Val d'Olivi (1916)

The Italian film studio Ambrosio produced Val d'Olivi/Valley of the Olive Trees (Eleuterio Rodolfi, 1916) to boost the war effort during the First World War. The historical film looked back at the struggles during the liberation and unification of Italy in the 19th century, known as the 'Risorgimento'. The lead actors were Tullio Carminati, Paul Donadio, and Polish singer and actress Helena Makowska, and the film was based on the romantic novel by Anton Giulio Barrili (1873). Ivo Blom acquired the complete original Italian set of 12 postcards made by IPA CP Duplex to promote the film.


Italian postcard by V. Uff. Rev. St., Terni / IPA CT Duplex. no. 1702. Photo: Film Società Anonima Ambrosio Torino. Postcard for the Italian historical propaganda film Val d'Olivi (Eleuterio Rodolfi, 1916). Caption: The duchess d'Andrate (Helena Makowska) and Don Flavio Delaiti (Tullio Carminati).


Italian postcard by V. Uff. Rev. St., Terni / IPA CT Duplex. no. 1703. Photo: Film Società Anonima Ambrosio Torino. Postcard for Val d'Olivi (Eleuterio Rodolfi, 1916). Caption: The duchess of Andrate (Helena Makowska) disembarks, helped by Emanuele Lanfranco (Paul Donadio). The old man helping her too is Lanfranco's father (Umberto Scalpellini).


Italian postcard by V. Uff. Rev. St., Terni / IPA CT Duplex. no. 1704. Photo: Film Società Anonima Ambrosio Torino. Postcard for Val d'Olivi (Eleuterio Rodolfi, 1916). Caption: Don Flaviano Delaiti (Tullio Carminati) informs himself about the duchess.


Italian postcard by V. Uff. Rev. St., Terni / IPA CT Duplex. no. 1705. Photo: Film Società Anonima Ambrosio Torino. Postcard for Val d'Olivi (Eleuterio Rodolfi, 1916). Caption: The aristocrat Don Flaviano Delaiti (Tullio Carminati) follows the duchess of Andrate (Helena Makowska). Carminati stands in the back. Left of Makowska we see Umberto Scalpellini as the old naval captain Lanfranco and right of her Paul Donadio as Emanuele Lanfranco.


Italian postcard by V. Uff. Rev. St., Terni / IPA CT Duplex. no. 1706. Photo: Film Società Anonima Ambrosio Torino. Postcard for Val d'Olivi (Eleuterio Rodolfi, 1916). Caption: Flaviano Delaiti (Tullio Carmminati) delivers the duchess (Helena Makowska) the arrow found by Emanuele Lanfranco (Paul Donadio).


Italian postcard by V. Uff. Rev. St., Terni / IPA CT Duplex. no. 1707. Photo: Film Società Anonima Ambrosio Torino. Postcard for Val d'Olivi (Eleuterio Rodolfi, 1916). Caption: Garibaldi returns from his island, acclaimed by the populace.

A difficult adaptation of a romantic, sentimental novel

The author of 'Val d'Olivi', the Italian novelist and journalist Anton Giulio Barrili (1836-1908), was a volunteer in the campaign of 1859 and served with Garibaldi in 1866 and 1867. From 1865 onwards he published a large number of books of fiction, which had wide popularity.

Some of the best of his later novels are 'Santa Cecilia' (1866), 'Come un Sogno' (1875), and 'L’Olmo e l'Edera' (1877). Barrili also wrote two plays and various volumes of criticism, including 'Il rinnovamento letterario italiano' (1890). He was elected to the Italian chamber of deputies in 1876; and in 1889 became professor of Italian literature at Genoa.

Barrili's 'Val d'Olivi' appeared in 1873. Arrigo Frusta turned the novel into a film script for Ambrosio. Dawn of 28 February 1867, the gentleman Flaviano Delaiti returns from a trip to France to Liguria, but his coach is overthrown. On foot, he arrives at Noli, where he sees a boat landing. Among the people descending is Donna Giulia, whom he courted in vain in Milan in his younger years. She married but her husband, an unworthy man, died.

Hoping to rekindle the old flame and the gaiety of their old times in Milan, Flaviano starts courting Giulia again, but she prefers another man, the timid Emanuele, nephew of Captain Lanfranco. Emotions are cooked up, and finally, the two men declare each other their love for the same woman. A duel is pending. But Giulia rejects Flaviano and when Emanuele manages to declare her his love, she remains silent.

So both men leave for war when Garibaldi from Caprera raises his call for volunteers to free Italy. The two rivals in love meet again in Garibaldi's army., which crosses the border of the Papal State and heads for Rome. At last, Giulia recognises her love for Emanuele, and with his uncle she searches for him at the battlefield. Severely wounded, Emanuele forgets his pains in the arms of his beloved.

While Garibaldi's army is standing before Rome, Flaviano is shot and dies. His last thoughts are for his beloved Giulia. "Thus Flaviano Delaiti died, eight months after his trip to France and his return to Liguria." Val d'Olivi, directed by Eleuterio Rodolfi, premiered in Rome on 3 May 1916, during the First World War.

The press was mixed about the film. Fandor, in the Roman journal Il Tirso al Cinematografo (7.5.1916) lauded what must have been a difficult adaptation of the romantic, sentimental novel and praised Rodolfi's balanced and restrained direction. Fandor also praised Carminati's acting, and while judging Makowska's acting cold, it was still promising and foretold a future career.

Instead, Pier da Castello in La Vita Cinematografica (7/ 15.5.1916), by the way a journal based in Ambrosio's hometown Turin, judged the adaptation too schematic and missing the finesses of the novel. While mise-en-scene and cinematography were praised, among the actors Carminati stood out, while Makowska, even if physically beautiful, was felt lifeless.


Italian postcard by V. Uff. Rev. St., Terni / IPA CT Duplex. no. 1708. Photo: Film Società Anonima Ambrosio Torino. Postcard for Val d'Olivi (Eleuterio Rodolfi, 1916). Caption: Captain Delaiti (Tullio Carminati) recognises his rival Emanuele Lanfranco (Paul Donadio) among the volunteers.


Italian postcard by V. Uff. Rev. St., Terni / IPA CT Duplex. no. 1709. Photo: Film Società Anonima Ambrosio Torino. Postcard for Val d'Olivi (Eleuterio Rodolfi, 1916). Caption: Garibaldi on his island, guarded by rigorous [enemy] battleships.


Italian postcard by V. Uff. Rev. St., Terni / IPA CT Duplex. no. 1710. Photo: Film Società Anonima Ambrosio Torino. Postcard for Val d'Olivi (Eleuterio Rodolfi, 1916). Caption: The volunteers have a break before passing the border of the Papal State.


Italian postcard by V. Uff. Rev. St., Terni / IPA CT Duplex. no. 1711. Photo: Film Società Anonima Ambrosio Torino. Postcard for Val d'Olivi (Eleuterio Rodolfi, 1916). Caption: Don Flaviano Delaiti (Tullio Carminati) falls at Monterotondo.


Italian postcard by V. Uff. Rev. St., Terni / IPA CT Duplex. no. 1712. Photo: Film Società Anonima Ambrosio Torino. Postcard for Val d'Olivi (Eleuterio Rodolfi, 1916). Caption: The duchess of Andrate (Helena Makowska) and Captain Lanfranco (Umberto Scalpellini) assist the wounded Emmanuele (Paul Donadio).


Italian postcard by V. Uff. Rev. St., Terni / IPA CT Duplex. no. 1713. Photo: Film Società Anonima Ambrosio Torino. Postcard for Val d'Olivi (Eleuterio Rodolfi, 1916). Caption: Caught! The actress in the back is Helena Makowska, the man may be Vittorio Rossi-Pianelli.

Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Il cinema muto italiano, Vol. 1918), Wikipedia (Italian), and IMDb. The plot description is from the Italian-written brochure of the film, kindly shown to us by the Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Turin.

Vertigine (1919)

Hesperia, Tullio Carminati and Ida Carloni Talli were the stars of the Italian silent drama Vertigine/Vertigo love (Baldassarre Negroni, 1919), produced by Film d'Arte Italiana (FAI). In Spain the film was distributed as El Vertigo and Chocolat Imperial published a series of six coloured 'cromos' of the film.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperial, Grandes Exclusivas Verdaguer, no. 1 (in a series of 6 'cromos'). Photo: FAI. Hesperia in Vertigine (Baldassarre Negroni, 1919). Unknown is who the two men are.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperial, Grandes Exclusivas Verdaguer, no. 2 (in a series of 6 'cromos'). Photo: FAI. Giovanni Schettini, Hesperia and Tullio Carminati in Vertigine (Baldassarre Negroni, 1919).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperial, Grandes Exclusivas Verdaguer, no. 3 (in a series of 6 'cromos'). Photo: FAI. Tullio Carminati and Hesperia in Vertigine (Baldassarre Negroni, 1919).

Two men who marked her rise and fall

None of our sources describes the plot of Vertigine/Vertigo love (Baldassarre Negroni, 1919), but happily the plot is described on the back of the Spanish collectors cards. We translated the Spanish texts for this post.

A party takes place at the Royal Palace in Birlandia, when the Prince Regent substitutes the Royal couple Marisa and Carlos de Seydoon who are dethroned. Carlos is killed by counter-revolutionaries, while Marisa, chased from the court, leads a life as countess Marisa de Seydoon (Hesperia).

She goes to Rome by train, by chance in the same compartment as count Enzo (Tullio Carminati) who is unaware of her beauties, so she uses all her assets to seduce him. They get acquainted at the dinner wagon and because of trouble with the train, they share the same hotel.

They make several excursions together during which their love blossoms. They meet on old study friend of Enzo, Fausto Ursini (Giovanni Schettini). Ursini visits Enzo because he needs money as creditors want to take away the estate so dear to his mother (Ida Carloni Talli). Touched, Enzo helps him and buys the estate.

Marisa passes wonderful days at the estate, while both she and Fausto's mother don't know it is by now Enzo's property. While Enzo is away, and the summer blossoms drug Fausto and Marisa, the two young people fall in love, even if Marisa keeps her distance. When Enzo returns, Marisa is afraid he may find out and accuses Fausto of ingratitude towards Enzo.

Fausto's mother suspects something is going on, but also Enzo notices Marisa is not herself. She finally admits Fausto has declared her his love. Enzo, blind of rage, reacts to Fausto, who admits his guilt and offers his life. Enzo instead forces Fausto to reveal his mother the truth. Fausto cannot cope with so much disgrace to his mother, so he commits suicide.

Enzo, realising that his woman will now forever doubt him, disappears. Marisa, who before felt the weight of her crown, now left by Enzo, retires to a lonely villa, to mourn over her tragic fate and the loss of both men who marked her rise and fall.

The female star of the film, Hesperia, was one of the Italian divas of the silent screen. She often worked with director Baldassarre Negroni, who also became her husband.

At the time, Giuseppe Lega, in the magazine Apollon, thought Vertigine/Vertigo love (Baldassarre Negroni, 1919) was a rather old-fashioned drama. He called it below the level of the talent of the young scriptwriter Luciano Doria, who adapted his own novel in cooperation with director Baldassarre Negroni. Hesperia made the most of it, Tullio Carminati could have been better, while best was Ida Carloni Talli.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperial, Grandes Exclusivas Verdaguer, no. 4 (in a series of 6 'cromos'). Photo: FAI. Giovanni Schettini, Tullio Carminati and Hesperia in Vertigine (Baldassarre Negroni, 1919).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperial, Grandes Exclusivas Verdaguer, no. 5 (in a series of 6 'cromos'). Photo: FAI. Hesperia and Tullio Carminati in Vertigine (Baldassarre Negroni, 1919).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperial, Grandes Exclusivas Verdaguer, no. 6 (in a series of 6 'cromos'). Photo: FAI. Ida Carloni Talli and Giovanni Schettini in Vertigine (Baldassarre Negroni, 1919).

Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Il cinema muto italiano: I film del dopoguerra, 1919 - Italian), icff.co.uk and IMDb.

L'aigrette (1917)

L'aigrette/The egret (1917) is a silent Italian film by Baldassare Negroni. The film, produced by Tiber Film in Rome, was an adaptation by Negroni of a stage play by Dario Niccodemi. Stars were Hesperia, Tullio Carminati and André Habay.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5102. Photo: Tiber Film. André Habay in L'aigrette/The egret (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917), based on the play by Dario Niccodemi. Caption: Intimity.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5103. Photo: Tiber Film, Roma. Tullio Carminati and Ida Carloni Talli in L'aigrette (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917). Caption: The lady of the egret.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5104. Photo: Tiber Film. Tullio Carminati and Ida Carloni-Talli in L'aigrette (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917). Caption: The pardon.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5105. Photo: Tiber Film, Roma. Hesperia (at right) and Ida Carloni Talli in L'aigrette (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917). Caption: The vile market of the Countess of Saint-Servant.

Cherishing Honour and Virtue

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. Enrico is devastated, as his image of his mother and his lover collapses.

It's not entirely clear how the film proceeds, but Dario Niccodemi's play tells Enrico has a fatal confrontation with his mother about the lies and gifts, but she answers she did all this for him only.

Finally, Susanna succeeds in preventing Enrico to kill himself and to come to his senses. He will flee with her, and start a life of working.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5106. Photo: Tiber Film. Ida Carloni Talli in L'aigrette (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917). Caption: The Countess of Saint-Servant in the grip of her creditors.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5107. Photo: Tiber Film, Roma. André Habay and Hesperia in L'aigrette (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917). Caption: The Leblanc family in happier days.


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.

A Wonderful Cast

L'aigrette was written as a comedy in three acts in 1912 and had been the first play by Dario Niccodemi. His comedies represent the bourgeois drama in an ironic and sentimental way, in which his characters are modeled on the society of the beginning of the century.

Niccodemi wrote several plays and screenplays. Films based on his work include L'ombra/The shadow (Mario Caserini, 1917) with Vittoria Lepanto, La nemica/The enemy (Ivo Ulliminati, 1917) and Scampolo, filmed in 1917 with Margot Pellegrinetti, in 1928 with Carmen Boni, in 1932 with Dolly Haas, in 1941 with Lilia Silvi, and in 1958 with Romy Schneider.

L'aigrette has a wonderful cast with stars of the silent Italian cinema, like Tullio Carminati, André Habay, Diomira Jacobini, Ida Carloni Talli, and of course in the leading role Hesperia.

Tullio Carminati (1895-1971) had a long-standing career from the 1910s to the 1960s. He played in Italian, German, American, British, and French films as well as on Italian, American and British stages.

André Habay (1883-1941) aka Andrea Habay (also written as Habaj or Kabaj) acted in modern dramas and in diva films such as Sangue blu/Blue Blood (Nino Oxilia, 1914) and Rapsodia satanica/Satan's Rhapsody (Nino Oxilia, 1917). Later, he also starred as Petronius in the epic Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1925).

Ida Carloni Talli (1860-1940) was a well-known Italian stage actress, who also acted in 92 Italian silent films. And Hesperia (1885-1959), was one of the greatest divas of the Italian silent screen. She often worked with director Baldassarre Negroni, who later became her husband.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5109. Photo: Tiber Film. André Habay in L'aigrette (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917) Caption: Claudio doing business at the stock exchange.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5110. Photo: Tiber Film. Hesperia, Ida Carloni Talli, and probably Diomira Jacobini in L'aigrette (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917). Caption: The countess of Saint-Servant (Talli) presents Susanna (Hesperia) the young duchess of Frontenac (Jacobini).


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5111. Photo: Tiber Film. Tullio Carminati and probably Diomira Jacobini in L'aigrette (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917). Caption: Enrico and his fiancee, the duchess of Frontenac.

Sources: Dario Niccodemi (L'aigrette - Italian), Vittorio Martinelli (Il Cinema Muto Italiano, vol. 1917), Wikipedia (Italian) and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 9 February 2021.

Tullio Carminati

Tullio Carminati (1892-1971) was an Italian stage and film actor with a long-standing career from the 1910s to the 1960s. He played in Italian, German, American, British and French films as well as on Italian, American and British stages.


Spanish card by La Novela Semanal Cinematográfica, no. 76. Photo: A. Badodi, Milano.


Italian postcard. Photo: Fotocolore, Torino.


Italian postcard by La Rotofotografica. Photo: Ambrosio Film. Tullio Carminati with the outfit and hairdo of Romanticismo (1915).


Italian postcard by Edizione Bettini, Roma, no. 128.


Italian postcard by Edizione Bettini, Roma, no. 199.

A modern, refined and sensible actor

Tullio Carminati was born as Count Tullio Carminati de Brambilla in Zara, Austrian-Hungarian Empire (now Zadar, Croatia) in 1892 (1894, according to IMDb and Wikipedia).

He ran away from school and joined a theatre company which soon ran into financial trouble. Disinherited and chased from the house by his father, he had to start working as an actor. He managed to get employed by Alfredo de Sanctis in 1907, during a Dalmatian tour by the latter. In 1909 Carminati arrived in Rome. By the mediation of actor Gustavo Serena, Carminati met Ferruccio Garavaglia, the first actor of the Compagnia Stabile Romana, which resided at the Teatro Argentina and which accepted him as an extra.

The company director, Ettore Paladini, was not convinced of Carminati’s talent and restricted him to modest parts. In 1910 actress Emma Gramatica discovered him while giving guest performances at the Argentina. She admired his elegance and spontaneity and convinced the management to give him Jeune premier parts.

Under this flag, star actor and director Ermete Novelli noticed him in 'La fiamma' and hired him in 1912 for his own company. Novelli became his teacher who taught him to give a balanced and natural performance and the taste for simple and touching solutions. Under the aegis of Novelli, Carminati transformed into a modern, refined and sensible actor, free of affectation.

Soon, Marco Praga hired Carminati for his Compagnia stabile of the Teatro Manzoni in Milan and let him play in various modern plays by Gabriele D’Annunzio, Dario Niccodemi, Praga himself, and others. During a tour in South America and back in Milan, the focus was more on the lighter repertory.


Italian postcard by IPA CT, no. 742. Photo: Ambrosio. Publicity still for Romanticismo (1915). Count Vitaliano Lamberti (Tullio Carminati) is arrested by the Austrians, while his mother (Mary Cléo Tarlarini) and his wife (Helena Makowska) cannot help. Caption: 'Lasciate almeno delle nostre donne la libertà di morire di dolore' (At least permit our women the liberty to die of sorrow!).


Italian postcard by IPA CT, no. 747. Photo: Ambrosio. Publicity still for Romanticismo (1915). Helena Makowska (Anna Lamberti), Tullio Carminati (Count Vitaliano Lamberti) and Domenico Serra (Giacomino) in Romanticismo (Carlo Campogaliani, 1915). The caption: 'Giacomino fa dei debiti..., ma sa dove refonirsi' (Giacomino makes debts... but knows where to find funds to repay them).


Italian postcard by IPA CT, no. 752. Photo: Ambrosio. Tullio Carminati in Romanticismo (1915).


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 1704. Photo: Film Società Anonima Ambrosio Torino. V. Uff. Tullio Carminati in the Italian historical propaganda film Val d'Olivi (Eleuterio Rodolfi, 1916), based on the novel by Anton Giulio Barrili (1873). Caption: Don Flaviano Delaiti (Carminati) informs himself about the duchess.


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 e Susanna. Tragico colloquio' (Claudio, Enrico and Susanna. Tragic conversation). The countess of Saint-Servant (Ida Carolini 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. In reality, the countess is hunted by creditors, and the castle is falling apart. Enrico falls in love with Susanne Leblanc (Hesperia), wife of a banker, and in return, she loads him with money in order to restore the castle. Her husband Claudio (André Habay) is not so happy with this kind of charity...


French postcard. Caption: 'Le pardon' (Forgiveness). Photo: Tullio Carminati and Ida Carloni-Talli in L'aigrette/The Egret (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917).

Eye for detail, realism and style

In 1914 Tullio Carminati made his début in the Italian silent cinema. His first film appearance was in La mia vita per la tua/My life for yours (1914), starring Maria Carmi and directed by Emilio Ghione. When the Manzoni company stopped in 1915, Carminati signed a contract with the Ambrosio company of Turin, playing in the propaganda film Romanticismo/Romanticism (Carlo Campogalliani, Arrigo Frusta, 1915), in which he was the Italian aristocrat fighting the Austrians during the Risorgimento.

His co-actress was Elena Makowska who had her breakthrough in this film. Carminati would be paired with Makowska in several other Ambrosio films, as in Val d’Olivi/Val of Olives (Eleuterio Rodolfi, 1915), again set at the Risorgimento. Carminati also did a few films with actress Madeleine Céliat, such as Davanti alla legge/In Front of the Law (Carlo Campogalliani, 1916). In 1916 Carminati joined the theatre company of Lyda Borelli and Ugo Piperno. He played in 'Nozze dei Centauri' (Wedding of the Centaurs), 'La donna nuda' (The Naked Woman) and 'Amanti'(Lovers). But soon Carminati left again and focused on film acting, with titles like Tramonto triste/Sad Tramonte (Giuseppe Pinto, 1916) and L’articolo IV/The article IV (Gennaro Righelli, 1917). At Tiber Film, he played in a series of films directed by Augusto Genina in 1916-1918: Kalidaa – la storia una mummia/Kalidaa - The History of a Mummy (1917), Il trono e la seggiola/The Throne and the Chair (1918) and in particular the successful films Il presagio/The Premonition (1916) and La menzogna/The Lie (1916), both with Vera Vergani.

By now Carminati had become a real film star, his face and shape endlessly reproduced on postcards, posters and photos, in particular his kiss from Il presagio. Between 1917 and 1922 Carminati acted in twelve star vehicles with the Italian diva Hesperia, such as L’aigrette/The Egret (1917), La donna dei cuori/The Woman of the Hearts (1917) and La donna abbandonata/The Abandoned Woman (1917), all directed by her husband Baldassarre Negroni. In the late 1910s, Carminati also played with Maria Jacobini in La via più lunga/The Longest Street (Mario Caserini, 1918) and he made a few films with Gemma and Bianca Stagno Bellincioni. In 1919 Carminati founded his own film company, Carminati-Film. He produced five films with it in 1919-1920, all directed by Enrico Roma, but in the end, he was forced to dissolve the company. All in all, Carminati played in some 37 Italian silent films between 1914 and 1924.

After some failures in the cinema, Carminati was forced to return to the stage. There he became extremely successful with his own company, together with Alda Borelli, Lyda's sister, in 1920 and 1921. Carminati’s plays were known for their eye for detail, realism and style and their lack of frivolous overdoing. He played elegant and refined characters, full of spirit and wit. However, his part as Armand in Alexandre Dumas fils' 'La dame aux camélias' (Camille) was considered as too cold.

When Borelli left the company in 1921, Carminati became the director and first actor of Eleonora Duse’s company. Here he directed three dramas of which he played only in one, 'Cosí sia' (Such is) by T. Gallarati Scotti. United Artists producer Joseph Schenck spotted him and offered him to come to Hollywood to play in a series of films, but after the failure of Carminati-Film and because of his workload at the theatre, Carminati had his doubts. When Duse went on tour to the US, Carminati joined the theatre company of Lucio d’Ambra and Mario Fumagalli, appearing in plays by Luigi Pirandello, Roberto Bracco and Sem Benelli. Carminati did only a few films in those years including Mensch gegen Mensch/Person against Person (Hans Steinhoff, 1923), shot in Germany with Alfred Abel in the lead. Between 1924 and 1925 Carminati did a series of plays with Italia Almirante Manzini and Lina Tricerri, including the very successful comedy 'Le nozze di Leporello' (The Wedding of Leporello) by Luigi Almirante.


Italian postcard by Ed. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: probably publicity still for L'articolo IV (Gennaro Righelli, 1918) with Maria Jacobini and Tullio Carminati.


Italian postcard. After they acted together in L'aigrette (1917), Diomira Jacobini and Tullio Carminati acted together a few times at Tiber Film, but with Jacobini always in supporting parts, e.g. in La via della luce (1917) and La via più lunga (1918).


Italian postcard by Vettori, Bologna, no. 21.


Italian postcard, no. 74. Sent by mail in 1924. At the company Tiber Film, Carminati acted in a series of films directed by Augusto Genina in 1916-1918, in particular the successful films Il presagio (1916) and La menzogna (1916), both with Vera Vergani.


Italian postcard, no. 86. Photo: Tullio Carminati and Vera Vergani in Il presagio/The Premonition (Augusto Genina, 1916).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperial, no. 2 in a series of 6 'cromos. Photo: Verdaguer / FAI. Giovanni Schettini, Hesperia and Tullio Carminati in El Vertigo, Spanish title for the Italian silent drama Vertigine (Baldassarre Negroni, 1919).

Elegance, openness and sobriety

Fed up with the decline of the Italian film world and deluded by the collaboration with Italia Almirante Manzini and Lina Tricerri, Tullio Carminati went to the US in 1925, without any clear prospects and without speaking the language properly. After some time, he managed to get a contract with United Artists and played a detective in his first American film: The Bat (Roland West, 1926), with Jack Pickford and Louise Fazenda. This was followed by parts as the 'lover' in The Duchess of Buffalo (Sydney Franklin, 1926) with Constance Talmadge, and Stage Madness (Victor Schertzinger, 1927) with Virginia Valli. He then switched to Paramount where he reached fame with his part in Honeymoon Hate (Luther Reed, 1927) with Florence Vidor. He also acted in the Pola Negri vehicle Three Sinners (Rowland V. Lee, 1928).

With the advent of sound cinema, Carminati moved to New York and joined the company of Basil Rathbone. Critics liked his elegance, openness and sobriety, while audiences loved his foreign accent and Latin lover image. His American stage career was confirmed with Strictly Dishonorable by Preston Sturges, which ran for two years 1930-1931 in some 725 shows. The continuous success of this play reopened the doors of Hollywood for Carminati. Until 1940, he continued to play in various films, like Gallant Lady (Gregory LaCava, 1933), Moulin Rouge (Sydney Lanfield, 1934) with Constance Bennett, and One Night of Love (Victor Schertzinger, 1934) with Grace Moore.

In Europe, he played the male lead in the Franco-Italian production Marcia nuziale/The Wedding March (Mario Bonnard, 1935), starring Kiki Palmer. After another Broadway show, he acted in the romantic comedies Let’s Live Tonight (Victor Schertzinger, 1934) with Lilian Harvey, and Paris in Spring (Lewis Milestone, 1935) with Mary Ellis, establishing him as the mature Don Giovanni. In 1936 he acted in two British films by Herbert Wilcox: London Melody (1936) and The Three Maxims (1936), both starring Anna Neagle. In 1938, after a stay in Italy, he played again on Broadway in By Candle Light, and in 1939 in the comedy Stephen Jumel. In 1940 he played in Hollywood in Sunset in Vienna (Norman Walker, 1940), with Lilli Palmer, and in Safari (Edward H. Griffith, 1940), with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Madeleine Carroll.

In December 1941, a few days after the US declared war on Italy, Carminati was imprisoned. He was sent back to Italy in May 1942, because of anti-American activities. In the following year, he made his Italian cinema come-back in La via torna/The Street Turns (Pier Luigi Faraldo, 1943) and he joined the company of Elsa de Giorgi and Elena Zareschi, performing in various plays before and after the liberation there. In 1946 he joined the company Morelli-Stoppa, for which he played in 'Antigone' (Jean Anouilh), directed by Luchino Visconti. In 1953, after a stage absence of several years, Carminati returned to such plays as 'Il Ferro' (The Iron) by Gabriele D’Annunzio.

From the late 1940s until 1963, Carminati acted in various films in Italy, Spain, France and the US. Memorable titles are La Chartreuse de Parme/The Charterhouse of Parme (Christian Jaque, 1948) starring Gérard Philipe, La madonnina d’oro/The Golden Madonna (Ladislao Vajda, 1949) with Phyllis Calvert, La Beauté du diable/Beauty and the Devil (René Clair, 1950), the box office hit Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953) with Audrey Hepburn, Giovanna d’Arco al rogo/Joan of Arc at the Stake (Roberto Rossellini, 1954) with Ingrid Bergman, War and Peace (King Vidor, 1956), the epic El Cid (Anthony Mann, 1961) featuring Charlton Heston. His final film was The Cardinal (Otto Preminger, 1963). Tullio Carminati died in 1971 in Rome because of a brain haemorrhage. He was 78.


Italian postcard by Edizioni A. Traldi, Milano, no. 2. Photo: A. Badodi, Milano.


Italian postcard by Vettori, Bologna, no. 21.


British postcard in the Film Partners Series, London, no. P 151. Photo: Columbia. Publicity still for One Night of Love (Victor Schertzinger, 1934) with Grace Moore.


British postcard. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for Paris in Spring/Paris Love Song (Lewis Milestone, 1935).


Italian postcard. Photo: Aser, Roma. Publicity still for La vita torna (Pier Luigi Faraldo, 1943) in which Carminati had the male lead.

Sources: Roberta Ascarelli (Italian - Treccani), Vittorio Martinelli (Italian - Il cinema muto italiano), Wikipedia (Italian and English), and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 2 September 2023.