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Voidsville Follies

Works from Febo Mari (3)

The Fire (Il fuoco (la favilla - la vampa - la cenere))

Giovanni Pastrone (director)
Segundo de Chomón (cinematographer)
Gabriele D'Annunzio (author)
Pina Menichelli (lead)
Febo Mari (lead/writer)
Itala (production)

Language: Silent, Italian titles, English subtitles, released in Apr 1916
Minutes: 50

A privileged poetess plucks a peasant painter from his mundane seclusion, flying him to the height of passion in their brief encounter. A tale of role reversal that breathes new life into a classic “femme fatale theme” (a.k.a., “misogynistic influence” that may be better left dead) by using creative cinematography and careful choreography of the poetess' movements. The result explodes with a visual extravagance within its minimalist domain and, like the painter, the viewer is seduced into an unquenchable thirst for more.

Featured elements:

: abstraction; abuse; agent of discontent; alienation; alter ego; animal act; automobile; baptism of fire; breaking class; diva mode; femme fatale; forsaken; gender-bender; infidelity; manipulator; obsession; psycho; servitude; sexuality; tragic artist; unrequited love

Tigre Reale

Giovanni Pastrone (director)
Segundo de Chomón (cinematographer)
Giovanni Tomatis (cinematographer)
Giovanni Verga (author)
Pina Menichelli (lead)
Alberto Nepoti (lead)
Febo Mari (lead)
Gabriel Moreau (lead)
Itala (production)

Language: Silent, Italian titles, English subtitles, released in Nov 1916
Minutes: 77

Never again utter the phrase “Drama Queen” until you've watched this diva single-handedly transform a threadbare story into a symphony of sensual expression.

Featured elements:

: alienation; animal act; breaking class; diva mode; flashback; forbidden love; forsaken; infidelity; manipulator; melodrama; music; neglected spouse; rescue; revenge; servitude; suicide

Il Fauno

Febo Mari (director/lead/writer)
Nietta Mordeglia (lead)
Helena Makowska (lead)
Vasco Creti (lead)
Oreste Bilancia (lead)
Società Anonima Ambrosio (production)

Language: Silent, Italian titles, English subtitles, released in Jun 1917
Minutes: 72

Good news:

All performers succeeded in their visual storytelling
Sparks fly whenever the two competing nymphs share the screen
Il Fauno's bod is worthy of the attention the camera gives it, despite being dickless

But otherwise, all the striving to make an obscure point went over this head that is shamelessly ignorant of mythology and symbolist poetry, and it could only endlessly repeat: “A horse is a horse, of course of course, and no one can talk to a horse of course...”...

Featured elements:

: abstraction; boozy-woozy; breaking class; diva mode; fantasy; gambling; heroic defender; infidelity; metatheatre; patriarchy; romance; servitude; sexuality

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