Miss Harry performs a mesmerizing contortionist act, her body bending and twisting with unnatural grace, wearing only a dazzling, spangly suit that shimmers under the stage lights, designed to mimic the sleek, sinuous texture of snakeskin. The costume carries symbolic weight, evoking the biblical serpent that tempted Eve with the forbidden fruit, setting in motion humanity’s fall from grace. This allusion infuses Miss Harry’s performance with an undercurrent of seduction and danger, as if she herself is the serpent offering forbidden knowledge – or pleasure – to her audience. The narrow platform elevated several feet above the ground amplifies the sense of peril; one wrong move, and the illusion of effortless control could shatter. The combination of her precarious position, the undulating movements of her body, and the provocative symbolism of the snakesuit creates a spectacle that is as much about erotic tension as it is about physical skill. The audience is left both awestruck and unsettled, caught between admiration for her artistry and the primal unease stirred by the serpentine imagery.
More than 30 years after an earlier analogue restoration, which dulled the colour spectrum into muted tones and diminished its intensity, the film’s vibrant Pathécolor palette is revived through digital restoration, obtaining the same rich, saturated hues as the original nitrate print that once mesmerized audiences.

Bruno Mestdagh

Boxing becomes a popular subject early on, attracting a wide audience. The athlete is transformed into a movie hero and a star. Filmed reports attest to his ability to captivate audiences, as in W.K.L. Dickson’s Leonard-Cushing Fight (1894) or in The Johnson- Jeffries Fight (1910). In 1912, an Olympic year, Max Linder will play a sportsman in three pictures: Max Linder Does All the Sports, A Jockey for Love and Max boxeur par amour (Love and Boxing in the UK). In the latter flick, Max succeeds – if only through his antics – in winning over the woman he loves, daughter of champion Jack Jeffroies (a nod to James Jeffries?), who will only consent to marry the man who can defeat her. To avoid being knocked out like the other suitors, Max covers her with a flurry of kisses, and she finally gives him her glove … and her hand. The boxing match, within the framework of the romantic plot, brings forth the image of a modern joust, where the lady is no longer a mere spectator, but champion of the contest. Narrative and comedic elements – from the referee’s countdown to the inter- round recovery, from the clamorous crowd to the quick succession of blows – allude to the familiar conventions of big, popular matches, while simultaneously portraying an entertaining campaign of seduction.

Carole Fodor

The “Voyages” section of the 1931 Pathé-Baby catalogue (number 244), does not mince words: “Immersed in the gulf of Naples, so often sung about for the golden rays that emerge from its wild and wonderful views, is the pearl of Italy. Pathé-Baby will transport you to this earthly Paradise under the perennially blue skies of the land of Dante.” This is the kind of emphatic language one finds in a tourist brochure. One of the film’s intertitles goes further still, combining people and place in the same picture-postcard: “Its inhabitants are in harmony with the picturesque landscape.” It is as if they were there solely to satisfy our desire for beautiful sights, which are rapidly becoming hackneyed. The film fully lives up to this promise: it is wonderful and (fairly) wild.

Andrea Meneghelli

A woman guilty only of living according to her desires is murdered by a stupid man. It could be a newspaper headline applicable to much of silent cinema, especially in Italy. It sends shivers down your spine to think that such fantasies reflected real social values. Since La pantomima della morte has only survived as a dense and rich fragment, it is worth briefly recounting the missing parts of the story. A Marquise (and poor mother!) has two children: Roberto is a man of the world while Gualtiero is the more sensible one. They both fall for Sarah, a circus rider with oodles of charm; of course, since she is a free spirit, she is also a libertine. She is therefore to blame for the fact that men go crazy, suffer heart attacks, and feel the need to shoot at her. Leda Gys, in the role of the Amazonian homewrecker, exudes spontaneity and youth. Mario Bonnard, in the role of Roberto, is either drunk or a knot of rancour and perpetual suffering. Both are great in the roles. The pantomime of the title transforms the circus ring into an exotic netherworld populated by camels, elephants, vengeful Arabs and extras in colonial helmets. Leda is enthroned atop an elephant and falls down with athletic grace when they shoot her with blanks. Death is merely a pantomime, until the bullets become real.

Andrea Meneghelli

When Polifilms is not making art films, it is pretty successful. And so it is with Ursus, which has nothing to envy from similar adventure films made in America. We are not referring to the story, which can’t have taxed its author greatly. Rather, we are talking about the incisive execution, which is as fast-paced and energetic as the genre demands, and the spectacle, which is fascinating, thanks to the presence of circus animals performing a wide variety of acts. Among the thoroughbred horses, camels and dromedaries, Ursus demands our admiration for an elephant who lacks… I was about to say the power of speech, forgetting that he is a performer in a silent film. In short, it is a film which does not require much thought, but which will attract and delight the public.

V., “La vita cinematografica”, 15 August 1918

Ettore Petrolini (1884-1936) was an actor, cabaret artist, singer, writer, and celebrated interpreter of the Roman spirit, which he represented through a gallery of legendary characters such as Gastone, Er sor Capanna, Fortunello, Giggi er Bullo, Mustafa, and Nerone. He was celebrated for his acting roles and created numerous proverbial “roasts”, while his nursery rhymes and songs are popular throughout Italy. Filippo Tommaso Marinetti identified his absurd and nonsensical comedy as an example of Futurist comedy while Natalia Ginzburg wrote about him in her Lessico famigliare. It is said that on his deathbed, he responded to the doctor’s claim that he had recovered with the words, “Thank goodness, at least I will die cured.” He acted in two silent films, until recently considered lost: Petrolini disperato per eccesso di buon cuore, which was rediscovered by the Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé, and Mentre il pubblico ride (1919). Immediately after the introduction of sound, he played the lead in three films: Blasetti’s Nerone (1930) and Campogalliani’s Cortile (1930) and Medico per forza (1931). In Petrolini disperato per eccesso di buon cuore, he played himself. In 1913, at the age of 29 and already a recognised artist on the basis of his work in the performing arts, Petrolini experimented with the cinema despite being unable to make use of his voice, which was his greatest asset. His corrosive comic style, which spared no one, comes through regardless in this farce whose main target is his own generosity.

Gian Luca Farinelli