

An adaptation of Balzac's La Grande Bretêche

Robinet, the lead in this Italian slapstick comedy, wants to be an aviator in the worst way, and this being an Italian slapstick, that's how he does it. Italian slapstick in this period was absolutely bone-breaking, so much so that it makes Keystone slapstick look like drawing-room comedy by contrast.

The leader of a band of mountain bandits defending Naples against the French plays a dual role as a police official. Our romantic hero pivots as well between two women, the sister of a royalist and a lady spy.

Two of Germany's best and busiest directors collaborated on Berge in Flammen (Mountain in Flames). The storyline should be of interest to pro-ecologists, inasmuch as the directors take to task the warmongers of the world for despoiling the natural beauties of the European mountain ranges with their shell-fire. The final outrage occurs during a battle between the Austrians and the Italians in the Dolomites, culminating with the destruction of an entire mountain (hence the film's title). The harrowing images on screen were complemented perfectly by the musical score of Giuseppe Beece. Also known as The Doomed Batallion, Berge in Flammen was filmed in three different languages -- German, English, French -- for a total cost of $150,000.

A young bourgeois who launders money for the mafia gets accused of murder.

Scientist Galileo Galilei was engaged in his studies, but a servant of his attempts to seduce his daughter, and denounces Galilei to the Holy Office.