Caravaggio, il pittore maledetto

This adventure-biography of the illustrious Italian baroque painter seems to have been lost forever, although the final word is not in. I have viewed the existing trailer for the film several times and it looks like an adventure describable as lusty and action-filled. The hot-tempered painter, who kills a man because of a woman, while transforming the parameters of pictorial art, is portrayed by the talented Amedeo Nazzari. The settings are 17th Century Rome in both its squalor and glory, and the film deals with a man's road from poverty to wealth and success and the consequences of his unbridled passion. ("The cursed painter" is the subtitle of the film.) Clara Calamai (of Visconti's OSSESSIONE, made a year later) plays Madonna Giaconella. It would be interesting to compare this Fascist-era Italian adventure/drama of Goffredo Alessandrini with Derek Jarman's 1986 film on the same subject. No doubt that they are light-years apart in style and emphasis. One can only hope that a full print of this tantalizing feature will emerge some day.