La gola (1918)

Francesca Bertini (1892-1985) was a majestic diva of Italian silent cinema. She often played the 'femme fatale', with men devouring eyes, glamorous attire, clenched fists, and in opulent settings, but La gola/Gluttony (Camillo De Riso, 1918) was a comedy with a girly, wild Bertini who mocks society and arranged marriages. It was a part of the series I sette peccati capitali/The Seven Mortal Sins, based on the novel 'Les sept pêchés capitaux' (1847-1852) by Eugène Sue. Sue was a famed serial writer, well known for 'Les Mystères de Paris' (1842-1843). La gola was released in Spain as Gula and Ivo Blom found this colourful series of chocolate cards for this post.


Spanish postcard. Photo: J. Gurgui, Barcelona / Bertini Film / Caesar Film. Francesca Bertini in La gola/Gluttony (Camillo De Riso, 1918), one of the films in the series I sette peccati capitali/The Seven Mortal Sins.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 2. Photo: Bertini Film / Caesar Film / Distr. J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Francesca Bertini in La gola (Camillo De Riso, 1918).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 2. Photo: Bertini Film / Caesar Film / Distr. J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Livio Pavanelli, Francesca Bertini, and Camillo De Riso in La gola (Camillo De Riso, 1918).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 3. Photo: Bertini Film / Caesar Film / Distr. J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Livio Pavanelli, Francesca Bertini, and Camillo De Riso in La gola (Camillo De Riso, 1918).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 4. Photo: Bertini Film / Caesar Film / Distr. J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Francesca Bertini, Camillo De Riso and Livio Pavanelli in La gola (Camillo De Riso, 1918).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 5. Photo: Bertini Film / Caesar Film / Distr. J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Francesca Bertini, Camillo De Riso and Livio Pavanelli in La gola (Camillo De Riso, 1918).

Frescalinda crossdresses, changes, agitates, jumps onto balconies, makes up adventures...

In La gola/Gluttony (1918), Francesca Bertini plays the young countess Frescalinda Ciufettino who wants to marry the dashing Captain Gallardo Amore (Livio Pavanelli). Her parents want to marry her to an old, serious Royal Highness (Camillo De Riso) from a neighbouring nation. In order to avoid marrying this silly, arrogant creature, Frescalinda crossdresses, changes, agitates, jumps onto balconies, makes up adventures, continuously performs intellectual gymnastics, laughs, sings, and puts up charades, until she discovers the man's Achilles heel: his gluttony.

Italian critics were not mild at the time. Bertoldo, in the Turinese journal La vita cinematografica wrote in 1919 that the eighth sin was that Caesar Film took this novel as the inspiration for a series of films with Francesca Bertini. He considered La gola a mediocre comedy, lacking movement and 'brille'.

The Roman critic Carlo Zappio 'Zac' commented that film was the perfect means to show the physical defects of Bertini: crooked legs, too thin arms, a head disproportionate, and irregular teeth.

It was clear the audience thought otherwise and continued to flock to Bertini's films. The girly, wild Bertini mocking society and arranged marriages must have been very different from her femme fatale-like parts. The cards suggest a kind of Italian variation on certain German comedies, such as Ernst Lubitsch's Die Austernprinzessin/The Oyster Princess (1919), or the comedies with Dorrit Weixler.

La gola was scripted by Pio Vanzi, and cinematographed by Luigi Filippo, while the art direction was by Alfredo Manzi. The film premiered in Rome on 17 January 1919. While the series of I sette peccati capitali was long believed lost, it was found at the Prague Film Institute, where it was carefully restored including the tinting. The films were shown at the festival Il Cinema Ritrovatto in Bologna. In 1991 the first restorations of L'avarizia and L'orgoglio were presented, while in 2003 the whole series was screened, including La gola.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 6. Photo: Bertini Film / Caesar Film / Distr. J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Francesca Bertini and Camillo De Riso in La gola (Camillo De Riso, 1918).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 7. Photo: Bertini Film / Caesar Film / Distr. J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Francesca Bertini and Camillo De Riso in La gola (Camillo De Riso, 1918).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 8. Photo: Bertini Film / Caesar Film / Distr. J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Camillo De Riso in La gola (Camillo De Riso, 1918).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 9. Photo: Bertini Film / Caesar Film / Distr. J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Francesca Bertini in La gola (Camillo De Riso, 1918).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 10. Photo: Bertini Film / Caesar Film / Distr. J. Gurgui, Barcelona. Francesca Bertini and Camillo De Riso in La gola (Camillo De Riso, 1918).

Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Il cinema muto italiano, Vol. 1918 - Italian) and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 25 February 2023.