La via del peccato (1925)

Despite the title and an all-star cast, the Italian silent drama La via del peccato/The Way of Sin (Amleto Palermi, 1925) is quite an incoherent and tame film. The postcards promise wild scenes in the underworld with femme fatales and Apache dance, but none of it can be seen in the film. Whatever happened between filming and the premiere?


Italian postcard by Edizione G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 340. Photo: La Fotominio / A.P. Film. Rina de Liguoro in La via del peccato/The Way of Sin (Amleto Palermi, 1925).


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 355. Photo: La Fotominio / A.P. Film. Rina De Liguoro and Lido Manetti in La via del peccato/The Way of Sin (Amleto Palermi, 1925).


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 361. Photo: La Fotominio / A.P. Film. Rina de Liguoro and Lido Manetti in La via del peccato/The Way of Sin (Amleto Palermi, 1925).


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 362. Photo: La Fotominio / A.P. Film. Rina de Liguoro and Lido Manetti in La via del peccato/The Way of Sin (Amleto Palermi, 1925).


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 364. Photo: La Fotominio / A.P. Film. Emilio Ghione and Kally Sambucini in La via del peccato/The Way of Sin (Amleto Palermi, 1925). Sambucini's first name is misspelt on the card.

A terrible nightmare

For La via del peccato/The Way of Sin (1925), A.P. film had contracted an all-star cast. There are even two divas in the film, Soava Gallone and Rina De Liguoro. But also stars like Ruggero Ruggeri, Gustavo Serena, Mario Bonnard, Cecyl Tryan, Luigi Serventi, Lido Manetti (later known in the US as Arnold Kent), Mary-Cléo Tarlarini and Lamberto Picasso, appear in the film.

Ruggero Ruggeri stars as Marco Selva, who presumedly died in prison. After six years, he suddenly returns home and finds his fiancee Giovanna (Soava Gallone) married to his best friend (Gustavo Serena). He concocts a ruse to separate her from her husband and children and he nearly manages to do so. She is almost in doubt whether to give in, following her ex-lover to America.

While Marco is booking a cabin, Giovanna falls asleep and has a terrible nightmare. Her house is destroyed, and her husband and she have died. Their children first well cared for, grow up and become reckless, caught by adventures and morbid passions. They gradually descend into vice, even crime, leading to the woman (probably Diomira Jacobini) being assassinated by her companions and the man (probably Lido Manetti) being killed by the guillotine. Awakened, Giovanna decides to flee from her old flame and returns home, while. Marco leaves for faraway places to construct a life of his own.

On our postcards, there are no pictures of Ruggero Ruggeri or Diomira Jacobini. The film's publicity stills rather focused on Rina De Liguoro as a femme fatale. They also show Emilio Ghione and Kally Sambucini, who were famous for their underworld characters Za-la-Mort and Za-la-vie. Most postcards seem to deal with Giovanna's dream.

Reportedly, the filmmakers had spiced up the nightmare with lurid scenes of the underworld and even nudity. The result was immediately annulled by the Italian censor. All sinful scenes were cut. It made the film that finally was presented in the cinemas quite incoherent and tame and it was not a success. Perhaps someday a restoration of the film including the censored scenes, may raise a new appreciation for this film. Anyway, Soava Gallone and Emilio Ghione were much more successful in their subsequent film, La cavalcata ardente/The Fiery Cavalcade (Carmine Gallone, 1925), a historical melodrama about the conquest of Naples by Garibaldi.


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 365. Photo: La Fotominio / A.P. Film. Soava Gallone and Gustavo Serena in La via del peccato/The Way of Sin (Amleto Palermi, 1925).


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 369. Photo: La Fotominio / A.P. Film. Rina de Liguoro and Emilio Ghione performing a 'danse apache' in La via del peccato/The Way of Sin (Amleto Palermi, 1925).


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 370. Photo: La Fotominio / A.P. Film. Rina de Liguoro and Emilio Ghione performing a 'danse apache' in La via del peccato/The Way of Sin (Amleto Palermi, 1925).


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 387. Photo: La Fotominio / A.P. Film. Soava Gallone and Gustavo Serena in La via del peccato/The Way of Sin (Amleto Palermi, 1925).


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 398. Photo: La Fotominio / A.P. Film. Emilio Ghione, Kally Sambucini, Rina De Liguoro and Lido Manetti in La via del peccato/The Way of Sin (Amleto Palermi, 1925).

Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Il cinema muto italiano, 1923-1931) and IMDb.