Quo vadis? (1924)

Last week, we enjoyed at Il Cinema Ritrovato, Quo vadis? (1913), based on the classic novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz. One of the most spectacular films of European silent cinema was a later silent version, Quo vadis? (1924). The producer was grand old man Arturo Ambrosio, and his production company, the Unione Cinematografica Italiana (UCI), was a Ufa-like or Universal-like merger of many Italian pre-war film companies. The directors were the German Georg Jacoby and the Italian Gabriellino D' Annunzio, son of Gabriele D'Annunzio, the famous Italian writer and adventurer. The sets for this German-Italian coproduction were designed by R. Ferro and G. Spilani. A lot of publicity material was produced for the film, including several series of postcards, as we showed in an earlier post on Quo vadis? (1924) from 2023. This post contains the most beautiful postcard series published by the Turinese Editions di lusso L'Argentografica.


Italian postcard by Ed. L'Argentografica, Turin, no. 3040. Photo: Unione Cinematografia Italiana (UCI). Scene from Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924) starring Emil Jannings as Nero and Elena Sangro as Poppea.


Italian postcard by Ed. L'Argentografica, Turin, no. 3041. Photo: Unione Cinematografia Italiana (UCI). Scene from Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924) starring Alphons Fryland as Vinicius.


Italian postcard by Ed. L'Argentografica, Turin, no. 3042. Photo: Unione Cinematografia Italiana (UCI). Scene from Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924).


Italian postcard by Ed. L'Argentografica, Turin, no. 3043. Photo: Unione Cinematografia Italiana (UCI). Scene from Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924).


Italian postcard by Ed. L'Argentografica, Turin, no. 3044. Photo: Unione Cinematografia Italiana (UCI). Scene from Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924).


Italian postcard by Ed. L'Argentografica, Turin, no. 3046. Photo: Unione Cinematografia Italiana (UCI). Scene from Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924). The lions in the arena.


Italian postcard by Ed. L'Argentografica, Turin, no. 3047. Photo: Unione Cinematografia Italiana (UCI). Scene from Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924). Gildo Bocci as Vitellius at Nero's orgy.


Italian postcard by Ed. L'Argentografica, Turin, no. 3048. Photo: Unione Cinematografia Italiana (UCI). Scene from Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924). Ursus and Licia/Lygia in prison.


Italian postcard by Ed. L'Argentografica, Turin, no. 3049. Photo: Unione Cinematografia Italiana (UCI). Scene from Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924) starring Alphons Fryland as Vinicius and Lilian Hall-Davis as Licia.


Italian postcard by Ed. L'Argentografica, Turin, no. 3050. Photo: Unione Cinematografia Italiana (UCI). Scene from Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924), starring Emil Jannings as Nero and Lilian Hall-Davis as Licia. Nero menaces Licia, after having 'saved her from the clutches of Vinicius'.


Italian postcard by Ed. L'Argentografica, Turin, no. 3051. Photo: Unione Cinematografia Italiana (UCI). Scene from Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924). Roman cavalry in the arena.


Italian postcard by Ed. L'Argentografica, Turin, no. 3052. Photo: Unione Cinematografia Italiana (UCI). Scene from Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924). Nero's Palace. The man in the litter in the foreground is André Habay, who plays Petronius.


Italian postcard by Ed. L'Argentografica, Turin, no. 3053. Photo: Unione Cinematografica Italiana. Scene from Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924) with Elena Sangro. Sent by mail in Italy in 1926.


Italian postcard by Ed. L'Argentografica, Turin, no. 3054. Photo: Unione Cinematografia Italiana (UCI). Scene from Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924).


Italian postcard by Ed. L'Argentografica, Turin, no. 3055. Photo: Unione Cinematografia Italiana (UCI). Scene from Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924). Alfons Fryland as Vinicius and Lilian Hall-Davis as Licia/Lygia at Nero's banquet.


Italian postcard by Ed. L'Argentografica, Turin, no. 3056. Photo: Unione Cinematografia Italiana (UCI). Scene from Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924). Ursus (Bruto Castellani) has killed the gladiator Croton, who instead had been paid to kill Ursus, to abduct Lygia again. The traitor Chilo (Gino Viotti) watches on.


Italian postcard by Ed. L'Argentografica, Turin, no. 3057. Photo: Unione Cinematografia Italiana (UCI). Scene from Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924). Nero's human torches in his gardens.


Italian postcard by Ed. L'Argentografica, Turin, no. 3058. Photo: Unione Cinematografia Italiana (UCI). Scene from Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924). The Abduction of Licia/Lygia.


Italian postcard by Ed. L'Argentografica, Turin, no. 3059. Photo: Unione Cinematografia Italiana (UCI). Scene from Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924). After Licia's/ Lygia's abduction. From 1909 on, the same litter was constantly used in Roman Antiquity films at Cines, including the 1913 Quo vadis?.


Italian postcard by Edizione L'Argentografica, Torino, no. 3060. Publicity still for the Italo-German epic Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio & Georg Jacoby, 1924), starring Emil Jannings as Nero.


Italian postcard by Ed. L'Argentografica, Turin, no. 3063. Photo: Unione Cinematografia Italiana (UCI). Scene from Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924). Christ has fallen under the Cross, the veil of Veronica.


Italian postcard by Prosdocimi, Roma. Photo: Unione Cinematografica Italiana. Caption: Construction for the film Quo vadis?. Actually, this was an already existing construction for the so-called Mostra del Lazio (1923), designed by Armando Brasini, and reused as Nero's palace in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924). Card mailed in December 1930.

Mike Myers

Mike Myers (1963) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter and film producer. From 1989 to 1995, he was a regular cast member on the TV sketch show Saturday Night Live. He also starred in the hit films Wayne’s World (1992) and Austin Powers - International Man of Mystery (1997), and he was the voice of a green ogre named Shrek.


Dutch postcard by Boomerang freecards, Amsterdam. Photo: Paramount / UIP. Mike Myers and Dana Carvey in Wayne's World 2 (Stephen Surjik, 1993).


French postcard by Citron Bleu, no. 5. Mike Myers in Austin Powers - International Man of Mystery (Jay Roach, 1997).


Spanish postcard by Memory Card, no. 564. Mike Myers and Heather Graham in Austin Powers - The Spy Who Shagged Me (Jay Roach, 1999).

A TV show called Wayne's World

Michael John 'Mike' Myers was born in 1963 in Scarborough, Canada. He grew up in Toronto. He is the son of Alice Hind and Eric Myers. His eldest brother, Paul, is an indie rock singer, radio DJ and writer. At the age of eight, he began appearing in adverts, and at nine he featured in a commercial for British Columbia Hydro Electric, alongside Gilda Radner, who played his mother.

After graduating from high school, Myers was accepted into The Second City Canadian touring company. He moved to the United Kingdom, and in 1985, he was one of the founding members of The Comedy Store Players, an improvisational group based at The Comedy Store in London. From 1989, he was one of the writers and part of the cast of Saturday Night Live.

On Saturday Night Live, he parodied Mick Jagger, among others. A popular sketch of Saturday Night Live was the basis for the film Wayne's World (Penelope Spheeris, 1992). In this popular comedy, Myers starred as Wayne Campbell alongside Dana Carvey as Garth Algar. They play the hosts of a TV show called Wayne's World.

The following year, Mike Myers starred with Nancy Travis in the Horror comedy So I Married an Axe Murderer (Thomas Schlamme, 1993) and with Dana Carvey in Wayne's World 2 (Stephen Surjik, 1993).

A huge success was Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (Jay Roach, 1997). Myers both wrote the script and starred in the lead role. He also played Austin's nemesis, the supervillain Dr Evil. The film is a parody of the older James Bond films, other spy films from the 1960s, and the Swinging Sixties. The film grossed $68 million, after which two sequels followed: Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (Jay Roach, 1999) and Austin Powers 3: Goldmember (Jay Roach, 2002). Myers also played nightclub owner Steve Rubell in 54 (Mark Christopher, 1998) about the rise and fall of the New York nightclub Studio 54.


Vintage postcard, no. PC0486. Photo: Paramount / UIP. Mike Myers and Dana Carvey in Wayne's World 2 (Stephen Surjik, 1993).


British poster postcard by Cinema. French poster of Mike Myers and Elizabeth Hurley in Austin Powers - International Man of Mystery (Jay Roach, 1997).


American promotion card for Virgin by Max Racks. Photo: New Line Productions, 1999. Mike Myers as Austin Powers.

Seven Golden Raspberry Awards

Mike Myers had his biggest success as the voice actor of the main character, a green ogre, in the animated comedy Shrek (Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson, 2001). The film is based on the book of the same name by William Steig. Shrek was a huge box-office hit. He reprised this role in Shrek 4-D (a theme park ride) in 2003, Shrek 2 (Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, Conrad Vernon, 2004), Shrek the Third (Raman Hui, Chris Miller, 2007), the Christmas and Halloween television specials Shrek the Halls (Gary Trousdale, 2007) and Scared Shrekless (Raman Hui, Gary Trousdale, 2010), and Shrek Forever After (Mike Mitchell, 2010).

The comedy The Cat in the Hat (Bo Welch, 2003), loosely based on Dr Seuss’s 1957 children’s book of the same name, received negative reviews and was unsuccessful at the box office. Myers played the role of 'The Cat in the Hat', and Dakota Fanning played 8-year-old Sally. Myers was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award. The plan was to make a second film based on the sequel, 'The Cat in the Hat Comes Back', but Seuss’s widow blocked this due to the poor reception of the first film and because she felt that many of the jokes in it were unsuitable for children.

Another flop was the comedy The Love Guru (Marco Schnabel, 2008), which he also co-wrote and co-produced. It was nominated for seven Golden Raspberry Awards, of which it actually ‘won’ those for worst film, worst screenplay and worst actor (Myers).

More successful was the War film Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009) in which he played the minor role of British General Ed Fenech. Myers made his directorial debut with the documentary Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon (2013), which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. He also had supporting parts in the films Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, Dexter Fletcher, 2018) about the Rock group Queen and the drama Amsterdam (David O'Russell, 2022) starring Christian Bale and Margot Robbie.

Mike Myers also developed the satiric miniseries The Pentaverate (2022), in which he also took on several roles. Myers was married to actress and comedy writer Robin Ruzan from 1993 to 2005. He has been in a relationship with Kelly Tisdale since 2006. They married in secret in New York in the autumn of 2010. They have a son and two daughters.


British postcard by Boomerang Cinema Cards, 1999. Image: New Line / Berkeley Systems / Havas / Sierra. Mike Myers in Austin Powers - International Man of Mystery (Jay Roach, 1997). Caption: Groovy Baby! Operation: Trivia.


British postcard by London Postcard Company, no. NL 1308 (Series 1, set of 11). Photo: New Line Productions, 1997. Mike Myers in Austin Powers - International Man of Mystery (Jay Roach, 1997). Captions: Oh, Mr. Powers. Do I make you horny?


British postcard by London Postcard Company, no. NL 1321 (Series 1, set of 12). Photo: New Line Productions, 1997. Mike Myers in Austin Powers - The Spy Who Shagged Me (Jay Roach, 1999). Caption: The Swinger Has Landed.

Sources: Wikipedia (Dutch, German and English) and IMDb.

Giorgia Moll (1938-2026)

Earlier this month, on 2 June 2026, beautiful Italian actress and singer Giorgia Moll (1938) died. During the 1950s and 1960s, she was often seen on television and in cinemas, especially in many Italian B-films. With her pretty face and dream measurements, she also became a popular cover and pin-up model. She was 88.


Big Italian card by Bromofoto, Milano. Photo: Günther Wagner / Pelikan.


Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 1366. Photo: Dear Film. Giorgia Moll, as Vietnamese character Phuong, in The Quiet American (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1958). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/49.


German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 4954. Photo: Angelo Frontoni / Unitalia Film.


German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 5171. Photo: Fried Agency / Ufa.


Italian postcard by Bromostampa, Milano, no. 174.


Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. N. 164.

Tempestuous affair

Giorgia (also Georgia) Moll was born in Prata de Pordenone (some sources say Rome), Italy, in 1938 to a German father and an Italian-German mother.

Still very young, she started as a model for advertisements for Carosello reclamizzante, a well-known toothpaste product in Italy. In 1955, she won the beauty contest Miss Cinema. Producer Carlo Ponti suggested she take a screen test. Only seventeen, she was hired for her first film, Non scherzare con le donne / Don't Trifle with Women (Giuseppe Bennati, 1955) with Rossana Podestà.

Moll figured in such Italian films as the comedy Lo svitato / Unscrew Him (Carlo Lizzani, 1955) starring Dario Fo, Mio figlio Nerone / My Son Nero (Steno, 1956) with Alberto Sordi and Gloria Swanson, and Mariti in città / Husbands in the City (Luigi Comencini, 1957) opposite Renato Salvatori.

At the time, she was reportedly a girlfriend of Joe DiMaggio, the legendary baseball player and former husband of Marilyn Monroe. Later, she had a tempestuous affair with actor John Barrymore Jr., Drew Barrymore’s father.

Most of her films were undistinguished comedies and Peplums, but she did appear in a few well-known productions. Her biggest film was The Quiet American (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1958), based on Graham Greene's prophetic novel about U.S. foreign policy failure in pre-war Indochina, and starring American actor and war hero Audie Murphy. The film was shot in Cinécitta with some location shooting in Saigon. Moll played Phuong, Murphy's Vietnamese mistress. The part gave her a certain international notoriety. The Quiet American was critically well-received, but was not a box office success.


Italian postcard by Bromofoto Milano, no. 1326. Photo: United Artists / Dear Film. Giorgia Moll in The Quiet American (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1958).


Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 1616. Photo: Dear Film. Publicity still for The Quiet American (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1958).


West German Kolibri postcard by Friedrich W. Sander-Verlag, Minden, no. 2016.


Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 4687. Photo: Hafbo. Publicity still for the Schlagerfilm Marina (Paul Martin, 1960), which was distributed in Holland as Teenagers Schlager Parade. Moll played the title character, and she poses here between Schlager stars Rex Gildo and Rocco Granata, singer of the hit song 'Marina'.


German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.H., Minden/Westf., no. 1212. Photo: Grimm / CCCfilm / Gloria. Bubi Scholz and Georgia Moll in Marina (Paul Martin, 1960).


German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.H., Minden/Westf., no. 1357. Photo: Grimm / CCC-film / Gloria. Publicity still for Marina (Paul Martin, 1960).


German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 3062. Photo: Grimm / CCC-film / Gloria. Publicity still for Marina (Paul Martin, 1960).


German postcard by Filmvertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. 637. Photo: CCC Gloria Film / Grimm. Publicity still for Marina (Paul Martin, 1960).


Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 866.

Unforgettable tearjerker

Giorgia Moll was critically appreciated for her dramatic performance in Damiano Damiani's feature debut, the crime drama Il rossetto / Lipstick (1960) with Pierre Brice. In 1963, she appeared in Jean-Luc Godard’s classic film-about-film Le Mépris / The Contempt (1963), which starred Brigitte Bardot. Moll played Francesca Vanini, the secretary of the authoritarian film producer (Jack Palance), who works as a translator for the film’s protagonist, a scriptwriter played by Michel Piccoli.

Another classic in which she played a supporting part is the drama Incompresa / Misunderstood (Luigi Comencini, 1967). In this unforgettable tearjerker, Anthony Quayle plays a widower who tragically misunderstands his eldest son’s brave front as being unaffected by his mother's death.

During the 1960s, Georgia Moll also became known as a singer. She recorded some singles, of which 'Ballata per un amore perduto' / 'Nato in settembre' (Ballad for a Lost Love / Born in September, 1964) is best known. The author of the texts of both songs is Piero Ciampi, and the arranger and composer of 'Nato in settembre' is Elvio Monti.

With her harmonious face, her perfect brown hair and her dream measurements, she was also a popular pin-up model in this period, for instance in the magazine Playmen in 1972. After 1970, her appearances became sporadic, and she retired from the cinema in 1985.

Her last screen appearances were in the film Tutti dentro / Everybody in Jail (Alberto Sordi, 1984) with Alberto Sordi and Joe Pesci, and the TV film I due prigionieri / The Two Prisoners (Anton Giulio Majano, 1985) with Ray Lovelock and Alain Cuny. Later, Giorgia Moll became a photographer.


Italian postcard, no. 592.


German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 4971. Photo: Angelo Frontoni / Unitalia Film.


German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag G.m.b.H., Minden / Westf., no. 1666.


Serbian postcard by Studio Sombor, no. 276.


Serbian postcard by Studio Sombor, no. 276. Sent by mail in Yugoslavia in 1965.


Italian postcard by SAG, Trieste, no. S. 7.


German postcard by Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft (Ufa), Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 4860. Retail price: 25 Pfg. Photo: Horst Maack / Ufa.


Trailer for Le Mépris / The Contempt (1963). Source: The Cultbox (YouTube).

Sources: Guy Bellinger (IMDb), Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen, Wikipedia (English and Italian) and IMDb.