Bartolomeo Pagano

Legendary Italian actor Bartolomeo Pagano (1878-1947) was the original Maciste who debuted in the silent classic Cabiria (1914). His name is forever attached to the character of the strong man, which he played in 25 films.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 478/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Riess.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 478/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Riess.


French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, no. 368. Bartolomeo Pagano aka Maciste in Maciste all'inferno / Maciste in Hell (Guido Brignone, 1926).

In blackface

Bartolomeo Pagano was born in the Sant’Ilario quarter of Genoa in 1878. He was the son of a Neapolitan father. As an adult, he worked as a dockhand in the port of Genoa, in the nearby quarter of Nervi. Different versions circulate about his discovery for the cinema. In 1913, film director and producer Giovanni Pastrone, manager of the Itala company of Turin, released a call for the interpreter of the character of the Nubian slave Maciste (a character created together by author Gabriele D’Annunzio) for Pastrone’s super-production Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914) starring diva Italia Almirante-Manzini. Out of 50 candidates from all over Italy, Pastrone selected Pagano.

According to another version, it was actor Domenico Gambino who noticed Pagano and signalled him to Pastrone, who, impressed by his muscular physique, hired him for his epic film. Overnight, the film made Pagano an international success because of his muscles and his image as a courageous, humorous and no-nonsensical defender of the weak. In Cabiria, he uses his power to rescue a Roman girl from the hands of the Carthaginian priests who want to offer her to Moloch.

Pastrone immediately saw opportunities with his new star and launched a series of vehicles for his character, starting with a film simply called Maciste (Luigi Romano Borgnetto, Vincenzo Denizot, 1915). Deliberately, Maciste’s part in Cabiria, the splendour of the Itala studio, and Maciste’s work there were shown to impress audiences and tie them to the previous box office hit. Of course, the plot deals with a damsel in distress, whom Maciste saves with his muscles and his wit.

During the First World War, Pastrone used Maciste for war propaganda in Maciste alpino / The Warrior (Giovanni Pastrone, 1916), in which Maciste fiercely opposes the Austrian soldiers when he and his colleagues are captured during a film shoot on location. The success of the film made Pastrone exploit Maciste in all kinds of situations and genres, but mostly in the adventure and crime genre: Maciste medium (Vincenzo Denizot, 1918), Maciste atleta /Maciste Athlete (Vincenzo Denizot, Giovanni Pastrone, 1918), Maciste poliziotto (Roberto Roberti, 1918), Maciste innamorato / Maciste in Love (Luigi Romano Borgnetto, 1919), La trilogia di Maciste / The Maciste Trilogy (Carlo Campogalliani, 1920), Maciste salvato dalle acque / Maciste Saved From the Waters (Luigi Romano Borgnetto, 1921), and Maciste in vacanza / Maciste On Holiday (Luigi Romano Borgnetto, 1921).

In all these films, he performed Maciste in 'blackface', which he continued to do in all 25 films in which he played Maciste. By now, Pastrone did not direct the films anymore but left this task to skilled directors like Luigi Romano Borgnetto. While not all of these were good productions, La Trilogia di Maciste (1920) by Carlo Campogalliani was one of the better Maciste films.


Publicity still of the Italian silent film classic Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914), with Alex Bernard, Edoardo Davesnes, Italia Almirante-Manzini and Lydia Quaranta.


Spanish collector card by Chocolate Amatller, Barcelona, no. 10 (of 12). Photo: Itala Film. Bartolomeo Pagano as Maciste in Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914). Here, Maciste strangles the highpriest Karthalo (Dante Testa), but Cabiria holds him back.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano. Photo: Dist. Società Anonima Stefano Pittaluga. Bartolomeo Pagano as Maciste in Maciste all'inferno / Maciste in Hell (Guido Brignone, 1926).


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano. Photo: Pittaluga Films, Torino. Bartolomeo Pagano as Maciste and Pauline Polaire as Graziella in Maciste all'inferno / Maciste in Hell (Guido Brignone, 1926).


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano. Photo: Pittaluga Films, Torino. Publicity still for Maciste all'inferno / Maciste in Hell (Guido Brignone 1926). Caption: Maciste (Bartolomeo Pagano) called before King Pluto (Umberto Guarracino). On the right, on the back, Pluto's daughter Luciferina (Lucia Zanussi) is standing. The bold guy on the left must be Gerione (Mario Saio).

Strong men or forzuti

While Bartolomeo Pagano’s precursor, Bruto Castellani, the strong man Ursus in Quo vadis (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913), had no followers, Pagano’s Maciste did.

In Italy, the 'strong men' or 'forzuti' genre in film sprang up, creating space for characters such as Ausonia, Galaor, Ajax, and Sansone, and attracting competing strong men and physical culture champions such as Giovanni Raicevich.

But Pagano’s Maciste was also simply pirated abroad, such as by the French actor Michel Bonnet with his character Magiste, and there was another rip-off in Mexico.

French critic Louis Delluc called him the 'Guitry of biceps', while newcomers Ultus (Aurele Sydney) and Douglas Fairbanks were launched as the British and the American Maciste.

In the late 1910s and early 1920s, Maciste’s popularity was at its peak in Austria and Germany, despite the preceding anti-Austrian Maciste alpino / The Warrior (1916). At home in Italy, Maciste’s image of Superman coincided with the new fascist ideology. In the 1920s Pagano was one of the best-paid actors of his time, sometimes gaining 600.000 lire a year.


French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 368. Bartolomeo Pagano aka Maciste in Maciste all'inferno / Maciste in Hell (Guido Brignone, 1926).


Italian postcard. Photo: Pittaluga Films, Torino (Turin). Publicity still for the Italian silent film Maciste contro lo sceicco / Maciste Against the Sheik (Mario Camerini, 1926). Maciste (Bartolomeo Pagano) hoists the sails, while the evil captain (Alex Bernard) looks on.


Italian postcard. Bartolomeo Pagano aka Maciste in Maciste contro lo sceicco / Maciste Against the Sheik (Mario Camerini, 1926), produced by Pittaluga Film, Turin.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 76. Photo: Pittaluga Films, Torino. Bartolomeo Pagano aka Maciste in Maciste nella gabbia dei leoni / Maciste in the Lion's Cage (Guido Brignone, 1926).


Italian postcard. Bartolomeo Pagano aka Maciste in Maciste nella gabbia dei leoni / Maciste in the Lion's Cage (Guido Brignone, 1926), produced by Pittaluga Film, Turin.

Inspiring Federico Fellini

Bartolomeo Pagano continued to star in the Maciste films until the early 1920s, when, not so much because of the collapse of the Italian film production but rather because of a fabulous contract, Pagano went to Berlin, the mecca of the European film industry. Here he stayed between 1921 and 1923, but according to the film press, he wasn’t as successful there, playing in Maciste und die Javanerin / Maciste and the Javanese (Uwe Jenss Kraft, 1921) with Carola Toelle, Maciste und die Tochter des Silberkönig / Maciste and the Daughter of the Silver King (Luigi Romano Borgnetto, 1921) opposite Helena Makowska, Maciste und der Sträfling Nr. 51 / Maciste and the Convict No. 51 (Luigi Romano Borgnetto, 1921), and Maciste und die Chinesische Truhe / Maciste and the Chinese chest (Carl Boese, 1923).

Dissatisfied, Pagano returned to Italy, where producer Stefano Pittaluga immediately put him on a transatlantic for the film Maciste e il nipote d’America / Maciste and the Grandson of America (Eleuterio Rodolfi, 1924), which included scenes shot in New York. Among the less convincing titles is Maciste imperatore / Maciste Emperor (Guido Brignone, 1924).

The same year Brignone directed Pagano in Maciste all’Inferno / Maciste in Hell (1926), a witty and artful pastiche on Dante, Gustave Doré, Georges Méliès, Expressionism and medieval illustrations. It also contains ingenious special effects by ‘magician’ Segundo de Chomon. When entering Hades, Maciste is being seduced by Proserpina, played by Italian diva Elena Sagro, and he turns into a hairy devil himself. The film was dear to Federico Fellini because of its weird, fairy-tale-like atmosphere; the film supposedly inspired him to become a film director.

Bored with his Maciste films, Pagano asked and got different roles: Il vetturale del Moncenisio / The Coachman of the Mont Cenis (Baldassarre Negroni, 1927) with Rina De Liguoro, Giuditta e Oloferne / Judith and Holofernes (Baldassarre Negroni, 1928) starring Jia Ruskaja, and his last part (a secondary one by now) in L’ultimo Zar / The last Tsar (Baldassarre Negroni, 1928). The actor retired from films in 1926 to marry Camilla Balduzzi, and he raised a family in his Villa Maciste in Sant’Ilario Ligure near Genoa. Diabetes destroyed his forces, and typhoid reduced his weight in drastic ways, while arthritis even obliged him to spend his last years in a wheelchair. The outside world didn’t know.

Bartolomeo Pagano died of a heart attack in San Ilario Ligure in 1947. According to Italian film historian Vittorio Martinelli, Pagano was never a real actor, but rather the lively personification of a character from popular literature. His character’s name remains a synonym for power and courage. After Pagano's death, the character of Maciste was played by several other actors. In 1960-1965, Maciste was revived in the Sword and Sandal films with Mark Forrest, Gordon Scott, Ed Fury and other bodybuilders, while in the early 1970s cult director Jesus Franco made two low-budget Maciste films for French producers.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano (Milan), no. 3. Photo: Production Pittaluga Film, Torino (Turin). Bartolomeo Pagano in Giuditta e Oloferne / Judith and Hollophernes (Baldassarre Negroni, 1929). The man on the right may be Franz Sala.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano (Milan), no. 7. Photo: Production Pittaluga Film, Torino (Turin). Bartolomeo Pagano and Jia Ruskaja in Giuditta e Oloferne / Judith and Hollophernes (Baldassarre Negroni, 1929).


Italian postcard by S.A. Stefano Pittaluga, no. 35-439. Photo: Pittaluga. Bartolomeo Pagano and Amilcare Taglienti in Gli ultimi zar / The Last Czar (Baldassarre Negroni, 1928).


Italian postcard by S.A. Stefano Pittaluga, no. 35-448. Photo: Pittaluga. Bartolomeo Pagano in Gli ultimi zar / The Last Czar (Baldassarre Negroni, 1928).


Monumento Quarto dei Mille (1915) by Eugenio Baroni. Near the site of this statue, Giuseppe Garibaldi took off to liberate Sicily from the Bourbon regime in 1860, together with his Thousand volunteers. In 1915, the monument was inaugurated with a speech by Gabriele D'Annunzio. Apparently, the former Genovese dock worker Bartolomeo Pagano, who had become a major film star as Maciste in Giovanni Pastrone's Cabiria (1914), had modelled for the statue of Garibaldi. So when the statue was revealed, audiences whispered that Garibaldi looked a lot like Maciste, their local hero who had become an international star. Quarto or Quarto del mare used to be a separate community, but later on became part of the city of Genoa.

Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Maciste & Co. I giganti buoni del cinema italiano), Jim Beaver (IMDb), Wikipedia (Italian and English), and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 27 January 2026.

Lydia Quaranta

Lydia Quaranta (1891-1928) was an actress in the Italian silent cinema, just like her twin sisters, Letizia and Isabella Quaranta. Lydia specialised in lavish epics. Her career reached its apex with the title role in the mega-production Cabiria (1914), widely considered the first feature film in the history of cinema.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 450.


Publicity still for Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914), with Alex Bernard, Edoardo Davesnes, Italia Almirante-Manzini and Lydia Quaranta.


Italian postcard by Fotocelere, Torino.


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 317. Photo: Massaglia, Torino.

Cabiria

Lydia or Lidia Quaranta was born Lidia Gemma Mattia Quaranta in Turin, Italy in 1891. She started her career as a stage actress at the company of Dante Testa. In 1910 she debuted in the film, together with her sister Letizia Quaranta when the company Itala Film enrolled both. Her true film debut though was in a short called L'ignota/The Unknown Woman (1910), produced by Aquila Films and directed by Edoardo Bencivenga.

After a few more Aquila productions, Quaranta played steadily at Itala, as in the aeroplane drama Come una sorella/Like a Sister (Vincenzo Denizot, 1912), the sensational drama Padre/Father (Dante Testa, Gino Zaccaria, 1912), starring Ermete Zacconi, Lo scomparso/The Dread of Doom (Dante Testa, 1913) with again Zacconi, and the crime story Tigris (Vincenzo Denizot, 1913).

Together with her sister Letizia, she played in Addio giovinezza!/Goodbye youth! (Nino Oxilia, 1913). In 1914 Lydia Quaranta’s cinema career reached its apex when she had the title role in the mega-production Cabiria. This was a historical film made on an epic scale by Giovanni Pastrone who used the pseudonym Piero Fosco.

For a lot of money, the famous author Gabriele D’Annunzio attached his name to the film as the scriptwriter. D’Annunzio in reality only invented some of the names of the characters and helped with the elaborate intertitles of the film.

Hal Erickson reviews at AllMovie: "Cabiria is an Italian historical epic that ran a full 14 reels (well over three hours) at a time when most American films were still short subjects. The plot hinges on the abduction of wealthy and virginal Cabiria (Lidia Quaranta) by pirates during the Roman/Carthaginian War of ancient times. Highlights (many of which were filmed on tinted stock) include the burning of the Roman fleet, an effect accomplished with miniatures and mirrors, and Hannibal's crossing of the Alps - with real Alps, and real elephants."


Spanish collectors card (minicard) by Chocolate Amatller, Barcelona, no. 7 of 12 cards. Photo: Itala Film. Picture from the Italian silent mega-epic Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914), starring Italia Almirante Manzini as Sophonisba, Umberto Mozzato as Fulvio Axilla, Lydia Quaranta as Cabiria and Bartolomeo Pagano as Maciste. The high priest Karthalo (Dante Testa) is called by Queen Sophonisba to explain her nightmare. In between them, in the back, we see the adult Cabiria (Lydia Quaranta).


Spanish collectors card (minicard) by Chocolate Amatller, Barcelona, no. 10 of 12 cards. Photo: Itala Film. Picture from the Italian silent mega-epic Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914), starring Italia Almirante Manzini as Sophonisba, Umberto Mozzato as Fulvio Axilla, Lydia Quaranta as Cabiria and Bartolomeo Pagano as Maciste. Here Maciste strangles the highpriest Karthalo (Dante Testa), but Cabiria holds him back.


Spanish collectors card (minicard) by Chocolate Amatller, Barcelona, no. 11 of 12 cards. Photo: Itala Film. Picture from the Italian silent mega-epic Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914), starring Italia Almirante Manzini as Sophonisba, Umberto Mozzato as Fulvio Axilla, Lydia Quaranta as Cabiria and Bartolomeo Pagano as Maciste. Here we see the death of Sophonisba, surrounded by Cabiria, Fulvio Axilla and the courtiers. She has poisoned herself, rather than become a slave to the Romans. 

Struck with Pulmonitis

Cabiria was an international success. Pastrone eventually created a whole series around one of the popular characters of the film, the strong man Maciste (played by Bartolomeo Pagano). Lydia Quaranta did not get this special exposure from Pastrone, but Cabiria did guarantee her many films offers in the years from 1915 to 1920, from various Turinese film companies, such as Gloria and Savoia.

Itala hired her again in 1919, for the then enormous sum of 10.000 lire per month. Among her memorable titles of this period are Iwna, perla del Gange/Iwna, Pearl of the Ganges (Giuseppe Pinto, 1914), Beffa di Satana/Mockery of Satan (Telemaco Ruggeri, 1915) with Dante Cappelli, Il romanzo di un atleta/The novel of an athlete (Vitorio Rossi Pianelli, 1915) with strong man Mario Guaita Ausonia, Nel vortice del peccato/In the vortex of sin (Telemaco Ruggeri, 1916) with Sandro Ruffini, Fiamma!/Flame! (Ettore Piergiovanni, 1920) with director Piergiovanni in the male lead as well, and I tre sentimentali/The three sentimental (Augusto Genina, 1921) - which film historian Vittorio Martinelli considered as her best film.

Hereafter, Quaranta moved to the Fert company, for which she did a few films such as the comedy Treno di piacere/Train of pleasure (Luciano Doria, 1924) with Alex Bernard.

In 1925 she played her last role, a small part in Mario Camerini’s Voglio tradire il mio marito/I want to betray my husband, starring Linda Pini. All in all Lydia Quaranta played in some 70 films.

In 1928, Quaranta was struck by an attack of pneumonia and died in her hometown Turin. She was only 36. Her sister Letizia (1893-1977) had a less intense but longer career. In 1921, she would marry film director Carlo Campogalliani and did various films with him, such as a few starring Maciste. Letizia had a twin sister Isabella (1892-1975) who also knew a career in Italian silent cinema between 1912 and 1917 but didn’t have the status her sisters had.


Italian postcard by Fotocelere, Torino, no. 66.


Italian postcard by Fotocelere, Torino.


Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna, no. 72.


Italian postcard, no. 316. Photo: Massaglia, Torino.

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Sandra Brennan (AllMovie), Cinema in Piemonte (Italian - now defunct), Wikipedia (Italian), and IMDb.

Three early films with Italia Almirante: Cabiria (1914), Tua per la vita (1917) and Il matrimonio di Olimpia (1918)

Italia Almirante (1890-1941) or Italia Almirante Manzini became one of the divas of the Italian silent cinema with Cabiria (1914). She worked with some of the most important Italian directors of the silent era, including Roberto Roberti, Augusto Genina and Giovanni Pastrone. Earlier, EFSP had posts on her later films L'innamorata/The Woman in Love (Gennaro Righelli, 1920), Zingari/Gypsies (Mario Almirante, 1920), La statua di carne/The statue of flesh (Mario Almirante, 1921), La chiromante/The Fortune Teller (Mario Almirante, 1922), La grande passione/The great passion (Mario Almirante, 1922), L'ombra/The Shadow (Mario Almirante, 1923) and L'arzigogolo/The Court Jester (1924). Today, we focus on three of her early films: Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914), Tua per la vita/Yours for life (Ugo De Simone, 1917) and Il matrimonio di Olimpia/Olympia's wedding (Gero Zambuto, 1918).

Cabiria (1914)

Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Amatller, Barcelona, no. 1 of 12 cards. Photo: Itala Film. Picture from the Italian silent mega-epic Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, Itala Film 1914). Here, the Punic army returns to the city Cirta. They have captured a few Roman soldiers among whom Fulvio Axilla (Umberto Mozzato) and Maciste (Bartolomeo Pagano).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Amatller, Barcelona, no. 2 of 12 cards. Photo: Itala Film. Teresa Marangoni as the nurse Croessa and Carolina Catena as young Cabiria in Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Amatller, Barcelona, no. 3 of 12 cards. Photo: Itala Film. The giant entrance to the Temple of Moloch in Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Amatller, Barcelona, no. 5 of 12 cards. Photo: Itala Film. Picture from the Italian silent mega-epic Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, Itala Film 1914). Here Sophonisba (Italia Almirante) and Massinissa (Vitale Di Stefano) are married.

Italia Almirante had her breakthrough in the cinema as the wicked Carthaginian queen Sofonisba in the influential costume epic Cabiria (1914). Director Giovanni Pastrone chose her for the role at the suggestion of author Gabriele D'Annunzio himself.

The film also starred Umberto Mozzato as Fulvio Axilla, Lydia Quaranta as Cabiria and Bartolomeo Pagano as Maciste.

A million lira was budgeted for the film, a tremendous sum then, and location shooting was extended to Tunisia, Sicily and the Alps. The result was a tremendous success and it had a direct influence on D.W. Griffith's production of Intolerance (1916).

Ivo Blom wrote an article about how director Giovanni Pastrone appropriated the book illustrations for the 1900 edition of Gustave Flaubert's 'Salammbô' for Cabiria.

This article in French, ‘Images spectaculaires: Cabiria de Pastrone et les illustrations de Salammbô de Flaubert par le peintre Rochegrosse’, has just been published this month in 'Le cinéma muet italien, à la croisée des arts, edited by Céline Gailleurd (Paris: Les Presses du Réel, 2022), pp. 162-191.

Take a sneak peek at the book. It includes two pages of Ivo Blom's article. Later in 2022, an Italian edition of the book will appear with publisher Kaplan.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Amatller, Barcelona, no. 7 of 12 cards. Photo: Itala Film. Picture from the Italian silent mega-epic Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914). The high priest Karthalo (Dante Testa) is called by Queen Sophonisba (Italia Almirante) to explain her nightmare. In between them, in the back, we see the adult Cabiria (Lydia Quaranta).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Amatller, Barcelona, no. 8 of 12 cards. Photo: Itala Film. Picture from the Italian silent mega-epic Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, Itala Film 1914). Here Queen Sophonisba receives her former lover and now adversary Massinissa (Vitale Di Stefano) in her palace at Cirta.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Amatller, Barcelona, no. 9 of 12 cards. Photo: Itala Film. Italia Almirante as princess Sophonisba in her boudoir in Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Amatller, Barcelona, no. 10 of 12 cards. Photo: Itala Film. Bartolomeo Pagano as Maciste in Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914). Maciste strangles the high priest Karthalo (Dante Testa), but Cabiria (Lydia Quaranta) holds him back.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Amatller, Barcelona, no. 11 of 12 cards. Photo: Itala Film. Italia Almirante as Sophonisba in Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914). Here we see the death of Sophonisba, surrounded by Cabiria, Fulvio Axilla and the courtiers. She has poisoned herself, rather than to become a slave to the Romans.

Tua per la vita (1917)

Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 1 of 6 cards. Photo: Gladiator Film /J. Verdaguer. Italia Almirante as Winny Workson in Tua per la vita/Yours for life (Ugo De Simone, 1917). The ruined Count Del Rio (Giuseppe Ciabattini) has set his eyes on the young widow and rich heiress Winny Workson, who has returned to Italy. She rejects the golddigger. He threatens her to avenge himself.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 2 of 6 cards. Photo: Gladiator Film /J. Verdaguer. Italia Almirante in Tua per la vita/Yours for life (Ugo De Simone, 1917). The vengeful Count Del Rio (Giuseppe Ciabattini), rejected by the young widow Winny, slanders her so Winny's father refuses a marriage between the two lovers. Winny begs the count in vain for mercy. The count's sister (Renata Torelli) is to the right here.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 3 of 6 cards. Photo: Gladiator Film /J. Verdaguer. Card for the film Tua per la vita/Yours for life (Ugo De Simone, 1917), starring Italia Almirante. Count Del Rio (Giuseppe Ciabattini) has just been poisoned. His sister (Renata Torelli) is devastated. The inventor Mari (Giovanni Casaleggio) is suspected, arrested and condemned.

After her lead as the princess, and later queen, Sofonisba in the mega-epic Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914) for Itala, Italia Almirante became one of the Italian film divas of the late 1910s and early 1910s, in most modern dramas, often adaptations of plays and novels.

Tua per la vita/Yours for life (Ugo De Simone, 1917) is probably one of the oldest of these for which we have cards in our collection, although Almirante did a handful of films before, particularly in 1916.

The plot deals with a young widow and rich heiress, Winny Workson (Italia Almirante), who has returned from the US to Italy to her father. She is haunted by an old, ruined aristocrat, Count Del Rio (Giuseppe Ciabbattaini).

Instead, she falls for an inventor, Mari (Giovanni Casaleggio), who believes he has failed in life and tries to commit suicide. Yet, Winny stops him and they fall in love. When she rejects the count, he takes revenge by slandering the inventor such that Winny's father refuses a marriage between the two lovers.

When afterwards during a hunting party, the count dies of poisoning, Mari is suspected as a flask is found with a poison he invented. He is arrested and condemned, but Winny doesn't give up on him. In the end, it is revealed that an employee, mistreated by the count, had taken revenge by poisoning him. Mari is freed and Winny and Mari are free to marry.

The Italian press thought the script of Tua per la vita/Yours for life was too old-hat and overly complicated but praised the performances of the actors, Italia Almirante in the first place.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 4 of 6 cards. Photo: Gladiator Film /J. Verdaguer. Probably Filippo Butera as the demented employee, who poisons his employer, the count Del Rio, who mistreated him, in Tua per la vita/Yours for life (Ugo De Simone, 1917), starring Italia Almirante.



Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 6 of 6 cards. Photo: Gladiator Film /J. Verdaguer. Italia Almirante in Tua per la vita/Yours for life (Ugo De Simone, 1917). Epilogue: Winny Workson and the count's sister reconcile.

Il matrimonio di Olimpia (1918)

Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 1 of 6 cards. Photo: Itala Film /J. Verdaguer. Italia Almirante in Il matrimonio di Olimpia/Olympia's wedding (Gero Zambuto, 1918).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 2 of 6 cards. Photo: Itala Film /J. Verdaguer. Italia Almirante in Il matrimonio di Olimpia/Olympia's wedding (Gero Zambuto, 1918).

Il matrimonio di Olimpia/Olympia's wedding (Gero Zambuto, 1918) was based on the play 'Le Mariage d'Olympe' (1885) by Émile Augier.

The celebrated mundane Olimpia Taverny (Italia Almirante) whose caprice is the law to all of her admirers, secretly has the dream of marriage, her own house and family, and a quiet and honest life. She finds the young marquis Vilbert, who falls in love with her and marries her.

Olimpia retakes her original name of Paolina Moris. But life is against her. After the feverish first times have passed, Vilbert notices he has no true sentiments for her anymore and rekindles his affair with his cousin. In a wild, rebellious act against life, Olimpia commits the final act which honours and purifies herself.

The Italian film journal La vita cinematografica wasn't very convinced by the film and thought the artistry of the original source was mistreated. Moreover, even while praising her performance, the critic asked himself why Almirante had to appear in a new attire in every shot.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 4 of 6 cards. Photo: Itala Film /J. Verdaguer. Italia Almirante in Il matrimonio di Olimpia/Olympia's wedding (Gero Zambuto, 1918).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 6 of 6 cards. Photo: Itala Film /J. Verdaguer. Italia Almirante and probably Alberto Nepoti in Il matrimonio di Olimpia/Olympia's wedding (Gero Zambuto, 1918).

Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Il cinema muto italiano, Vol. 1917 and 1918 - Italian), and IMDb.

Maciste all’Inferno (1926)

Today starts the 40th edition of Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, the world’s leading international silent-film festival, presented annually in Pordenone, northern Italy. EFSP will follow the festival highlights till 9 October with daily posts. We begin with the pre-opening film, Maciste all’Inferno/Maciste in Hell (Guido Brignone, 1926), which could be seen yesterday in Sacile. Once, Maciste all’Inferno inspired the young Federico Fellini to become a film director. He loved the silent film because of its weird, fairy-tale-like atmosphere. Italian actor Bartolomeo Pagano played the strong man Maciste for the first time in Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914). The enormous success of that film classic launched a series of Maciste films, produced in Italy and Germany.


Bartolomeo Pagano alias Maciste. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 478/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Riess.


Bartolomeo Pagano alias Maciste. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 478/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Riess.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano. Photo: Dist. Società Anonima Stefano Pittaluga. Publicity still for Maciste all'inferno (Guido Brignone 1926). Caption: The Inhabitants of the Underworld.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano. Photo: Dist. Società Anonima Stefano Pittaluga. Publicity still for Maciste all'inferno (Guido Brignone 1926). Caption: Maciste (Bartolomeo Pagano) called before king Pluto (Umberto Guarracino). At the right, seen on the back, Pluto's daughter Luciferina (Lucia Zanussi) is standing. The bold guy on the left must be Gerione (Mario Saio).


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano. Photo: Dist. Società Anonima Stefano Pittaluga. Publicity still for Maciste all'inferno (Guido Brignone 1926), starring Bartolomeo Pagano as Maciste. Caption: The Tomb of the Heresiarchs [heretics].

A call for Maciste

In 1913, film director and producer Giovanni Pastrone, manager of the Itala company of Turin, released a call for the interpreter of the character of the Nubic slave Maciste (a character created together with Gabriele D’Annunzio) for Pastrone’s super-production Cabiria (1914).

Out of 50 candidates from all over Italy, Pastrone selected Bartolomeo Pagano. According to another version, it was actor Domenico Gambino who noticed Pagano and signalled him to Pastrone, who, impressed by his physique, hired him for his epic film.

Overnight Pagano became an international success because of his physique and his image of a courageous, humorous, and no-nonsensical defender of the weak. In Cabiria, he uses his power to rescue a Roman girl out of the hands of the Carthaginian priests who want to offer her to Moloch.

Pastrone immediately saw opportunities and launched a series of films just around his character, starting with a film just called Maciste (1915). Deliberately, Maciste’s part in Cabiria, the splendour of the Itala studio, and Maciste’s work there were shown to impress audiences and tie them to the previous box office hit.

Of course, the plot deals with a damsel in distress, whom Maciste saves with his muscles and his wit. During the First World War Pastrone used Maciste for war propaganda in Maciste alpino (1916), in which Maciste fiercely opposes the Austrian soldiers when he and his colleagues are captured during a film shoot on location.

The success of the film made Pastrone exploit Maciste in all kinds of situations and genres, but mostly in the adventure and crime genre: Maciste medium, Maciste atleta, Maciste poliziotto (all 1918), Maciste innamorato (1919), La trilogia di Maciste (1920), Maciste salvato dalle acque, Maciste in vacanza (both 1921).

By now Pastrone did not direct the films anymore but left this task to skilled directors like Luigi Romano Borgnetto. While not all of these were good productions, a better example was La Trilogia di Maciste by Carlo Campogalliani.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano. Photo: Dist. Società Anonima Stefano Pittaluga. Bartolomeo Pagano as Maciste in Maciste all'inferno (Guido Brignone, 1926).


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano. Photo: Dist. Società Anonima Stefano Pittaluga. Franz Sala as the devil Barbariccia in Maciste all’inferno (Guido Brigone, 1926). Franz Sala aka Francesco Sala (1886-1952) was a prolific actor of the Italian silent cinema, mostly playing the evil antagonist. In the 1930s he was active as a makeup artist.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 714. Photo: Dist. Società Anonima Stefano Pittaluga. Elena Sangro as Proserpina, wife of Pluto, king of the underworld, in Maciste all'inferno (Guido Brignone, 1926).


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano. Photo: Dist. Società Anonima Stefano Pittaluga. Domenico Serra as Giorgio in Maciste all'inferno (Guido Brignone 1925).


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 715. Photo: Dist. Società Anonima Stefano Pittaluga. Pauline Polaire in Maciste all'inferno (Guido Brignone, 1926).


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano. Photo: Dist. Società Anonima Stefano Pittaluga. Publicity still for Maciste all'inferno (Guido Brignone, 1926), starring Bartolomeo Pagano as Maciste and Pauline Polaire as Graziella.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano. Photo: Dist. Società Anonima Stefano Pittaluga. Publicity still for Maciste all'inferno (Guido Brignone, 1926), starring Bartolomeo Pagano as Maciste and Umberto Guarracino as King Pluto.

The outside world didn’t know

In Italy a strong man or forzuti genre in film sprang up, creating space for characters such as Ausonia, Galaor, Ajax, and Sansone, and attracting competing for strong men and physical culture champions such as Giovanni Raicevich.

Pagano’s Maciste was also simply pirated abroad, such as by the French actor Michel Bonnet with his character Magiste, and another rip-off in Mexico. French critic Louis Delluc called him the Guitry of biceps, while newcomers Ultus (Aurele Sydney) and Douglas Fairbanks were launched as the British and the American Maciste.

In the late 1910s and early 1920s, Maciste’s popularity was biggest in Austria and Germany, despite the preceding anti-Austrian Maciste alpino. At home in Italy, Maciste’s image of superman coincided with the new fascist ideology. In the 1920s Pagano was one of the best-paid actors of his times, sometimes gaining 600.000 lire a year.

The Maciste-films continued until the early 1920s, when, not so much because of the collapse of the Italian film production but rather because of a fabulous contract, Pagano went to Berlin, the mecca of the European film industry. Here he stayed between 1921 and 1923, but according to the film press, he wasn’t as successful there as in Italy.

He played in Maciste und die Javanerin (Uwe Jenss Kraft, 1921), Maciste und die Tochter des Silberkönig (Luigi Romano Borgnetto, 1921), Maciste und der Sträfling Nr. 51 (Luigi Romano Borgnetto 1921), and Maciste und die Chinesische Truhe (Carl Boese, 1923).

Dissatisfied, Pagano returned to Italy, where producer Stefano Pittaluga immediately put him on a transatlantic for the film Maciste e il nipote d’America (Eleuterio Rodolfi, 1924), which included scenes shot in New York.

Among less convincing titles such as Maciste imperatore (Guido Brignone), the same Brignone directed Pagano in Maciste all’Inferno (Guido Brignone, 1926), a witty and artful pastiche on Dante, Doré, Méliès, Expressionism and medieval illustrations. It also contains ingenious special effects by ‘magician’ Segundo de Chomon.

The devil takes Maciste down to hell in an attempt to corrupt and ruin his morality.

When entering Hades, Maciste is being seduced by Proserpina, played by Italian diva Elena Sangro, and he turns into a hairy devil himself. The film was dear to Federico Fellini, because of its weird, fairy-tale-like atmosphere; the film supposedly inspired him to become a film director.

Bored with his Maciste films, Pagano asked and got different roles: Il vetturale del Moncenisio (Baldassarre Negroni, 1927), Giuditta e Oloferne (1928) starring Jia Ruskaja, and his last part (a secondary one by now) in L’ultimo Zar (Baldassarre Negroni, 1928).

Afflicted by diabetes, though, Pagano withdrew to his Villa Maciste in Sant’Ilario Ligure near Genua. Physical mishap destroyed his forces, typhoid reduced his weight in drastic ways, while arthritis even obliged him to spend his last years in a wheelchair. The outside world didn’t know.

Bartolomeo Pagano died in Genua on 24 June 1947, because of a heart attack. According to Italian film historian Vittorio Martinelli, Pagano never was a real actor, but rather the lively personification of a character from popular literature.

His character’s name though remains a synonym for power and courage. In 1960-1965 Maciste was revived in the sword and sandal films with Mark Forrest, Gordon Scott, Kirk Morris, Ed Fury, and other bodybuilders, while in the early 1970s Jesus Franco made two low-budget Maciste-films for French producers.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 9. Photo: Dist. Società Anonima Stefano Pittaluga. Elena Sangro as Cinzia and René [Raoul] Mayllard as prince Otis [Ortis] in the Fert production Maciste imperatore (Guido Brignone, 1924). In the kingdom of Sindagna, the prince regent Stanos tries with all means to dispose of the legitimate heir to the throne, prince Ortis. When Maciste and Saetta happen to be in the chaotic empire, they set things straight for the poor, weak prince. Maciste is proclaimed emperor of Sindagna after getting rid of the regent and his puppet ruler restores peace and arranges that the prince can also be united with his beloved one. The plotline comes close to Mussolini's take over of Italy, 'helping' the weak king Victor Emmanuel III and 'restoring order'.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano. Photo: Dist. Società Anonima Stefano Pittaluga. Lucia Zanussi as Luciferina, Pluto's daughter, in the Fert production Maciste imperatore (Guido Brignone, 1924).


French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 368. Bartolomeo Pagano aka Maciste in Maciste all'inferno (Guido Brignone, 1926).


Italian postcard. Photo: Pittaluga Film, Turin. Maciste (Bartolomeo Pagano) in Maciste contro lo sceicco/Maciste against the Sheik (Mario Camerini, 1926).


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 76. Photo: Pittaluga Film, Turin. Maciste (Bartolomeo Pagano) in Maciste nella gabbia dei leoni/Maciste in the Lion's cage (Guido Brignone, 1926).


Italian postcard. Photo: Pittaluga Film, Turin. Maciste (Bartolomeo Pagano) in Maciste nella gabbia dei leoni/Maciste in the Lion's cage (Guido Brignone, 1926).


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 787. Photo: Dist. Società Anonima Stefano Pittaluga. Cecyl Tryan in the Fert production Maciste contro lo sceicco/Maciste against the Sheik (Mario Camerini, 1926). Cecyl Tryan is the young girl whose tutor (Franz Sala) and his spendthrift mistress (Rita d'Harcourt) want to steal her inheritance and sell her to a sheik. Aboard the ship, she is menaced by the crew but a young sailor (Lido Manetti) and Maciste (Bartolomeo Pagano) rescue her. In the harbour, the sheik manages to abduct the girl and place her in his harem, but Maciste and the young man use power and wits to liberate her, defeat the sheik and sail back to Italy to set things straight there too.


Spanish version of Italian postcard. Retro announcing Maciste all'inferno (Guido Brignone, 1926) at the Cine Moderno. Tipografia de Antonio Homar. Pont d'Inca. Thursday 2 September refers to the year 1926.

Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Maciste & Co. I giganti buoni del cinema italiano - Italian), Wikipedia (Italian) and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 4 October 2021.