I topi grigi, an eight-part serial produced by Tiber Film in Rome, is part of the complex saga of Za la Mort, an apache and outlaw who was the protagonist of 12 films, four serials, three novels and various theatrical shows created between 1914 and 1930 by Emilio Ghione (1879-1930).
Thanks to his alter ego Za, Ghione would eventually become a genuinely popular star. On one hand he incarnated the role of fearless hero and was the emblem of muscular masculinity. On the other he was also a natural performer in the role of a dandy in several melodramas set in the salons of the decadent, contemporary nobility – a setting reflecting the D’Annunzio-inspired atmosphere of the period.
The serial is made up of diverse narrative ingredients. It could be defined as a broad polyptych, presenting the public with stories derived from crime fiction; the exotic settings of Emilio Salgari and the farandole in which the fantastical goes hand-in-hand with the naturalistic; and Za la Mort’s desire for a Horatian peaceful retirement following the trans­formations demanded by his extraordinary adventures. Sometimes different genres coexist in the same episode, with Ghione inserting stereotypical digressions and details from different literary currents (feuilletons, adventure stories, children’s fiction, etc.) in order to distract audiences hungry for dramatic revelations from the slender plot. The serial takes spectators to the four corners of the world, revealing a hitherto unseen, Ulysses-like Za la Mort.
I topi grigi is still the only one of Za’s serials to be conserved more or less intact in relation to its original length. Incomplete but still legible traces of Za remain in the feature-length Anime buie (1916) and the Berlin-shot L’incubo di Za la Vie (Der Traum der Zalavie, 1924) while fragments of Il triangolo giallo (1917), Dollari e fracks and S.E. la Morte (both 1919) are known to exist in public and private archives.

The Torture. Given that the Grey Rats are suspicious, Za hides the black envelope and the money. Subsequently, the Grey Rats capture Za and take him to Grigione, who stages a farcical trial in an attempt to make him confess and to recapture the ill-gotten gains. Za declares himself innocent, but the so-called jury sentences him to torture in the stocks. At that very moment, a band of criminals set fire to his home.

Denis Lotti