Italian film director, screenwriter, and film producer Carmine Gallone (1885–1973) directed over 120 films in his fifty-year career between 1913 and 1963. Gallone was one of Italian cinema's leading early directors and has been compared to Cecil B. DeMille because of his predilection for historical epics. He was also controversial for his works of pro-Fascist Propaganda and historical revisionism. Gallone specialised in melodramas and costume epics, but from the 1950s, he also directed several international co-productions, including many musicals, opera films and biopics of composers.
Vintage postcard by C.E. & Co. Photo: Cines.
Lyda Borelli in
La donna nuda / The Naked Truth (Carmine Gallone, 1914).
Spanish postcard by Ed. L. Planas, Barcelona, no. 1 of 6 cards. Photo: Cines.
Lyda Borelli in
Fior di male / Flower of Evil (Carmine Gallone, 1915), written by Nino Oxilia. Stylistically, the film looks so much like Oxilia's
Sangue bleu that some historians doubt whether Gallone directed it. Scene: When the film opens, Lyda is a poor dancer in a disreputable inn. She becomes a young mother and gives away her child, unable to care for his son. During a raid, she is arrested and ends up in a reformatory for fallen women.
Italian postcard, Ufficio Censura Torino, 9-10-1915, no. 6184.
Lyda Borelli in
Marcia nuziale / Wedding March (Carmine Gallone, 1915), one of the few lost films of her career, and based on the play 'La marche nuptiale' by
Henry Bataille.
Spanish postcard, no. 6 of 6 cards. Photo: Cines.
Lyda Borelli in
La falena / The Butterfly (Carmine Gallone, Cines 1916), based on Henri Bataille's play 'La Phalène'.
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex / Film Cines.
Lyda Borelli and
Amleto Novelli in
Malombra (Carmine Gallone, 1917), adapted from the novel by
Antonio Fogazzaro. Caption: For a moment he laid his hands on her arm. She shivered: her shoulders and her breasts lifted themselves.
Spanish cromo (collector card) by Chocolate Imperiale, no. 6 of 6 cards. Photo: J. Muntañola, Barcelona / Cines.
Lyda Borelli in
La storia dei tredici / The Story of the Thirteen (Carmine Gallone, Cines 1917), after a script by
Lucio d'Ambra based on 'La duchesse de Langeais', one of the three volumes of
Honoré de Balzac's tripartite novel 'L'histoire des treize' (1833-1839), which appeared as Ferragus, 'La duchesse de Langeais' and 'La fille aux yeux d'or'. Together with
Marcia nuziale / Wedding March (Carmine Gallone, 1915),
La storia dei tredici is one of Gallone's lost films with
Lyda Borelli. While most films of Borelli survive, or at least fragments remain (
La falena,
La dramma di una notte), no footage from this film has resurfaced, despite the opening up of film archives in the past decades.
Italian postcard by Alfieri & Lacroix, Milan, for Cinema Teatro Dante. Photo: Film d'Eccezione / Ligure Films.
Soava Gallone in
La storia di un peccato / The Story of a Sin (Carmine Gallone, 1918). Ligure Films had the film rights for the regions Piemonte and Liguria. This card may refer to a Cinema Dante in Savona, where Ligure Films was based. Still, it could also refer to a Cinema Dante in Milan, although the only one hitherto known opened in 1925. On the card, the film is indicated as
Storia di un peccato.
Belgian postcard.
Diana Karenne in
Redenzione / Maria di Magdala (Carmine Gallone, 1919), presented as
La Rédemption de Marie Madeleine at the cinema Oud-Gend in Ghent, Belgium, between 17 and 23 September 1920. The French company Gaumont distributed the film in Belgium.
Italian postcard by Unione Cinematografica Italiana - Palatino Film. Photo: Celio Films.
Soava Gallone in
Marcella / Mother Love (Carmine Gallone, 1921). Caption: Marcella can finally embrace her son again. The other woman may well be
Fulvia Perini, playing Marcella's aunt.
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editori, Milano / La Fotominio, no. 71. Photo: Soava Gallone in
La Tormenta / The Storm (Carmine Gallone, 1922).
The last of the great silent Italian epics
Carmine Gallone was born as
Carmelo Camillo Gallone in 1885, in Taggia, in the province of Imperia, but grew up in Naples. He was the son of the Italian
Pasquale Gallone and his French wife,
Rosa Langery. He began writing plays at 15 and, in 1911, he travelled to Rome to participate in the National Drama Competition organised to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Unification of Italy. Although the play he submitted, 'Il Britannico', did not win, the examining committee gave it an honourable mention. That same year, he married
Stanisława Winawerówna, a Polish actress born in Warsaw in 1880 and later famous as
Soava Gallone. He was engaged as a writer and translator at the Teatro Argentina in Rome, where he and his wife stayed until the end of 1912.
During this period, he also worked as a film critic for several Roman magazines. In 1913, the young film director
Nino Oxilia introduced him to Cines, where he debuted as a screenwriter, adapting several comedies by
Henry Bataille. At the end of the year,
Alberto Fassini, the head of the Cines film company, entrusted him with directing the drama film
La donna nuda / The Naked Truth, based on Bataille's play of the same name and starring the prominent Italian silent film diva
Lyda Borelli. Borelli played the leading female role in many of his early films. Gallone directed thirteen films for Cines in 1914 alone, including
Amore senza veli,
Il romanzo di un torero and
Le campane di Sorrento. In 1915, he was chosen to direct
Avatar / The Magician (1916), and he directed
Malombra (1917), a loose adaptation of
Antonio Fogazzaro's novel of the same name.
Wikipedia: "Gallone's early films are characterised by a refined aesthetic sensibility influenced by the Decadent movement prevalent at the time. He carefully constructed each image, studying the relationship between lighting and composition to create original visual effects."
At the outbreak of World War I, Gallone was filming
Cuor di neve / Heart of Snow, starring
Leda Gys. He was drafted into the army at the end of 1915, serving in the 1st Regiment 'Granatieri di Sardegna', before being called up by the Ministry of the Navy in 1916 to direct propaganda films. Meanwhile, he began a collaboration with the novelist, screenwriter and director
Lucio D'Ambra, a key figure in the development of sophisticated silent comedy in Italy. D'Ambra and Gallone collaborated on several films, including
La chiamavano Cosetta / They Called Her Cosetta (1917),
Storia dei tredici / The Story of the Thirteen (1917), and
Il bacio di Cirano / Cyrano's Kiss (1920), a reimagining of
Edmond Rostand's 'Cyrano de Bergerac'. In 1919, Gallone made his most successful film to date: the historical epic
Redenzione / Redemption (1919), starring
Diana Karenne and produced by the Medusa Film company. The film stood out from other historical films of the same period thanks to its elegant and sophisticated cinematography, and was a great success with both audiences and critics.
While Italian cinema was experiencing a period of crisis and a decline in production, Gallone continued to make successful films characterised by lavish sets and high production quality. These included the dark, sentimental drama
La madre folle / Through the Shadows (1924); the melodrama
I volti dell'amore / The Faces of Love (1924), based on the opera 'Adriana Lecouvreur' by
Eugène Scribe and
Ernest Legouvé, based in turn on the life of 18th-century French actress
Adrienne Lecouvreur; and
La signorina madre di famiglia (1925). In 1925, he directed
La cavalcata ardente / The Fiery Cavalcade, a love story set against the backdrop of Garibaldi's 'Spedizione dei Mille' (Expedition of the Thousand), an event of the unification of Italy that took place in 1860. Starring his wife,
Soava Gallone,
Emilio Ghione, and
Jeanne Brindeau, the film drew parallels between the Garibaldian and Fascist movements, a comparison that would later be endorsed by the fascist regime.
In 1926,
Carmine Gallone directed the historical epic
Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei / The Last Days of Pompeii (Amleto Palermi, Carmine Gallone, 1926), based on
E.G. Bulwer-Lytton's novel. A spectacular, lavishly produced epic that ran for more than three hours with thousands of extras and an international cast. The film is notable for featuring scenes colourised by the Pathéchrome stencil colour process. Despite its grand scale, the film was a commercial disappointment, particularly when compared to earlier versions. The failure at the box-office of the last of the great silent Italian epics was a major setback for Italian cinema and marked the end of the first part of Gallone's career as a filmmaker.
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 217. Photo: Films Gallone.
Soava Gallone in
All'ombra di un trono / L'Ombra di un trono / In the Shadow of a Throne (Carmine Gallone, 1921-1923). Other actors were
Umberto Casilini and
Piero Schiavazzi. The film was based on a novel by
Charles Folly, 'Fleur d'ombre'.
Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano.
Gabriel de Gravone in the historical film
La cavalcata ardente / The Fiery Cavalcade (Carmine Gallone, 1925).
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editori, Milano.
Soava Gallone in
La cavalcata ardente / The Fiery Cavalcade (Carmine Gallone, 1925).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1344/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Hisa Film-Vertrieb.
Victor Varconi as Glaucus in
Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei / The Last Days of Pompeii (Carmine Gallone, Amleto Palermi, 1926).
German postcard by Verlag Ross, Berlin, no. 1345/1, 1927-1928.
Rina De Liguoro as Ione in
Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei / The Last Days of Pompeii (Carmine Gallone, Amleto Palermi, 1926), released in Germany as
Die letzten Tage von Pompeji.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5261/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Ufa.
Jan Kiepura and
Brigitte Helm in
Die singende Stadt / The Singing City (Carmine Gallone, 1930).
French postcard by P.C., Paris, no. 14. Photo: Films Osso.
Albert Préjean sang the Slow-Fox 'Si l'on ne s'était pas connu' in
Un soir de rafle / Sailor's Song (Carmine Gallone, 1931). Text by
Léo Lelièvre fils, and music by
Ph. Parès and
G. van Parys. Copyright: Ed. Salabert, Paris, 1931.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 198/1. Photo: Cine Allianz / Ufa.
Jan Kiepura and
Mártha Eggerth in the musical comedy
Mein Herz ruft nach dir / My Heart Calls You (Carmine Gallone, 1934).
Italian postcard by Grafiche N. Moneto, Milano. Photo: Itala-Film / Generalcine.
Maria Cebotari in
Mutterlied / Solo Per Te / Mother Song (Carmine Gallone, 1937).
Italian postcard by Rizzoli & C., Milano, 1937. Photo: Pesce.
Francesca Braggiotti in
Scipione l'Africano / Scipio Africanus (Carmine Gallone, 1937).
Propaganda and opera films
In 1927,
Carmine Gallone left Italy and worked in France, Great Britain, Hungary, Austria and Germany. While in Paris, he directed
Celle qui domine / The Woman Who Squandered Men (Carmine Gallone, Léon Mathot, 1927) for the British film company Gaumont-British. That same year Gallone moved to Berlin, where he directed the drama film
Die Stadt der tausend Freuden / The City of a Thousand Delights (1927), starring
Paul Richter,
Adele Sandrock and
Langhorn Burton. His next film,
Marter der Liebe / Pawns of Passion (Wiktor Biegański and Carmine Gallone, 1928), shot in Germany and Poland, was an explicit anti-Soviet and anti-communist Propaganda film. In 1929, Gallone shot his first sound film,
Das Land ohne Frauen / Land Without Women (1929), stylistically one of his best works. Set in a community of gold diggers in Western Australia, the film was shot at the Staaken and Templehof Studios in Berlin with sets designed by the art directors
Hans Sohnle and
Otto Erdmann.
Die singende Stadt / The Singing City (Carmine Gallone, 1930), which – as was customary at the time – was shot in two different language versions, marked the debut of
Jan Kiepura, whom Gallone succeeded in establishing as a new European singing star through this film. After returning to Paris, Gallone directed
Un soir de rafle / Sailor's Song (1931) starring
Albert Préjean.
Wikipedia: "Lively, engaging, sentimental, and funny, it was considered one of the greatest successes of French sound film."
In 1933, Gallone moved to London to make English-language versions of some of his films. In 1934, he filmed
Lucean le stelle in Berlin, for which he made French and English versions. The following year, he directed the musical drama film
Casta Diva (1935), starring
Mártha Eggerth, and written by Hollywood screenwriter
Walter Reisch. The film was a fictionalised biography of Italian composer
Vincenzo Bellini and his problems with his opera 'Norma' (1831). It was filmed at the Cines studios in Rome and won the Mussolini Cup at the 1935 Venice International Film Festival. Gallone simultaneously shot an English-language version of the film,
The Divine Spark, starring
Marta Eggerth,
Phillips Holmes, and
Benita Hume. Gallone remade
Casta Diva in 1954 in Technicolour, starring
Antonella Lualdi and
Maurice Ronet.
In 1937,
Carmine Gallone was commissioned to direct
Scipione l'Africano / Scipio Africanus: The Defeat of Hannibal (1937), a historical epic about Scipio Africanus from his election as proconsul until his defeat of Hannibal at the Battle of Zama.
Benito Mussolini sought to revive Italian cinema after the multiple box-office failures in the 1920s. His son
Vittorio Mussolini oversaw the film's production. He refused to use miniatures, and 300 workers built sets up to 175 feet (more than 50 metres). The film is the most significant cinematic Propaganda effort of the Italian Fascist regime. It was intended to celebrate the victorious conclusion of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War and to serve as a metaphor for the regime's imperial project.
Scipione l'Africano glorified Roman culture and drew clear parallels between Scipio Africanus and Mussolini and, more generally, between Rome’s civilising mission in Africa and that of Fascist Italy. Although the film failed to impress Mussolini, it still premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was quite successful. Following the revival of the Italian film industry, Gallone settled permanently in Italy.
In the late 1930s, he directed several films inspired by the world of opera, most notably
Giuseppe Verdi / The Life of Giuseppe Verdi (1938),
Marionette / Marionets (1939),
Il sogno di Butterfly / The Dream of a Butterfly (1939) and
Amami Alfredo / Love Me, Alfredo! (1940). In 1940, he directed
Le due orfanelle / The Two Orphans, a remake of
D. W. Griffith's
Orphans of the Storm (1921), starring
Alida Valli and
Maria Denis. In
Melodie eterne / Eternal Melodies (Carmine Gallone, 1940), starring
Gino Cervi and the Spanish actress
Conchita Montenegro, Gallone recounts the precocious debut, unhappy love affairs and premature death of
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, skilfully blending elements of opera with exquisitely dramatic scenes.
L'amante segreta / The Secret Lover (1941) is remembered for
Alida Valli's provocative performance.
Odessa in fiamme / Odessa în flăcări / Odessa in Flames (1942), an anti-communist Propaganda film about a family trapped in Soviet-occupied Bessarabia and its eventual liberation by Axis forces during Operation Barbarossa, was the first result of a collaboration agreement between Italian and Romanian filmmakers. Gallone directed
Harlem / Knock Out (1943) with
Massimo Girotti, set in the US and critical of the American lifestyle. Afro-American and colonial British war prisoners were employed in extra roles as coloured characters.
Wikipedia: "Despite its setting in a stylised New York lifted directly from contemporary American films, the film stood out for its memorable sequences."
Following the collapse of the Italian Social Republic,
Carmine Gallone, one of the foremost figures in fascist cinema, was handed a six-month suspension by the Italian authorities. To distance himself from Scipione l’africano, he directed the major anti-fascist film
Davanti a lui tremava tutta Roma / Before Him All Rome Trembled (1946), starring
Anna Magnani. Between 1946 and 1947, he directed five film adaptations of operas, including
La signora dalle camelie / The Lady of the Camellias (1947). A big hit was
Rigoletto (1946), starring
Tito Gobbi. Then followed more operatic films such as
La leggenda di Faust / Faust and the Devil (1949) and
La forza del destino / The Force of Destiny (1950), starring
Nelly Corradi and
Tito Gobbi, based on Giuseppe Verdi's opera 'La forza del destino'. Gallone's
Puccini (1952), starring
Gabriele Ferzetti as
Giacomo Puccini, was also number one at the box office. Then
Cavalleria rusticana / Fatal Desire (1953) followed in 3-D, starring
May Britt and
Anthony Quinn. For the vocal parts,
Tito Gobbi dubbed Quinn. Gallone also directed
Madama Butterfly / Madame Butterfly (1954) and
Tosca (1956), but interest in opera films waned. Gallone returned to historical epics, with
Messalina / The Affairs of Messalina (1951) and especially
Cartagine in fiamme / Carthage in Flames (1960), one of the most expensive epic adventure films produced in Italy during the 1960s. He also directed
Fernandel and
Gino Cervi in
La grande bagarre de Don Camillo / Don Camillo e l'onorevole Peppone / Don Camillo's Last Round (1955) and
Don Camillo Monseigneur / Don Camillo monsignore... ma non troppo (1961). These were the third and fourth of five comedies featuring
Fernandel as the Italian priest Don Camillo and his struggles with Giuseppe 'Peppone' Bottazzi, the Communist mayor of their rural town. The comedy
Carmen di Trastevere (1962), starring
Giovanna Ralli, was the last film of his long career. He was married to
Soava Gallone, who died in 1957.
Carmine Gallone died from pneumonia in Frascati in 1973 at 87. Having directed over one hundred films, he was one of the most prolific filmmakers in the history of Italian cinema.
Italian postcard. Ballerini & Fratini, Florence, no. 3725. Photo: E.N.I.C.
Annibale Ninchi in the title role of
Scipione l'Africano / Scipio Africanus (Carmine Gallone, 1937).
Italian postcard by Rizzoli, Milano, 1941. Photo: E.N.I.C.
Conchita Montenegro in
Melodie eterne / Eternal Melodies (Carmine Gallone, 1940), a heavily fictionalised biopic on the life of Mozart, in which Montenegro played the soprano Aloysia Weber, Mozart's love interest.
Romanian postcard.
Alida Valli and
Maria Denis in
Le due orfanelle / The Two Orphans (Carmine Gallone, 1942), based on the classic stage play by Eugène Cormon and Adolphe d'Ennery.
West German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, no. 525. Photo: Filmsonor / Gallone / Allianz-Film.
María Félix in
Messalina / The Affairs of Messalina (Carmine Gallone, 1951).
German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 405. Photo: Allianz Film.
Maria Félix in
Messalina / The Affairs of Messalina (Carmine Gallone, 1951).
Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano. Photo: DEAR Film. The hat
Nadia Gray wears refers to her part as the singer Cristina Vernini in
Puccini (Carmine Gallone, 1953). Yet, in the film she wears a high-necked dress and no fur.
West German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. V 321. Photo: Unitalia / Vaselli.
Ludmila Tcherina in
La figlia di Mata Hari / Mata Hari's Daughter (Carmine Gallone, 1954).
German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 3413. Photo: Allianz Film.
Curd Jürgens in
Michel Strogoff / Michael Strogoff (Carmine Gallone, 1956).
German postcard by UFA, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 1457. Photo: Arthur Grimm / CCC-Film / Allianz.
Folco Lulli in
Polikuschka (Carmine Gallone, 1958).
Cover page of an Austrian film programme by Das neue Film-Programm, unnumbered.
Anne Heywood and
Mario Girotti (Terence Hill) in
Cartagine in fiamme / Carthage in Flames (Carmine Gallone, 1960). Heywood was loaned out from the Rank Organisation to make the epic.
Sources: Wikipedia (English, Italian and German) and IMDb.
