Isa Pola

Photogenic actress Isa Pola (1909-1984) became during the 1930s and 1940s a true diva of the Italian cinema. She showed her frankness and passion for acting in such films as La canzone dell'amore (1930), La telefonista (1932) and Vittorio de Sica's I bambini ci guardano (1943).


Italian postcard in the Cines Pittaluga series by Casa Edit. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 2574. Photo: Cines Pittaluga.


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 39. Photo: Cines. Pittaluga, Roma. Isa Pola and Elio Steiner in La canzone dell'amore (Gennaro Righelli, 1930).


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano. Photo: Cines-Pittaluga, Roma.


Italian postcard. Photo: Pesce / Scalera Film. Isa Pola as Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana (Amleto Palermi, 1939).


Italian postcard by Hector, no. 2.20, 1941. Photo: Pexce / Scalera Film. Isa Pola in Lucrezia Borgia (Hans Hinrich, 1940).


Italian card by ASER, Rome, no. 240. Photo: Pesce / Scalera Film. Isa Pola in Una signora dell'ovest / Girl of the Golden West (Carl Koch, 1942).

Something captivating and almost perverse

Isa Pola was born Maria Luisa Betti di Montesano in Bologna, Italy, in 1909. Isa had a passion for acting and cinema at an early stage, and chose as her stage name Pola. She was beautiful, photogenic, and had something captivating and almost perverse.

She made her film debut with a small part in Martiri d'Italia / Martyrs of Italy (Domenico Gaido, 1927). Other small parts followed in which she was typecast as the evil adventuress. This eventually led to her first major part in Myriam (Enrico Guazzoni, 1928).

After the introduction of sound film, Pola’s career really took off. She played the antagonist of Dria Paola in the first Italian sound film La canzone dell’amore / The Song of Love (Gennaro Righelli, 1930). From that film on, Pola became a true diva of the Italian sound cinema. With her photogenic qualities, frankness and pleasant voice, she broke with the tradition of the languid divas of the silent era.

She continued her success throughout the 1930s with such hit films as Terra madre / Mother Earth (Alessandro Blasetti, 1931) opposite Leda Gloria, La Wally (Guido Brignone, 1931) featuring Germana Paolieri, L'ultima avventura / The Last Adventure (Mario Camerini, 1932), La telefonista / The Switchboard Operator (Nunzio Malasomma, 1932), Acciaio / Steel (Walther Ruttmann, 1933) and the comedy L'anonima Roylott / The Anonymous Roylott (Raffaello Matarazzo, 1936).

Her part as a serious and streetwise telephone operator in La telefonista contrasted with her previous vamp roles and gave her image a new, interesting twist. Thanks to this versatility, her career quickly marched on. As a popular diva of the Italian screens, she starred together with the big male stars of those years: Fosco Giachetti, Gino Cervi, Rossano Brazzi and Antonio Centa, alternating the type of the perfidious, insatiable woman with the honest and pious wife, and the defenceless girl with the adulterous bourgeois lady. She played Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana (Amleto Palermi, 1939) opposite Leonardo Cortese as Turiddu, she performed the title role in Lucrezia Borgia (Hans Hinrich, 1940), and did the female lead of Arianna in the now lost Western Una signora dell’ovest / Girl of the Golden West (Carl Koch, 1942) with Michel Simon, Rossano Brazzi and Valentina Cortese.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 15. Photo: Cines-Pittaluga, Roma. Postcard for the Italian early sound film Terra madre / Mother Earth (Alessandro Blasetti, 1931), with on the right Leda Gloria as Emilia and Sandro Salvini as Duke Marco. Left in the back, Isa Pola as Daisy and her friend, played by Giorgio Bianchi.


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines-Pittaluga. Carlo Ninchi and Isa Pola in La Wally (Guido Brignone, 1932).


Italian postcard, no. 6. Photo: Cines-Pittaluga. Germana Paolieri and Isa Pola in La cantante dell'opera (Nunzio Malasomma, 1932).


Italian postcard by Scalera, Roma / Zincografia, Firenze. Photo: Pesce. In the drama Cavalleria rusticana (Amleto Palermi, 1939), Isa Pola and Leonardo Cortese had the leads. The film was based on the work of Giovanni Verga, which was also turned into an opera by Pietro Mascagni.


German postcard by Das Programm von Heute, Berlin / Ross. Photo: Difu. Isa Pola in Il ponte di vetro / Bridge of Glass (Goffredo Alessandrini, 1940).


Italian postcard. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Perfidious and adulterous woman

A highlight in Isa Pola's career was her part of the wife of Emilio Cigoli, who betrays her husband with Adriano Rimoldi in Vittorio De Sica’s realist melodrama I bambini ci guardano / The Children Are Watching Us (1943). Joel Kanoff at Film Reference: "With I bambini ci guardano, De Sica teamed with Cesare Zavattini, who was to become his major collaborator for the next three decades. Together they began to demonstrate elements of the post-war realist aesthetic which, more than any other director except Visconti and Rossellini, De Sica helped shape and determine.

Despite the overt melodrama of the misogynistic story (a young mother destroys her family by deserting them), the filmmaker refused to narrow the perspective through an overwrought Hollywoodian mise-en-scène, preferring instead a refreshing simplicity of composition and a subdued editing style. Much of the film's original flavour can be traced to the clear, subjective mediation of a child, as promised in the title."

In the postwar era, Isa Pola returned to the cliché of the perfidious and adulterous woman in Furia / Fury (Goffredo Alessandrini, 1947) with Gino Cervi, Ombre sul Canal Grande / Shadows on the Grand Canal (Glauco Pellegrini, 1951) with Antonio Centa, and Tre storie proibite / Three Forbidden Stories (Augusto Genina, 1952) with Gabriele Ferzetti as the mother of Lia Amanda.

Until the late 1950s, Isa Pola stayed active in cinema, while pursuing a modest career on television on the side in the years 1957-1959. After having started on stage in revues with Nino Besozzi, Antonio Gandusio and Enrico Viarisio, Pola turned towards prose theatre. Thanks to her clear voice and her perfect mastery of Venetian dialect, she excelled on stage with the Compagnia del Teatro Veneto, in particular in 1936 with 'La vedova' (The widow) and in 1947 alongside Cesco Baseggio in 'Il bugiardo' (The Liar).

In addition to comedies by Carlo Goldoni, she also performed in texts by Giacinto Gallina, George Bernard Shaw ('Non si sa mai / You Never Can Tell'), Alberto Moravia ('Gli indifferenti / The indifferent'), Torquato Tasso ('Intrighi d'amore / Intrigues of love'), Gabriele D'Annunzio ('La fiaccola sotto il moggio / The Light under a Bushel') and Luigi Pirandello. She was also striking in comical theatre alongside Alberto Bonucci in 1958. After having retired, Isa Pola died in 1984 in Milan, at the age of 74.


Italian postcard by Rizzoli, Milano, 1937. Photo: Demanins.


Italian postcard by Rizzoli, Milano, 1938.


Italian postcard by Rizzoli, Milano, 1939. Photo: Pesce.


Italian postcard by Rizzoli, Milano, 1940. Photo: Pesce. Portrait for Cavalleria rusticana (Amleto Palermi, 1939).


Italian postcard by Rizzoli, Milano, 1941.


Italian postcard by Rizzoli, Milano, 1942. Photo: Scalera Film.

Sources: Joel Kanoff (Film Reference), CinéArtistes (French), Wikipedia (Italian), and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 22 April 2026.

Terra madre (1931)

Terra madre/Mother Earth (Alessandro Blasetti, 1931), is an Italian early sound film starring Leda Gloria, Sandro Salvini, and Isa Pola. The rural drama was produced by Cines-Pittaluga. The photography of the film shows a great expressive value in chiaroscuro and depth, as can be seen on the postcards, published by G.B. Falci.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 14. Photo: Cines-Pittaluga, Roma. Sandro Salvini in Terra madre/Mother Earth (Alessandro Blasetti, 1931). Here in the middle, Duke Marco (Salvini) quarrels with another man, who is difficult to recognise. he could be Vasco Creti, who plays the foreman and father of Emilia.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 15. Photo: Cines-Pittaluga, Roma. Leda Gloria and Sandro Salvini in Terra madre/Mother Earth (Alessandro Blasetti, 1931). On the right Gloria as Emilia and Salvini as Duke Marco. Left in the back, Isa Pola as Daisy and her friend, played by Giorgio Bianchi.

An indication of the social and lyrical value of rural life

Sandro Salvini plays Duke Marco, who has been living in the city for a long time, far from the lands he owns. He only returns when he decides to sell them to maintain a costly standard of living which also includes his mistress Daisy (Isa Pola).

His return is welcomed by peasants hoping he'll stay with them. During a solitary tour of his lands, in which he remembers his youth in the countryside with growing nostalgia, Marco meets Emilia (Leda Gloria), the farmer's daughter, and is struck by her spontaneous energy and freshness. When the peasants learn about the news of the sale their enthusiasm turns into disappointment, but Marco, pressured by financial needs, returns to the city with Daisy to sign the documents.

Here he is joined by a phone call from Emilia informing him of a serious fire that broke out on the farm. At that point, Marco leaves everything, runs into the countryside, directs the victorious fight against the fire and decides to revoke the sale. He will stay to take care of his lands and he will marry Emilia.

Terra Madre was drawn from a subject entitled 'Passa la morte', written in 1930 by Camillo Apolloni, a former actor of silent cinema, which was purchased in 1930 by Cines, which was relaunched by Stefano Pittaluga as the first Italian company in the production of sound cinema.

On the basis of this text, Alessandro Blasetti, in collaboration with the writer and silent film director Gianni Bistolfi, wrote the script with the intention of providing "an indication of the social and lyrical value of rural life". Two parties contested the originality of the story, but years after, Blasetti claimed that from the original story "only the boots of the farmer" had remained.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 16. Photo: Cines-Pittaluga, Roma. Leda Gloria and Sandro Salvini in Terra madre/Mother Earth (Alessandro Blasetti, 1931).

A current of fascism or Soviet-style realism?

Alessandro Blasetti was one of the group of critics gathered around the magazine Cinematografo, who vehemently criticised Pittaluga for years. In 1930, Blasetti and some of his collaborators entered the Cines and became its staunch defenders. The Roman director thus had the opportunity, after the searing failure of Sole (1929) to resume the themes of 'rebirth' at his new studio Cines-Pittaluga.

He did this first with Resurrectio (1931) and then with Terra Madre (1931), in which he revived the 'ruralist' spirit already present in his debut film Sole. It was the contrast between the urban world, considered indolent and parasitic (the 'Stracittà'), and the peasant one (the 'Strapaese'), seen as strong and healthy by a current of fascism, the one born in the countryside, favourable to the preservation of the rural character of the Italian people. Along with Blasetti's other early films, Terra Madre also shows a strong influence of Soviet-style realism.

The film - one of the 10 feature films issued by Cines-Pittaluga in the 1930-1931 season - was shot at theatre 3 of the Cines in Via Vejo in Rome, between September 1930 and January 1931. Locations in the Roman countryside were used for the exteriors. Like the first sound film released in Italy, Gennaro Righelli's La canzone dell'amore, Terra Madre was a co-production of which a German version was made, again at the Cines, on behalf of the company Atlas of Berlin. Kennst Du das Land (1931) was interpreted in the two main roles by Hans Adalbert Schlettow and Maria Solveg (as Maria Matray), and directed by Constantin J. David, who also had directed the German version of the Righelli film.

The future directors Ferdinando Maria Poggioli and Goffredo Alessandrini also worked on the set of Terra Madre. They had entered the Cines as scriptwriter and assistant, both from the group around Cinemagrafo. In early 1931, the magazine had ceased publication when most of its authors were employed by Pittaluga.

Particularly important for highlighting the contrast between city and countryside was the musical comment given on one side to Foxtrot motifs and the other to the rhythm of a popular 'saltarello' and to five choirs performed by the Camerata Lughese of the Canterini Romagnoli. A lot of attention was also paid to photography, so much so that to the two hired operators (Montuori and De Luca) a third assistant joined them, the almost newcomer Clemente Santoni, producing a result of great expressive value in chiaroscuro and depth.

Terra madre was released in March 1931 and was a big success, both critically and commercially. This also was the case for the German version, and equally for a French dubbed version called Le rappel de la terre. Also in Latin America, it was very successful.

Critics were not unanimous in their praise. Some rather praised Pittaluga's effort to raise the new national sound cinema and were less convinced by Blasetti's direction, claiming that in comparison with Sole, in Terra madre the landscape had lost their primitive, raw and pure beauty. Others, such as Leo Longanesi, considered Sole and Terra madre on a par, on equal height. Longanesi called it "a masterpiece of rural rhetoric, an oleograph of our times."


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 20. Photo: Cines-Pittaluga, Roma. Publicity still for Terra madre/Mother Earth (Alessandro Blasetti, 1931).


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 30. Photo: Cines-Pittaluga, Roma. Leda Gloria in Terra madre/Mother Earth (Alessandro Blasetti, 1931).

Source: Wikipedia (Italian and English) and IMDb.

La canzone dell’amore (1930)

This week's film special is about the first Italian sound film, La canzone dell’amore/The Song of Love (1930) directed by Gennaro Righelli. Lead actors of this popular sob story were Dria Paola, Elio Steiner and Isa Pola. Dria Paola became a star overnight.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 887. Photo: Cines Pittaluga, Roma, no. 38. Publicity still of Dria Paola in La canzone dell’amore (1930).

Quite Absurd Story

La canzone dell’amore/The Song of Love (Gennaro Righelli, 1930) was the first Italian sound feature - released in Italy and entirely produced in Italy. It was distributed by Societa Anonima Stefano Pittaluga and produced by Società Italiana Cines.

Alessandro Blasetti's Resurrectio/The Resurrection was in fact the first sound film produced in Italy, but it was only released in 1931. Allegedly because La canzone dell’amore was thought to be more commercial, and indeed, Resurrectio became a box-office flop.

The quite absurd story of La canzone dell’amore is about a young woman who adopts the baby her mother gave birth to. It was based very loosely on a short story by Luigi Pirandello, In silenzio (In Silence).

While her widowed mother dies giving birth, music student Lucia (Dria Paola) adopts little Ninni, pretending to her fiancé Enrico (Elio Steiner) and her landlady it is her own child.

Lucia breaks up her engagement with Enrico, who is about to become a big musician. Lucia’s rival Anna, played by another upcoming star: Isa Pola, gets hold of Enrico. But when Lucia and Enrico later on meet in the big record store where Lucia works and where Enrico is making a record, he admits he still loves her.

The father of the child (Camillo Pilotto) shows up and claims the child. Heartbroken, Lucia gives in but tries to commit suicide afterwards. Just in time Enrico saves her, the father gives the child to Lucia and all is well.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 888. Photo: Cines Pittaluga, Roma, no. 39. Isa Pola and Elio Steiner in La canzone dell'amore (Gennaro Righelli, 1930).


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 889. Photo: Cines Pittaluga, Roma, no. 40. Lucia (Dria Paola) and Enrico (Elio Steiner) hide from their friends in order to be able to kiss each other, in La canzone dell’amore (1930).

Double Framing

La canzone dell’amore opens and closes with images of Rome, and is actually one of the few Italian films from the 1930s showing the city repeatedly.

Stylistically important are the different moments of double framing, when Lucia looks out from her rented rooms and mimics neighbours how to change diapers and feed the child. Interesting is also Righelli’s visualisation of Lucia’s frenzy at her suicide attempt and his pans across the enormous set of the record store.

La canzone dell’amore had its premiere on 7 October 1930 at the Supercinema in Rome, the actual Teatro Nazionale. The film was a popular success, not in the least because of the music composed by Cesare Andrea Bixio, whose well-known song Solo per te Lucia became a hit as well.

Gerald A. DeLuca at IMDb: "Although laced with elements of soap opera, the film is nicely acted and manages to engross the viewer so that one really cares about what happens to this poor woman and her 'son' that she has grown to love. The boy, at the age of 14 months, is played by this sweetheart of a kid named Nello Rocchi. The film has some genuinely touching moments. My favorite one is when Lucia is at a loss about how to change and diaper the child on her first day with him. She looks out the apartment window across the way at another mom who is bathing, changing, and nursing her own child. Lucia imitates what the other mother is doing as though the neighbor were providing how-to instructions in motherhood. The only thing she cannot imitate is the breast-feeding; Lucia ponders the difference between herself and her neighbor, then grabs the baby-bottle to feed little Ninní. All this is accompanied by a lovely ninna-nanna in the background."

The film also had two alternate-language versions, one in German, Liebes Lied (Constantin J. Davis, 1931) starring Gustav Fröhlich and Renate Müller, and one in French, La dernière berceuse (Jean Cassagne, 1931) with Jean Angelo and Dolly Davis.

Lead actress Dria Paola became a star overnight. But soon the thin actress with the big head and fluttering hands was type casted as the fragile and sometimes clumsy damsel in distress. She could never repeat the success of her first sound film, and retired in the 1940s.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 883. Photo: Cines Pittaluga, Roma, no. 40. After an attempted suicide, Lucia (Dria Paola) and Enrico (Elio Steiner) make up towards the end of La canzone dell’amore (1930). The cityscape of Rome in the background.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 885. Photo: Cines Pittaluga, Roma, no. 43. Publicity still of Dria Paola in La canzone dell’amore (1930).

Sources: Wikipedia (Italian), and IMDb.