I cento giorni di Napoleone (1914)

French military and political leader Napoléon Bonaparte (1969-1821) rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars. He was the subject of countless films. An early example is the Italian silent film I cento giorni di Napoleone/I cento giorni/Napoleone/The Hundred Days of Napoleon (Roberto Danesi, Archita Valente, 1914) in which Ettore Mazzanti played Napoleon. EFSP presents 21 postcards of a series of 24 vintage Italian cards of the historical film, published by Danesi in Rome and acquired by Ivo Blom.


Italian postcard by Danesi, Roma, no. 1 of a series of 24 cards. Photo: Vere Films. Publicity still for I cento giorni di Napoleone/The Hundred Days of Napoleon (Roberto Danesi, Archita Valente, 1914).


Italian postcard by Danesi, Roma, no. 2 of a series of 24 cards. Photo: Vere Films. Publicity still for I cento giorni di Napoleone/The Hundred Days of Napoleon (Roberto Danesi, Archita Valente, 1914).


Italian postcard by Danesi, Roma, no. 3 of a series of 24 cards. Photo: Vere Films. Publicity still for I cento giorni di Napoleone/The Hundred Days of Napoleon (Roberto Danesi, Archita Valente, 1914).


Italian postcard by Danesi, Roma, no. 4 of a series of 24 cards. Photo: Vere Films. Publicity still for I cento giorni di Napoleone/The Hundred Days of Napoleon (Roberto Danesi, Archita Valente, 1914).


Italian postcard by Danesi, Roma, no. 5 of a series of 24 cards. Photo: Vere Films. Publicity still for I cento giorni di Napoleone/The Hundred Days of Napoleon (Roberto Danesi, Archita Valente, 1914).


Italian postcard by Danesi, Roma, no. 6 of a series of 24 cards. Photo: Vere Films. Publicity still for I cento giorni di Napoleone/The Hundred Days of Napoleon (Roberto Danesi, Archita Valente, 1914).


Italian postcard by Danesi, Roma, no. 8 of a series of 24 cards. Photo: Vere Films. Publicity still for I cento giorni di Napoleone/The Hundred Days of Napoleon (Roberto Danesi, Archita Valente, 1914).


Italian postcard by Danesi, Roma, no. 10 of a series of 24 cards. Photo: Vere Films. Publicity still for I cento giorni di Napoleone/The Hundred Days of Napoleon (Roberto Danesi, Archita Valente, 1914).


Italian postcard by Danesi, Roma, no. 11 of a series of 24 cards. Photo: Vere Films. Publicity still for I cento giorni di Napoleone/The Hundred Days of Napoleon (Roberto Danesi, Archita Valente, 1914).


Italian postcard by Danesi, Roma, no. 12 of a series of 24 cards. Photo: Vere Films. Publicity still for I cento giorni di Napoleone/The Hundred Days of Napoleon (Roberto Danesi, Archita Valente, 1914).

A period of 110 days

'The Hundred Days' marked the period between Napoleon Bonaparte's return from exile on the island of Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815 - a period of 110 days. Napoleon returned to Paris with the intention of reversing the fate of the conflict against the Russian-Anglo-Prussian coalition powers that had defeated him in Leipzig. On 22 June 1815, defeated again in Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated definitively. He died in exile on the isolated Atlantic island of St. Helena, on 5 May 1821.

I cento giorni di Napoleone was produced in 1913 and premiered in January 1914 in Rome. It starts with Napoleon recollecting on St. Helena his past in flashback, from his escape from Elba to the Battle of Waterloo, and his definite defeat. In order to add a more intimate note, a sideline was inserted about a visit by Napoleon to the family of General Gérard, his enemy. While the press praised the mass choreography, it felt the intimate aspects were too few.

Napoleon was played by Ettore Mazzanti. The film was scripted by Alberto Moretti and the camerawork was by Lorenzo Romagnoli. On the postcards for the film, the production company is indicated as Vere Films, while Vittorio Martinelli's reference book 'Il cinema muto italiano, Vol. 1914, I,' indicates the company as the Roman company Vera-Films. IMDb calls the production company Vera Film. Film historian Aldo Bernardini also writes Vera Film.

The film's co-director and probably also the publisher of the postcards was Roberto Danesi (1882-1914). He was an Italian film producer, director, screenwriter, operator, and set photographer, based in Rome. In 1912 Danesi debuted with a series of films borrowing actors from the Turin company Savoia. In 1913 he was camera operator and set photographer at Cines and in the same year, he became the manager of Savoia's Roman studio, while parallel being active as a theatre director. In addition to dramas, Danesi also made Science Fiction films, and in hindsight, the actor Gian Paolo Rosmino praised his mastery of special effects.

Nino Oxilia was Danesi's assistant for some films at Savoia and learned the trade from him. At the end of 1913, Roberto Danesi and Archita Valente directed I cento giorni di Napoleone for Vera Film. In 1914 he shot films at his studio on behalf of Milano Films. He then left Savoia and founded, with Nino Martoglio, the company Morgana Films, which used the Roman studio of Savoia. With Martoglio, Danesi collaborated on two important, lost films: Capitan Blanco ( Roberto Danesi, Nino Martoglio, 1914) and Sperduti nel buio/Lost in the Dark (Nino Martoglio, 1914). In November 1914 his death and the end of his company were announced. Roberto Danesi was only 33.


Italian postcard by Danesi, Roma, no. 13 of a series of 24 cards. Photo: Vere Films. Publicity still for I cento giorni di Napoleone/The Hundred Days of Napoleon (Roberto Danesi, Archita Valente, 1914).


Italian postcard by Danesi, Roma, no. 14 of a series of 24 cards. Photo: Vere Films. Publicity still for I cento giorni di Napoleone/The Hundred Days of Napoleon (Roberto Danesi, Archita Valente, 1914).


Italian postcard by Danesi, Roma, no. 15 of a series of 24 cards. Photo: Vere Films. Publicity still for I cento giorni di Napoleone/The Hundred Days of Napoleon (Roberto Danesi, Archita Valente, 1914).


Italian postcard by Danesi, Roma, no. 16 of a series of 24 cards. Photo: Vere Films. Publicity still for I cento giorni di Napoleone/The Hundred Days of Napoleon (Roberto Danesi, Archita Valente, 1914).


Italian postcard by Danesi, Roma, no. 18 of a series of 24 cards. Photo: Vere Films. Publicity still for I cento giorni di Napoleone/The Hundred Days of Napoleon (Roberto Danesi, Archita Valente, 1914).


Italian postcard by Danesi, Roma, no. 19 of a series of 24 cards. Photo: Vere Films. Publicity still for I cento giorni di Napoleone/The Hundred Days of Napoleon (Roberto Danesi, Archita Valente, 1914).


Italian postcard by Danesi, Roma, no. 20 of a series of 24 cards. Photo: Vere Films. Publicity still for I cento giorni di Napoleone/The Hundred Days of Napoleon (Roberto Danesi, Archita Valente, 1914).


Italian postcard by Danesi, Roma, no. 21 of a series of 24 cards. Photo: Vere Films. Publicity still for I cento giorni di Napoleone/The Hundred Days of Napoleon (Roberto Danesi, Archita Valente, 1914).


Italian postcard by Danesi, Roma, no. 22 of a series of 24 cards. Photo: Vere Films. Publicity still for I cento giorni di Napoleone/The Hundred Days of Napoleon (Roberto Danesi, Archita Valente, 1914).


Italian postcard by Danesi, Roma, no. 23 of a series of 24 cards. Photo: Vere Films. Publicity still for I cento giorni di Napoleone/The Hundred Days of Napoleon (Roberto Danesi, Archita Valente, 1914).


Italian postcard by Danesi, Roma, no. 24 of a series of 24 cards. Photo: Vere Films. Publicity still for I cento giorni di Napoleone/The Hundred Days of Napoleon (Roberto Danesi, Archita Valente, 1914).

Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Il cinema muto italiano, Vol. 1914, I. - Italian), Aldo Bernardini (Cinema muto italiano. Protagonisti - Italian), Wikipedia, and IMDb.