Santo Francesco
Italian postcard for the Italian silent film Frate Francesco aka Santo Francesco (ICSA, 1927), a biopic on the life of St. Francis, directed by Giulio Antamoro and starring Alberto Pasquali. ICSA, No. 573. Caption: the conversion of Sassorosso. Visible are Alberto Pasquali as St Francis and Romuald Joubé as Sassorosso.
Frate Francesco was the third Italian silent film on the life of St Frances of Assisi, after Il poverello di Assisi (Enrico Guazzoni 1911) and Frate Sole (Mario Corsi, Ugo Falena 1918). Also the poet Guido Gozzano had written a film script in 1916 and Adolfo Padovan had tried in vain his luck at Milano Films in the early 1910s. Antamoro's Frances had been an ambitious project: in budget, in length, and in scope. Several scriptwriters were attracted while the famous Francescan Dane Jörgensen wrote the first script version. Instead of the idyllic countryside in Falena's version, Antamoro focused on characters, extending the storyline with all kinds of antagonists like Monaldo di Sassorosso and Myria di Leros who get ample time and space. The film is also full of symbolism: Frances is presented as the new Christ, standing before the Crucifix, but also his mother holds a wounded man as in Mary's Pietà. The narrative's parable is that of a weak man who only thanks to his belief overcomes and mediates in conflicts. Still, not all critics liked the film at its release and some accused it of being too static and therefore uncinematic. Moreover, the film came out in a year that most Italian film people had lost hope to revive its national cinema and many had fled to Berlin to pursue careers.
Alberto Pasquali (1882 – 1929) was an Italian stage and screen actor, famous for his religious characters. Romuald Joubé (1876-1949) was an actor of French silent cinema, who became famous for his part in Abel Gance’s J’accuse (1918).
Sources: Italian Wikipedia, IMDB, Elena Mosconi, L'impressione del film (2006).
Santo Francesco
Italian postcard for the Italian silent film Frate Francesco aka Santo Francesco (ICSA, 1927), a biopic on the life of St. Francis, directed by Giulio Antamoro and starring Alberto Pasquali. ICSA, No. 573. Caption: the conversion of Sassorosso. Visible are Alberto Pasquali as St Francis and Romuald Joubé as Sassorosso.
Frate Francesco was the third Italian silent film on the life of St Frances of Assisi, after Il poverello di Assisi (Enrico Guazzoni 1911) and Frate Sole (Mario Corsi, Ugo Falena 1918). Also the poet Guido Gozzano had written a film script in 1916 and Adolfo Padovan had tried in vain his luck at Milano Films in the early 1910s. Antamoro's Frances had been an ambitious project: in budget, in length, and in scope. Several scriptwriters were attracted while the famous Francescan Dane Jörgensen wrote the first script version. Instead of the idyllic countryside in Falena's version, Antamoro focused on characters, extending the storyline with all kinds of antagonists like Monaldo di Sassorosso and Myria di Leros who get ample time and space. The film is also full of symbolism: Frances is presented as the new Christ, standing before the Crucifix, but also his mother holds a wounded man as in Mary's Pietà. The narrative's parable is that of a weak man who only thanks to his belief overcomes and mediates in conflicts. Still, not all critics liked the film at its release and some accused it of being too static and therefore uncinematic. Moreover, the film came out in a year that most Italian film people had lost hope to revive its national cinema and many had fled to Berlin to pursue careers.
Alberto Pasquali (1882 – 1929) was an Italian stage and screen actor, famous for his religious characters. Romuald Joubé (1876-1949) was an actor of French silent cinema, who became famous for his part in Abel Gance’s J’accuse (1918).
Sources: Italian Wikipedia, IMDB, Elena Mosconi, L'impressione del film (2006).