Italian stage and screen actress Luisa Ferida (1914-1945) was a popular leading lady in the late 1930s and 1940s Italian sound film. She was married to actor Osvaldo Valenti. Because of his close links with the fascist regime, the couple was shot by partisans in April 1945.
Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit. (Casa Editr. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze), no. 3894. Photo: Bragaglia.
Italian postcard, no. 69. Photo: Bragaglia.
Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit. (Ballerini & Fratini, Florence), no. 4266. Photo: Pesce / E.N.I.C. Luisa Ferida in La corona di ferro (Alessandro Blasetti, 1941). Collection: Marlène Pilaete.
Luisa Ferida was born Luigia Manfrini Frané in Castel San Pietro Terme, near Bologna, in 1914. Her father Luigi, a rich lander owner, died when she was a child.
She was then sent to a convent school.
Ferida started her career as a stage actress. In 1935 she made her first film appearance with a supporting role in the crime film La Freccia d'oro/Golden Arrow (Piero Ballerini, Corrado D'Errico, 1935). Because of her photogenic looks and talent as an actress, she soon graduated to leading roles in such films as the historical comedy Il re Burlone/The Joker King (Enrico Guazzoni, 1935) with Armando Falconi.
The following year, she appeared in the comedy Lo smemorato/The Amnesiac (Gennaro Righelli, 1936) starring Angelo Musco, the screwball comedy Amazzoni bianche/White Amazons (Gennaro Righelli, 1936) starring Paola Barbara, and the historical comedy L'ambasciatore/The Ambassador (Baldassarre Negroni, 1936) starring Leda Gloria. She starred opposite Antonio Centa in the romantic comedy I tre desideri/The Three Wishes (Giorgio Ferroni, Kurt Gerron, 1937) of which also a Dutch-language version was made - without Ferida.
Next, she appeared opposite Amedeo Nazzari in the drama La fossa degli angeli/Tomb of the Angels (Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, 1937). Roberto Rossellini co-wrote the screenplay and served as assistant director. It was shot on location in the Apuan Alps in Liguria and is set amidst the marble quarries of the area. It marked an early attempt at realism in Italian cinema, anticipating the Neorealism of the postwar era, and it celebrated Italy's industrial strength in line with the propaganda of the Mussolini regime.
She co-starred with Totò in the comedy Animali pazzi/Mad Animals (Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, 1939). In 1939, while working on the Swashbuckler Un Avventura di Salvator Rosa/An Adventure of Salvator Rosa (Alessandro Blasetti, 1940), Luisa Ferida met the actor Osvaldo Valenti. The pair became romantically involved and had a son, Kim, who died 4 days after his birth. Valenti had been linked with many Fascist officials and personalities for years and he eventually joined the Italian Social Republic. For these reasons, he was on the partisans' hit list.
Italian postcard by Superbrom / Alterocca, Terni, no. 2425. Photo: E.I.A. Columbia. Luisa Ferida as Princess Elisabeth of Russia in Amore imperiale/Imperial love (Alexandre Volkoff, 1941).
Italian postcard by DITTA Iris, Terni, no. 34. Photo: Bragaglia. Luisa Ferida in Fedora (Camillo Mastrocinque, 1942).
In the first half of the 1940s, Luisa Ferida's career was at its zenith, and she played memorable roles in such films as La fanciulla di Portici/The Girl from Portici (Mario Bonnard, 1940), La corona di ferro/The Iron Crown (Alessandro Blasetti, 1941), and the drama Gelosia/Jealousy (Ferdinando Maria Poggioli, 1942).
She had a supporting role in the drama Nozze di sangue/Blood Wedding (Goffredo Alessandrini, 1941) starring Beatrice Mancini and Fosco Giachetti. The film about an arranged marriage in 19th century South America is based on the Spanish play by Federico Garcia Lorca.
She played the lead in the historical drama Fedora (Camillo Mastrocinque, 1942) opposite Amedeo Nazzari and Osvaldo Valenti. Opposite Fosco Giacchetti, she starred in the drama Fari nella nebbia/Headlights in the Fog (Gianni Franciolini, 1942). The film about a group of truck drivers is considered to be part of the development of Neorealism, which emerged around this time.
She starred with Osvaldo Valenti in the adventure film I cavalieri del deserto/Knights of the Desert (Gino Talamo, Osvaldo Valenti, 1942) with a screenplay by Federico Fellini and Vittorio Mussolini, the son of Italy's dictator Benito Mussolini. It was produced by the Rome-based ACI which was run by Vittorio Mussolini and shot on location in Libya before the North African Campaign turned decisively against Italy and its Allies. Fellini may have directed some of the Libyan scenes after Gino Talamo was injured in a car accident. The film was ultimately never released due to the defeats suffered in Libya, which meant its plot was now a potential embarrassment to the regime.
She appeared again with Valenti in the extremely popular historical film La cena delle beffe/The Jester's Supper (Alessandro Blasetti, 1942), also starring Amedeo Nazzari and Clara Calamai. The film is set in the 15th century Florence of Lorenzo the Magnificent and portrays a rivalry that leads to a series of increasingly violent jokes.
Italian postcard by Agfa. Fosco Giachetti and Luisa Ferida in Fari nella nebbia/Headlights in the Fog (Gianni Franciolini, 1942). In this dark, sensual and one might even say proto-Neorealist truckdriver's melodrama Cesare (Giachetti) befriends a wild girl (Ferida) after his wife (Mariella Lotti) has run away.
Italian postcard by Rizzoli & C., Milano, 1937. Photo: Bragaglia.
Italian postcard by Rizzoli & C., Milano, 1938. Photo: Bragaglia. Perhaps made for La fossa degli angeli (Curt Alexander, Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, 1937).
Luisa Ferida again co-starred with Valenti and Nazzari in the drama Sleeping Beauty (Luigi Chiarini, 1942), which belongs to the films of the Calligrafismo style. Calligrafismo is in sharp contrast to the Telefoni Bianchi-American style comedies and is rather artistic, highly formalistic, expressive in complexity, and deals mainly with contemporary literary material. In 1942 she won the Best Italian Actress award.
In the historical comedy La locandiera/The Innkeeper (Luigi Chiarini, 1944), she co-starred again with Armando Falconi and Osvaldo Valenti. During the last stages of completion, Mussolini was overthrown. The final editing was done in Venice, the film capital of the Italian Social Republic, but without the presence of Chiarini.
At the end of 1943, the fascist government of the Republic of Salo decided to create an Italian cinematographic centre in the north of the country. Luisa Ferida and Valenti agreed to go there. They made Un fatto di cronaca/A Chronicle (Piero Ballerini, 1945), which was released in February 1945. Two months later, Valenti was finally arrested in Milan, alongside a pregnant Ferida. They were both sentenced to be executed and shot immediately in the street, without a proper trial. The pregnant Ferida had a blue shoe of her deceased son Kim in her hand when she was killed. Opinions are divided as to whether the couple deserved this fatal fate.
The twelve suitcases of the couple, full of clothes, furs, money, and jewels were stolen that day. Her Milanese house was burglarised a few days later. The partisan chief who organised the execution, Giuseppe 'Vero' Marozin, declared years later that one of the partisan leaders who ordered the two actors to be executed was Sandro Pertini, who decades later became president of the Italian republic. No other source, however, supports Marozin's version of the incident.
Her mother Lucia asked for support from the Italian government since her daughter was her only support. After the actress was cleared of charges during the 1950s, Lucia received a small monthly pension. She died in poverty. Both lovers' graves are side to side in Cimitero Maggiore di Musocco in Milan. The film Sanguepazzo/Wild Blood (Marco Tullio Giordana, 2008) starring Monica Bellucci and Luca Zingaretti, discusses Luisa Ferida's relationship with Osvaldo Valenti.
Spanish collectors card by I.G. Viladot, Barcelona. Image: Cifesa. Luisa Ferida as Princess Elisabeth of Russia in Amore imperiale/Imperial Love (Alexandre Volkoff, 1941).
Italian postcard by NMM. Photo: Bragaglia.
Sources: Marlene Pilaete (La Collectionneuse- site now defunct), Hugo Bartoli (IMDb), Find-A-Grave, Wikipedia, and IMDb.
This post was last updated on 9 March 2024.
Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit. (Casa Editr. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze), no. 3894. Photo: Bragaglia.
Italian postcard, no. 69. Photo: Bragaglia.
Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit. (Ballerini & Fratini, Florence), no. 4266. Photo: Pesce / E.N.I.C. Luisa Ferida in La corona di ferro (Alessandro Blasetti, 1941). Collection: Marlène Pilaete.
An early attempt at realism in Italian cinema
Luisa Ferida was born Luigia Manfrini Frané in Castel San Pietro Terme, near Bologna, in 1914. Her father Luigi, a rich lander owner, died when she was a child.
She was then sent to a convent school.
Ferida started her career as a stage actress. In 1935 she made her first film appearance with a supporting role in the crime film La Freccia d'oro/Golden Arrow (Piero Ballerini, Corrado D'Errico, 1935). Because of her photogenic looks and talent as an actress, she soon graduated to leading roles in such films as the historical comedy Il re Burlone/The Joker King (Enrico Guazzoni, 1935) with Armando Falconi.
The following year, she appeared in the comedy Lo smemorato/The Amnesiac (Gennaro Righelli, 1936) starring Angelo Musco, the screwball comedy Amazzoni bianche/White Amazons (Gennaro Righelli, 1936) starring Paola Barbara, and the historical comedy L'ambasciatore/The Ambassador (Baldassarre Negroni, 1936) starring Leda Gloria. She starred opposite Antonio Centa in the romantic comedy I tre desideri/The Three Wishes (Giorgio Ferroni, Kurt Gerron, 1937) of which also a Dutch-language version was made - without Ferida.
Next, she appeared opposite Amedeo Nazzari in the drama La fossa degli angeli/Tomb of the Angels (Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, 1937). Roberto Rossellini co-wrote the screenplay and served as assistant director. It was shot on location in the Apuan Alps in Liguria and is set amidst the marble quarries of the area. It marked an early attempt at realism in Italian cinema, anticipating the Neorealism of the postwar era, and it celebrated Italy's industrial strength in line with the propaganda of the Mussolini regime.
She co-starred with Totò in the comedy Animali pazzi/Mad Animals (Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, 1939). In 1939, while working on the Swashbuckler Un Avventura di Salvator Rosa/An Adventure of Salvator Rosa (Alessandro Blasetti, 1940), Luisa Ferida met the actor Osvaldo Valenti. The pair became romantically involved and had a son, Kim, who died 4 days after his birth. Valenti had been linked with many Fascist officials and personalities for years and he eventually joined the Italian Social Republic. For these reasons, he was on the partisans' hit list.
Italian postcard by Superbrom / Alterocca, Terni, no. 2425. Photo: E.I.A. Columbia. Luisa Ferida as Princess Elisabeth of Russia in Amore imperiale/Imperial love (Alexandre Volkoff, 1941).
Italian postcard by DITTA Iris, Terni, no. 34. Photo: Bragaglia. Luisa Ferida in Fedora (Camillo Mastrocinque, 1942).
A screenplay by Federico Fellini
In the first half of the 1940s, Luisa Ferida's career was at its zenith, and she played memorable roles in such films as La fanciulla di Portici/The Girl from Portici (Mario Bonnard, 1940), La corona di ferro/The Iron Crown (Alessandro Blasetti, 1941), and the drama Gelosia/Jealousy (Ferdinando Maria Poggioli, 1942).
She had a supporting role in the drama Nozze di sangue/Blood Wedding (Goffredo Alessandrini, 1941) starring Beatrice Mancini and Fosco Giachetti. The film about an arranged marriage in 19th century South America is based on the Spanish play by Federico Garcia Lorca.
She played the lead in the historical drama Fedora (Camillo Mastrocinque, 1942) opposite Amedeo Nazzari and Osvaldo Valenti. Opposite Fosco Giacchetti, she starred in the drama Fari nella nebbia/Headlights in the Fog (Gianni Franciolini, 1942). The film about a group of truck drivers is considered to be part of the development of Neorealism, which emerged around this time.
She starred with Osvaldo Valenti in the adventure film I cavalieri del deserto/Knights of the Desert (Gino Talamo, Osvaldo Valenti, 1942) with a screenplay by Federico Fellini and Vittorio Mussolini, the son of Italy's dictator Benito Mussolini. It was produced by the Rome-based ACI which was run by Vittorio Mussolini and shot on location in Libya before the North African Campaign turned decisively against Italy and its Allies. Fellini may have directed some of the Libyan scenes after Gino Talamo was injured in a car accident. The film was ultimately never released due to the defeats suffered in Libya, which meant its plot was now a potential embarrassment to the regime.
She appeared again with Valenti in the extremely popular historical film La cena delle beffe/The Jester's Supper (Alessandro Blasetti, 1942), also starring Amedeo Nazzari and Clara Calamai. The film is set in the 15th century Florence of Lorenzo the Magnificent and portrays a rivalry that leads to a series of increasingly violent jokes.
Italian postcard by Agfa. Fosco Giachetti and Luisa Ferida in Fari nella nebbia/Headlights in the Fog (Gianni Franciolini, 1942). In this dark, sensual and one might even say proto-Neorealist truckdriver's melodrama Cesare (Giachetti) befriends a wild girl (Ferida) after his wife (Mariella Lotti) has run away.
Italian postcard by Rizzoli & C., Milano, 1937. Photo: Bragaglia.
Italian postcard by Rizzoli & C., Milano, 1938. Photo: Bragaglia. Perhaps made for La fossa degli angeli (Curt Alexander, Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, 1937).
Sentenced to be executed and shot immediately in the street
Luisa Ferida again co-starred with Valenti and Nazzari in the drama Sleeping Beauty (Luigi Chiarini, 1942), which belongs to the films of the Calligrafismo style. Calligrafismo is in sharp contrast to the Telefoni Bianchi-American style comedies and is rather artistic, highly formalistic, expressive in complexity, and deals mainly with contemporary literary material. In 1942 she won the Best Italian Actress award.
In the historical comedy La locandiera/The Innkeeper (Luigi Chiarini, 1944), she co-starred again with Armando Falconi and Osvaldo Valenti. During the last stages of completion, Mussolini was overthrown. The final editing was done in Venice, the film capital of the Italian Social Republic, but without the presence of Chiarini.
At the end of 1943, the fascist government of the Republic of Salo decided to create an Italian cinematographic centre in the north of the country. Luisa Ferida and Valenti agreed to go there. They made Un fatto di cronaca/A Chronicle (Piero Ballerini, 1945), which was released in February 1945. Two months later, Valenti was finally arrested in Milan, alongside a pregnant Ferida. They were both sentenced to be executed and shot immediately in the street, without a proper trial. The pregnant Ferida had a blue shoe of her deceased son Kim in her hand when she was killed. Opinions are divided as to whether the couple deserved this fatal fate.
The twelve suitcases of the couple, full of clothes, furs, money, and jewels were stolen that day. Her Milanese house was burglarised a few days later. The partisan chief who organised the execution, Giuseppe 'Vero' Marozin, declared years later that one of the partisan leaders who ordered the two actors to be executed was Sandro Pertini, who decades later became president of the Italian republic. No other source, however, supports Marozin's version of the incident.
Her mother Lucia asked for support from the Italian government since her daughter was her only support. After the actress was cleared of charges during the 1950s, Lucia received a small monthly pension. She died in poverty. Both lovers' graves are side to side in Cimitero Maggiore di Musocco in Milan. The film Sanguepazzo/Wild Blood (Marco Tullio Giordana, 2008) starring Monica Bellucci and Luca Zingaretti, discusses Luisa Ferida's relationship with Osvaldo Valenti.
Spanish collectors card by I.G. Viladot, Barcelona. Image: Cifesa. Luisa Ferida as Princess Elisabeth of Russia in Amore imperiale/Imperial Love (Alexandre Volkoff, 1941).
Italian postcard by NMM. Photo: Bragaglia.
Sources: Marlene Pilaete (La Collectionneuse- site now defunct), Hugo Bartoli (IMDb), Find-A-Grave, Wikipedia, and IMDb.
This post was last updated on 9 March 2024.
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