Actress Fabienne Fabrèges scripted for herself the role of an evil woman who drives the basically nice men around her to commit crimes, to become drug dealers, thieves, murderers. Not the greatest film of 1916 and not the best actress ever, but there are other qualities, and very worthwhile ones. The Dutch distribution print is beautifully complete and was duplicated in 1994 by Haghefilm via a color internegative. Signori Giurati… represents to perfection the highly evolved visual style of Italian silent cinema of the 1910s, with sophisticated shot compositions, attractive settings – a drug den cum brothel among them – and a conscious use of color, of tinting and toning, including a firework scene with five color changes.
Starting in 1910, Fabienne Fabrèges appeared in many Gaumont productions, usually directed by Léonce Perret. In 1916 she moved to Turin and was hired by Corona Films; her Italian career seems to have been very successful – she appeared in ten films in 1917 – until 1920. According to the research done by Elena Nepoti for the Women Film Pioneers Project, Fabrèges moved to Great Britain in 1923 and returned to the theater, her original profession and passion.

Mariann Lewinsky