Tue

25/06

Cinema Modernissimo > 19:00

I TOPI GRIGI ep.5: The Hunt for a Million Francs

Emilio Ghione
Piano accompaniment by

John Sweeney

Projection
Info

Tuesday 25/06/2019
19:00

Subtitle

Original version with subtitles

I TOPI GRIGI. Episode 5: The Hunt for a Million Francs

Film Notes

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 Hunt for a Million Francs. Paris. Za locates his family. Sometime later, he learns that Leo’s mother has died, raising the question of who will inherit the million Francs she left behind. This sum risks ending up in the hands of Duchess Giovanna, who has killed her sister in order to secure the inheritance. Thanks to a ruse, Za is received by the noblewoman and offers her three days to leave the inheritance to Leo, or else he will report the matter to the police.

Denis Lotti

Cast and Credits

8 episodes. Sog.: Pio Vanzi. F.: Cesare Cavagna. Int.: Emilio Ghione (Za la Mort), Kally Sambucini (Za la Vie), Alfredo Martinelli (Pierino), Alberto Francis Bertone (Grigione), Nello Carotenuto (Musoduro), Ida Carloni Talli (duchessa Giovanna di Saint Valentin), H. Fiorin, B. Pasquali, Oreste Bilancia (il poliziotto). Prod.: Tiber-Film.
35mm. L.: 5869 m. D.: 321’ a 16 f/s. Bn. The Black Envelope (L.: 632 m. D.: 35’), The Torture (L.: 743 m. D.: 41’), The Hideaway (L.: 682 m. D.: 37’), The Rope Net (L.: 590 m. D.: 32’), The Hunt for a Million Francs (L.: 762 m. D.: 42’), Crooked Aristocracy (L.: 826 m. D.: 45’), 6.000 Volts (L.: 760 m. D.: 42’), Lent Festival (L.: 874 m. D.: 48’)