Alberto Collo

Alberto Collo (1883-1955) was an Italian film actor of mostly silent cinema. In the 1910s and early 1920s, he acted opposite the film divas of his times, such as Francesca Bertini, Hesperia, Maria and Diomira Jacobini, and Italia Almirante Manzini. He also performed in war propaganda, historical films, and strong men films.


Italian postcard by Ed. Traldi, Milano, no. 39. Photo: Civirani, Roma. Photographer Carlo Civirani was the father of set photographer, producer, and director Osvaldo Civirani.


Italian postcard by Ed. Traldi, Milano, no. 68. With Oreste Bilancia.


Italian postcard by Fotocolore, Torino, no. 8.


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 240. Photo: Alba Film. Alberto Collo and Italia Almirante Manzini in L'ombra/The Shadow (Mario Almirante, 1923). Caption: Berta: Gerardo, I am no more than a shadow in your life....


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 203. Photo: Alba Film. Alberto Collo as Prince Giano in L'arzigogolo/The Court Yester (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: The Prince.

The prima donna of the group

Alberto Collo was born in Piobesi Torinese, Italy in 1883. He came from a Bolognese family.

He started his career as an apprentice hairdresser. In 1907, Collo started to act on stage. He joined the company of Mario Testa, which performed dialect pieces. That same year he also began to work for Ambrosio Film, playing small parts in short silent comedies.

Two years later, in 1909, he moved to Giovanni Pastrone's Itala Film. First, he worked as a double for André Deed, later he played transvestite parts, cross-dressing as a woman.  According to German Wikipedia, he was "used as the prima donna of the group because of his feminine features and ethereal charisma".

Between 1912 and 1924, however, he became one of the protagonists of the Italian silent cinema, performing in over 70 films. First, these films were shorts and later feature-length films, mostly produced by Cines, then Celio Film, a company affiliated with Cines, and finally at the Fert company.

He worked with such directors as Baldassarre Negroni, Mario Almirante, Guido Brignone and Augusto Genina, and with actors such as Emilio Ghione, Oreste Bilancia, Francesca Bertini and Italia Almirante Manzini.


Italian postcard. Photo: Tiber Films. Alberto Collo (right) and Emilio Ghione (left) in Guglielmo Oberdan, il martire di Trieste/Oberdan (1915). Caption: Guglielmo Oberdan: "I admit and I swear to have come to Trieste with the exact scope of killing the infamous head of an infamous state. And now I happily challenge your tortures."


Italian postcard. Photo: Tiber Films. Alberto Collo in Guglielmo Oberdan, il martire di Trieste/Oberdan (Emilio Ghione, 1915). Caption: Guglielmo Obedan: "I don't fear you, you cops. If only my act could cause Italy to start a war with the enemy."


Italian postcard. Photo: Tiber Films. Alberto Collo as Oberdan and Ida Carloni Talli as his mother in Guglielmo Oberdan, il martire di Trieste/Oberdan (Emilio Ghione, 1915). Caption: "What shall I do, mamma? I will leave this oppressed land and will take care that my sacrifice will be worthwhile to redeem my brothers and sisters."


Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, no. 1 of 6. Photo: Tiber Film. Ignazio Lupi, Floriana and Alberto Collo in Il potere sovrano/The Sovereign Power (Baldassarre Negroni, Percy Nash, 1916).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, no. 3 of 6. Photo: Tiber Film. Diana D'Amore and Alberto Collo in Il potere sovrano/The Sovereign Power (Baldassarre Negroni, Percy Nash, 1916).

Triangle

In the early 1910s, Alberto Collo often formed a triangle in shorts directed by Baldassarre Negroni and with Francesca Bertini and Emilio Ghione co-acting, the latter mostly playing the bad guy. In Panne d’auto/Car breakdown (Baldassarre Negroni, 1912), flirtatious Kitty doesn’t know how to choose between engineer Alberto and officer Pietro. Pietro tries to impress Kitty with a daredevil car race but Alberto pretends to have a breakdown with his car, so Kitty joins him for a picnic and he has time to propose.

In Idolo infranto/The Artist's Model (Baldassarre Negroni, 1913), he plays a sculptor dumped by his capricious, gold-digging model (Bertini), has gone poor and is almost put on the street. When she returns and pretends to be his statue, he sees her in a mirror laughing at him, so enraged he destroys ‘the statue’.

In L’amazzone mascherata/The Woman Who Dared (Baldassarre Negroni, 1914), Collo is unjustly sentenced because of the loss of secret documents, so his wife (Bertini) comes to the rescue and, disguised as an amazon, she pursues the real culprit, a circus director (Ghione).

Collo had a small part in the well-known Neapolitan drama Assunta Spina (Francesca Bertini, Gustavo Serena, 1915), starring Francesca Bertini and Gustavo Serena.

He had the lead in the propagandistic period piece Oberdan/Guglielmo Oberdan, il martire di Trieste (Emilio Ghione, 1915), about a 19th-century Italian partisan who tried to kill the Austrian emperor Franz Joseph when the latter visited Trieste, but Oberdan was caught and hanged. Ghione himself played the Austrian governor of Trieste. As Italy was at war with Austria when the film came out, Oberdan was a huge success.


Italian postcard by Tiber Film, Roma. Photo: Maria Jacobini (Nennele) and Alberto Collo (Tommy) in Come le foglie/Like the Leaves (Gennaro Righelli, 1917). Caption: Nennele: "You don't know what you're saying! Farewell, Tommy, farewell, poor Tommy!"


Italian postcard. Photo: Tiber Film, Roma. Alberto Collo as Tommy in Come le foglie/Like the Leaves (Gennaro Righelli, 1917). Caption: In the house of Ms. Orlof.


Italian postcard, no. 167. Photo: Hesperia and Alberto Collo in La cuccagna (Baldessare Negroni, 1917). It was an adaptation of Emile Zola's La curée. Hesperia is Renata/Renée, the second wife of the cunning and wealthy Saccard, who married young Renata for her money. She though has an affair with Saccard's son Max, played by Collo. In the end money triumphs instead of love, just as in Zola's novel. That's why some Italian critics thought the title La cuccagna (The Bonanza) was too cheerful, while La curée means: the loot.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano / Fotominio, no. 47. Italia Almirante and Alberto Collo in La statua di carne/The Statue of Flesh (Mario Almirante, 1921). Noemi Keller's old flame begs her to give up her charade for Paolo, sitting each day like a statue in front of him, as she is the spitting image of his lost love Maria. But Naomi cannot give up, as she is developing a crush on Paolo.


Italian postcard by G.B. Salci, Milano, no. 255. Alberto Collo as the baker boy and Lia Miari as Annella in Il fornaretto di Venezia/The Baker Boy of Venice (Mario Almirante 1923), an adaptation of the novel 'Il Fornaretto' (1846) by Francesco Dall'Ongaro. Caption: "The baker boy and Annella, maid of the nobleman Barbo, love each other."

Completely penniless and seriously ill

By the mid-1910s, Alberto Collo became a regular partner of Bertini’s rival Hesperia, whose films were directed by her husband, Baldassarre Negroni. Their films together include La signora delle camelie/Camille (Baldassarre Negroni, 1915), Il potere sovrano/The Sovereign Power (Baldassarre Negroni, 1916), and La cuccagna/The Bonanza (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917).

But Collo was also paired with Maria Jacobini, as in Come le foglie/Like the Leaves (Gennaro Righelli, 1917), and even more with her sister Diomira Jacobini, as in L’isola della felicità/The Island of Happiness (Luciano Doria, 1921) and La storia di Clo-Clo/The Story of Clo-Clo (Luciano Doria, 1923). In the early 1920s, Collo played in various films opposite Italia Almirante Manzini, a.o. as her jealous ex-lover in La statua di carne/The Statue of Flesh (Mario Almirante, 1921), a prince in La piccolo parrocchia/The Small Parish (Mario Almirante, 1923), and as Count Giano in the Sem Benelli adaptation L’arzigogolo/The Court Jester (Mario Almirante, 1924).

He also played in period pieces, such as the title role in the historical drama Il fornaretto di Venezia/The Baker Boy of Venice (Mario Almirante, 1923), and in the Maciste-films Maciste e il nipote d’America/Maciste's American Nephew (Eleuterio Rodolfi, 1924) and Maciste nella gabbia dei leoni/Maciste in the Lion's Cage (Guido Brignone, 1926), starring Bartolomeo Pagano.

At Fert, Collo played with a steady crew that included Oreste Bilancia and Pauline Polaire. When the film crisis hit the Fert studios as well in the mid-1920s, Collo stopped film acting. He formed a stage company with his partner and director Emilio Ghione, with whom he undertook various provincial tours until 1928. Between 1926 and 1939, Collo only sporadically returned to the cinema. In the post-war era, Collo obtained a few film parts between 1951 and 1955 in films like Arrivano i nostri/Ours are Coming (Mario Mattoli, 1951), starring Walter Chiari.

Completely penniless and seriously ill, Collo was brought back into the public consciousness in 1954 by a radio programme, in which donations were collected for him. The Italian President also supported the actor, but the hospitalisation he made possible was unsuccessful. Alberto Collo passed away in 1955 in Turin, at the age of 71 years. According to IMDb, Alberto Collo played at least in some 128 film titles, but certainly in many more, uncredited, in his early career.


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 232. Photo: Alba Film. Italia Almirante Manzini as Berta, Alberto Collo as Gerardo and Vittorio Pieri as Berta's godfather Michele in L'ombra/The Shadow (Mario Almirante, 1923). Caption: Berta: Don't you look, godfather! These are matters which don't concern you.


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 244. Photo: Alba Film. Italia Almirante Manzini as Berta, Liliana Ardea as Elena, and Alberto Collo as Gerardo in L'ombra/The Shadow (Mario Almirante, 1923). Caption: Berta [to Gerardo]: You shouldn't have done this! Raise another family... another home!


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 207. Photo: Alba Film. Italia Almirante as Monna Violante and Alberto Collo as Count Giano in L'arzigogolo/The Court Jester (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: Giano tries in vain to conquer Violante's coldness.


Italian postcard by G.B. Salci, Milano. Photo: Italia Almirante and Alberto Collo in L'Arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924), an adaptation of the play by Sem Benelli.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano. Photo: Pittaluga Films, Torino. Alberto Collo in Maciste nella gabbia dei leoni/Maciste in the Lions' Cage (Guido Brignone, 1926).

Sources: Aldo Bernardini/Vittorio Martinelli (Il cinema muto italiano - Italian), Wikipedia (Italian and German) and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 4 October 2023.

One Hundred Years Ago: L’ombra (1923)

Now in its 20th anniversary year, the One Hundred Years Ago section at Il Cinema Ritrovato continues its annual exploration of a single year in cinema’s rich and varied history with a selection of enduring classics and archival rarities as well as thought-provoking documentaries from 1923. The Italian silent melodrama L'ombra/The Shadow (1923) was one of the final Diva films in which Italia Almirante (Manzini) was directed by her husband, Mario Almirante for Alba Film. The film, based on a play by Dario Niccodemi, co-starred Alberto Collo, Liliana Ardea, Oreste Bilancia, Andrea Habay and Vittorio Pieri. EFSP's Ivo Blom wrote for the festival catalogue about the film.


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 231. Photo: Alba Film. Publicity still for L'ombra (Mario Almirante, 1923). Caption: "In the garden of the villa of Gerardo and Berta".


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 232. Photo: Alba Film. Italia Almirante Manzini as Berta, Alberto Collo as Gerardo and Vittorio Pieri as Berta's godfather Michele in L'ombra (Mario Almirante, 1923). Caption: "Berta: Don't look, godfather! These are matters which don't concern you."


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 233. Photo: Alba Film. Publicity still for L'ombra (Mario Almirante). Caption: Morning strolls.


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 23?. Photo: Alba Film. Publicity still for L'ombra (Mario Almirante, 1923) with Liliana Ardea as Elena and Alberto Collo as Gerardo. Caption: "Berta's little friend and the daily painting lesson".


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 235. Photo: Alba Film. Publicity still for L'ombra (Mario Almirante, 1923), with Italia Almirante Manzini as Berta and Vittorio Pieri as Berta's godfather Michele. Caption: "Berta: Beware of the thorns, but don't ruin my roses".


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 236. Photo: Alba Film. Publicity still for L'ombra (Mario Almirante, 1923) with Italia Almirante as Berta and Liliana Ardea as Elena. Caption: "Confidential matters".

Life between enduring her misfortune and the illusion of love

Italia Almirante Manzini plays in L'ombra/The Shadow (1923) the beautiful young Berta Trégner. In an accident, Berta is paralysed. She then spends her life between enduring her misfortune and the illusion that her husband Gerardo (Alberto Collo) continues to love her.

After six years, however, almost miraculously, she recovers and discovers that Gerardo has created another family with Elena (Liliana Ardea), her best friend and that they also have a child.

Distraught, she runs away from home. The situation is saved by Michele (Vittorio Pieri), Berta's godfather, who manages to discover that Elena has reconnected with her ex-husband Alberto, and informs Gerardo, who, having rejected the unworthy Elena, can return to Berta to find love again.

L'ombra/The Shadow (1923) was scripted by director Mario Almirante himself. It is an adaptation of the 1915 play of the same name written by Dario Niccodemi. It was first performed at Milan's Teatro Manzoni in 1916 by the Compagnia Giannina Chiantoni, Irma Gramatica and Ernesto Sabbatini.

The first film adaptation was L'ombra/The Shadow (1917) by Mario Caserini starring Vittoria Lepanto. In 1954, a new adaptation was made by Giorgio Bianchi, L'ombra/The Shadow, starring Märta Torén and Pierre Cressoy.


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 238. Photo: Alba Film. Publicity still for L'ombra (Mario Almirante, 1923). Caption: "Struck by paralysis, Berta (Italia Almirante) passed her days in tranquillity and suffering." The nurse was played by Rita D'Harcourt.


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 239. Photo: Alba Film. Publicity still for L'ombra (Mario Almirante, 1923). Caption: "Berta: Why, Gerardo, don't you recognize Elena? My little Elena?" Italia Almirante as Berta, Alberto Collo as Gerardo and Liliana Ardea as Elena.


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 240. Photo: Alba Film. Alberto Collo and Italia Almirante in L'ombra (Mario Almirante, 1923). Caption: "Berta: Gerardo, I am no more than a shadow in your life...."


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 241. Photo: Alba Film. Publicity still for L'ombra (Mario Almirante, 1923). Caption: "The sudden healing. Berta: Doctor! It seems as if I am tall... tall. My head spins! I am afraid!" The doctor was played by Domenico Marverti.


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 242. Photo: Alba Film. Alberto Collo as Gerardo and Liliana Ardea as Elena in L'ombra (Mario Almirante, 1923). Caption: "In the new house of Gerardo. Elena: He is your real masterpiece!".

A titanic struggle between opposing feelings and erupting passions

How did the critics judge the film hundred years ago? In La rivista cinematografica, 'Gulliver' writes on 25 April 1924: "The drama unfolds intensely and collectedly in the soul of the protagonist. Everything is contained within her, a titanic struggle between opposing feelings and erupting passions, without, however, addressing ideological and moral problems. If these erupt suddenly and vehemently, without preparation and almost without entanglement, it is because of that strange game that an author sometimes enjoys for a sense of acrobatic and theatrical virtuosity [...]. The theatrical intricacy, which in many works extends from the first to the last scene with progressive potential, here is muted and only appears in the evolution of the woman's consequent soul, in its passages, nuances and, we would say, in the foreboding of the obscure immanence of destiny [...].

This having wanted to develop a superior concept evidently creates imbalances between the idea, abstraction and reality, matter: imbalances that remain in the cinema, even though it possesses greater means of implementation and greater possibilities so that the realistic event suffocates the symbolic meaning that we, unlike other writers, wanted to emphasise for a greater understanding and penetration of the work, also because we followed the comments of the public that crowded Ghersi, comments based on exteriority and impression. Instead, how much understanding would be needed and how much less levity of judgement, for a just appreciation of art. If the public reads us, they can profit well from these notes."

In the catalogue of Il Cinema Ritrovato 2023, Ivo Blom writes: "The film partly re-enacts the silent parable of people suffering from paralysis who regain their strength in a miraculous way, as in The Home Maker (King Baggot, 1925) or Lucky Star (Frank Borzage, 1929). Even more, the film follows the parables of silent films about the blind who, once they regain their sight, discover a bitter reality, e.g. that their friend, husband or wife no longer feels love for them, as for instance in the French film, Mieux valait la nuit (Éclair, 1911) with Cécile Guyon, or the Danish film Hjertestorme (August Blom, 1916) with Clara Wieth."

In another article, 'Italia Almirante e le arti', Blom observes: "While Niccodemi's text begins in medias res. Berta is already paralysed, 'in a statue-like immobility' (again a statuesque, sculptural quality, as in another film with Italia Almirante: La statua di carne), the film instead shows what precedes Berta's paralysis. [...] In the prologue, we see the happiness of Gerardo and Berta. He is an accomplished painter, and she is a tennis player, living in an elegant house. In a close-up, we see Gerardo in front of Berta's painted portrait. The portrait expresses the man's love for his wife, but it is also the face of the film's star, Italia Almirante Manzini, who thus confirms her status, as with the portrait in La statua di carne.

We see the latter only in passing, briefly, but it stands in contrast to the later portraits in the film. We then witness Gerardo's painting lesson to Elena, Berta's coquettish young niece. In the film, the camera pans from left to right, while in the film's promotional postcard depicting this scene, we have a visual synthesis. The captions ironise Elena's crush on Gerardo. Later, Elena marries her young lover and goes on a trip. It is then that Berta suffers from paralysis. Very beautiful at this point in the film is the play with a large mirror, raised so that Berta can no longer observe herself. At first, Gerardo takes care of his wife and feels guilty. Berta says she now feels like a shadow, thus establishing an explicit reference to the film's title. As soon as Elena returns, tired of the groom, Gerardo secretly starts an affair with her. From the two a child is born: the son Berta could not give him."


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 243. Photo: Alba Film. Italia Almirante as Berta in L'ombra (Mario Almirante, 1923). Caption: "Berta: I am a friend, a relative of His Lordship. I want to give him a surprise."


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 244. Photo: Alba Film. Italia Almirante as Berta, Liliana Ardea as Elena and Alberto Collo as Gerardo in L'ombra (Mario Almirante, 1923). Caption: "Berta [to Gerardo]: You shouldn't have done this! Raise another family... another home!".


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 245. Photo: Alba Film. Publicity still for L'ombra (Mario Almirante, 1923). Caption: "Berta: Lord... return me my illness! Return me my cross, it felt so good, so good!"


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 246. Photo: Alba Film. Publicity still for L'ombra (Mario Almirante, 1923). Caption: "Berta: Doctor, this is a new case, very strange! A sick person who dies of her own healing." Italia Almirante as Berta, in the back Alberto Collo as Gerardo, who repents his bigamy. Extreme left godfather Michele (Vittorio Pieri), and next to him was the doctor (Domenico Marverti).


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 247. Photo: Alba Film. Italia Almirante as Berta and Alberto Collo as Gerardo in L'ombra (Mario Almirante, 1923). Caption: Berta: "The shadow is receding... disappearing from your life."


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 248. Photo: Alba Film. Publicity still for L'ombra (Mario Almirante, 1923), with Italia Almirante as Berta and Alberto Collo as Gerardo. Caption: "Berta: Poor little one! He won't realize to have changed mother." This image represents the final scene of the film.

Sources: Ivo Blom (Italia Almirante e le arti: Relazioni pittoriche, scultoree e teatrali in Femmina, La statua di carne e L’ombra‘, in: Alessandro Faccioli, Elena Mosconi eds., Divine. Nuove prospettive sul cinema muto italiano), Il Cinema Ritrovato, Wikipedia (Italian) and IMDb.

Tiber Film

The Tiber Film company of Rome was founded in 1914 by producer Gioacchino Mecheri (1876-1942). Between 1915 and 1919, Tiber Film rivaled the other Roman company, Caesar Film, run by producer Giuseppe Barattolo. Both companies had a leading diva to profile itself with: Hesperia at Tiber Film, and Francesca Bertini at Caesar.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, no. 2 of 6. Photo: Tiber Film. Hesperia and Emilio Ghione in Il potere sovrano (Baldassarre Negroni, Percy Nash, 1916).

Il potere sovrano was based on the novel 'Temporal Power' by Marie Corelli. Lotys (Hesperia) is the idol of the people. Therd (Emilio Ghione), a journalist, a man of action, and manager of the paper The Idea, is also beloved by his compatriots. Their ideals unite Lotys and Therd. The King (Ignazio Lupi) lives distanced from his people and has left governing to his ministers. The government threatens Therd with arrest if he doesn't stop his actions.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, no. 6 of 6. Photo: Tiber Film. Hesperia and Emilio Ghione in Il potere sovrano (Baldassarre Negroni, Percy Nash, 1916).


Spanish cromo card by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, no. 2 of 6 cards. Photo: Tiber-Film, Roma / J. Verdaguer, Barcelona. Hesperia and Tullio Carminati in La donna abbandonata (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917).

A Parisian 'viveur' is fed of his life and withdraws to a family castle in the countryside. There he sees a mysterious lady, who leads a withdrawn life. Intrigued, he invents a ruse to meet her. She tells him her sorrowful past... The plot was based on a novella by Balzac, but the Italian press found the story too static and interiorised for the medium of film.


Spanish cromo card by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, no. 4 of 6 cards. Photo: Tiber-Film, Roma / J. Verdaguer, Barcelona. Hesperia in La donna abbandonata (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917).


Italian postcard, no. 5073. Photo: Tiber Film. Hesperia and Alberto Collo in La cuccagna (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917). Caption: Renata and Massimo at the ball of Bianca Muller.

La cuccagna was an adaptation of Emile Zola's 'La curée'. Hesperia is Renata/Renée, second wife of the cunning and wealthy Saccard, who married young Renata for her money. She has an affair with Saccard's son Max/Massimo, played by Alberto Collo. In the end money triumphs instead of love, just as in Zola's novel.


Italian postcard, no. 5077. Photo: Tiber Film. Hesperia in La cuccagna (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917). Caption: Renata had turned Massimo in an 'viveur'.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5103. photo: Tiber Film, Roma. Tullio Carminati and Ida Carloni Talli in L'aigrette (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917).

The countess of Saint-Servant (Ida Carloni Talli) has raised her son Enrico (Tullio Carminati) to be proud of his name and title and to cherish honour and virtue, symbolised by the feather of her aigrette (egret). In reality, the countess is hunted by creditors, the castle is falling apart. Enrico falls in love with Susanne Leblanc (Hesperia), wife of a banker, and, unknowing to Enrico, in return, she loads his mother with money in order to restore the family castle and pay off the many debts. Her husband Claudio (André Habay) is not so happy with this kind of charity and reveals to Enrico that he and his mother have been living on his lover's expenses for years...


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5108. Photo: Tiber Film, Hesperia, Tullio Carminati and André Habay in L'aigrette (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917). Caption: Claudio, Enrico, and Susanna. Tragic conversation.


Spanish collectors card in the Colec. cromos cinematográficos by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 1 (in a serie of 6 cromos). Photo: Tiber-Film, Roma / J. Verdaguer, Barcelona. Hesperia and André Habay in La principessa di Bagdad (Baldassarre Negroni, 1918).

Lionella (Hesperia) is the illegitimate daughter of the King of Bagdad, and recognized by her stepfather, the count of Quansas. Raised a spoiled brat, when she marries the Count Giovanni de Hun (André Habay), she squanders his richness lightly. A family friend, Nourmandy (Goffredo d'Andrea), secretly in love with Lionella, pays all debts. De Hun believes his wife and Nourmandy are lovers, so he has them arrested by the police just when she is refusing another offer by Nourmandy. Hurt in her pride by her husband's brutal behavior, Lionella decides to leave with her lover, but her little son Raul begs her to refrain from such a step. Lionella's motherly love is bigger than her pride, so she chases the lover and pays off the debts with a generous donation by the dying, and repenting King. Her husband, at last, understands everything.


Spanish collectors card in the Colec. cromos cinematográficos by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 5 (in a serie of 6 cromos). Photo: Tiber-Film, Roma / J. Verdaguer, Barcelona. Hesperia in La principessa di Bagdad (Baldassarre Negroni, 1918).


French postcard by Le Deley, Paris. Photo: U.C.I. / Gaumont / Tiber Film. Hesperia in Il figlio di Madame Sans-Gêne (Baldassarre Negroni, 1921), adapted from the novel by Emile Moreau. Here Hesperia as Madame Sans-Gêne is portrayed similarly to François Gérard's portrait of Juliette Récamier.

In Il figlio di Madame Sans-Gêne, sergeant Lefèvre (Enrico Scatizzi) meets an ironing lady (Hesperia) at a 'bal populaire' during the celebrations of the first successes of the French Revolution. They marry and have a son, Antonio. Lefèvre proves himself on the European battlefields and he becomes Marshal and Duke of Danzig. His wife becomes Madame Sans-Gêne, Duchess of Danzig. When Antonio (Carlo Troisi) has grown up, he falls in love with a young noble lady (Pauline Polaire), but she is already promised to the seigneur Ambzac, a Royalist conspirator. When the girl marries D'Ambzac, Antonio decides to flee with her and steals money from his father. When the theft is found out, Antonio asks to be sent to the battlefront as punishment.


French postcard by Le Deley, Paris. Photo: U.C.I. / Gaumont / Tiber Film. Hesperia in Il figlio di Madame Sans-Gêne (Baldassarre Negroni, 1921).


Italian postcard. Photo: Tiber Film. Hesperia and probably Carlo Troisi in La belle Madame Hebert (Baldassarre Negroni, 1922). The film was an adaptation of the homonymous French play by Abel Hermant.

Diva Dramas and Propaganda films

Before he started Tiber Film, Gioacchino Mecheri had been the director of the Celio company. Tiber Film had its Roman studios at the Pineta Sacchetti.

Tiber Film was known for its diva dramas with Hesperia, such as Il potere sovrano/The Sovereign Power (1916), La cuccagna/The Bonanza (1917), L'aigrette/The Egret (1917), La principessa di Bagdad/The Princess of Bagdad (1918), Il figlio di Madame Sans-Gêne/The Son of Madame Sans-Gêne (1921), and La belle Madame Hebért (1922). Most of these dramas were directed by Hesperia's husband, Baldassarre Negroni.

In addition to these Diva films, Tiber Film profiled itself also with historical films serving the war propaganda. These films included Oberdan/Guglielmo Oberdan, il martire di Trieste (Emilio Ghione, 1915), and Cicueracchio (Emilio Ghione, 1915).

The studio also produced melodramas with Maria Jacobini such as Come le foglie/Like the leafs (Gennaro Righelli, 1917), and Resurrezione/Resurrection (Mario Caserini, 1917) and with Diana Karenne, like La peccatrice casta/The chaste sinner (Diana Karenne, Gennaro Righelli, 1919) and Zoya (Giulio Antamoro, 1920).

Tiber also produced the Polidor and Za-la-Mort films, including I topi grigi/The gray mice (Emilio Ghione, 1918), starring Emilio Ghione.

In 1918 the company merged with Film d'Arte Italiana and in 1919 with the Unione Cinematografia Italiana (UCI). When the latter collapsed in 1923, this also meant the end of Tiber Film.


Italian postcard. Photo: Tiber Film. Gastone Monaldi as Ciceruacchio in Ciceruacchio (Emilio Ghione, 1915). Caption: People of Rome! Do you want to bend to slavery by the stranger? No! Do you want to swear with me to die for freedom? Yes! Yes!

Angelo Brunetti, named Ciceruacchio, a Roman trader in cheese and wine, was much beloved by the Roman people, e.g. for his behaviour during the 1837 cholera plague. In a public performance in 1846, he thanked the pope Pius IX for releasing political prisoners, while in 1847 he pressed Pius IX to continue his policy of reform. During the 1848 revolution, he joined the Roman Republican forces and helped the Romans in the siege by the French. But when they were defeated in 1849, he fled with his sons Lorenzo and Luigi and hoped with Garibaldi and allies to liberate Venice from the Austrians. Instead, they were betrayed by locals at Cesenatico and then arrested and executed by the Austrians on 10 August 1849.


Italian postcard. Photo: Tiber Film. Gastone Monaldi as Ciceruacchio and Alberto Collo as his son Luigi, just before they are executed by the Austrian army in Ciceruacchio (Emilio Ghione, 1915). Caption: And Ciceruacchio said: Luigi, my son! Let your courage at this moment be the same as when I separated you from your mother. Like never before, the ardent faith of the fatherland will bring you happily to your death.


Italian postcard. Photo: Tiber Film. Alberto Collo as Oberdan, and Ida Carloni Talli as his mother in Guglielmo Oberdan, il martire di Trieste (Emilio Ghione 1915). Caption: And his mother said: Go! My most beloved one, remember every suffered insult, every cry of grief. Make sure that the Fatherland will be saved.

In 1882, Guglielmo Oberdan was executed after a failed attempt to assassinate Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph. He became a martyr of the Italian unification movement. Thirty years later, silent film star Alberto Collo played him in Guglielmo Oberdan, il martire di Trieste (Emilio Ghione, 1915), produced by Tiber Films during World War I.


Italian postcard. Photo: Tiber Film. Alberto Collo in Guglielmo Oberdan, il martire di Trieste (Emilio Ghione, 1915). Caption: Italy! May I see you again having grown bigger... or never see you again.


Italian postcard. Photo: Tiber Film, Roma. Guido Guiducci as Massimo, Maria Jacobini as Nennele and Alberto Collo as her brother Tommy in Come le foglie (Gennaro Righelli, 1917). Caption: I won't allow you to speak about my brother in this way.

After a life of spendthrifts, the Rosati (Rosani with Giacosa) family is ruined. Father Giovanni (Ignazio Lupi) accepts work from his cousin Massimo (Guido Guiducci) in Switzerland. Hitherto neglected as too serious and workaholic, Massimo becomes the head of the family and takes care of the son and daughter of Giovanni, Tommy (Alberto Collo) and Nennele (Maria Jacobini), and their stepmother Giulia (Floriana). Tommy and Giulia remain weak spirits. Giulia has an affair with a painter called Helmer, and when none of her own paintings are sold, she tries to steal the golden frame from one of Nennele's paintings. Tommy's idleness is like a dead leaf. He fails two managing jobs arranged by Massimo. Because of his gambling debts with the Russian countess Orloff's gambling table, he is forced to marry her. Massimo proposes to Nennele, advising her not to rebel 'against the wind that blows the leaves', but she refuses him. She is so devastated by her brother and stepmother, she intends to commit suicide, but her father prevents this and unites Nennele with Massimo, who has come to help once more.


Italian postcard. Photo: Tiber Film, Roma. Maria Jacobini in Come le foglie (Gennaro Righelli, 1917). The man in the middle could be Alberto Collo. Caption: The portrait slipped from the package and fell to the ground.


Italian postcard. Photo: Tiber Film. Maria Jacobini in Resurrezione (Mario Caserini, 1917), based on Leo Tolstoy's novel. Caption: Maslova inhaled the tobacco's smoke a few times, then uttered: Forced labour!


Italian postcard. Photo: Tiber Film. Maria Jacobini in Resurrezione (Mario Caserini, 1917), based on Leo Tolstoy's novel. Caption: On 17 January in a room of Hotel Mauritania, Smielkov suddenly died.


Spanish cromo by Chocolat Imperiale, Barcelona, no. 3 of 6. Photo: Tiber Film / Verdaguer. Diana Karenne and Alberto Pasquali in La peccatrice casta (Diana Karenne, Gennaro Righelli, 1919).

Wanda (Diana Karenne) is a popular dancer, but very ill. When she collapses during a performance, a count (Alberto Pasquali), comes to aid, falls in love with her, and wants to marry her. Wanda accepts but after the wedding she returns to dancing and her mundane life starts again, which she never could say goodbye to. She ends up falling for another man (Mario Parpagnoli), while her husband, after finding out, bitterly leaves for the US. One year after, the husband returns and finds her alone, with a child, and left by her lover. He reunites with her, pardons her, and accepts the child too.


Spanish cromo by Chocolat Imperiale, Barcelona, no. 6 of 6. Photo: Tiber Film / Verdaguer. Diana Karenne in La peccatrice casta (Diana Karenne, Gennaro Righelli, 1919).


Italian postcard by Vettori, Bologna. Photo: Tiber Film. Diana Karenne in Zoya/Zoja (Giulio Antamoro, 1920). The man left might be Mario Parpagnoli.


Italian postcard by Vettori, Bologna, no. 2011. Photo: Tiber Film / U.C.I. Emilio Ghione in Senza pietà (Emilio Ghione, 1921).

Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Il cinema muto italiano, Vol. 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1921-22), Vittorio Martinelli (Za la Mort. Ritratto di Emilio Ghione), and Wikipedia (Italian).