L'arzigogolo (1924)

Le Giornate del Cinema Muto is the world’s leading international silent film festival. From 4 to 11 July 2025, EFSP contributor Ivo Blom is in Pordenone in Northern Italy to attend the 44th edition of the festival. And like Ivo, the festival is still going strong. It presents many rediscoveries and highlights. One programme is dedicated to Italian diva Italia Almirante Manzini and includes the wonderful costume drama L'arzigogolo / The Court Jester (Mario Almirante, 1924), which co-starred Annibale Betrone and Oreste Bilancia.


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 526. Photo: Scoffone. Italia Almirante Manzini as Monna Violante in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924).


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 528. Photo: Scoffone. Publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924), with Italia Almirante.


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 529. Photo: Scoffone. Italia Almirante in L'Arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924).


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano. Photo: Annibale Betrone in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924).


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 197. Photo: publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924) with Oreste Bilancia and Italia Almirante


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 198. Italia Almirante Manzini as Monna Violante and Alberto Collo as Count Giano in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924).


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, no. 202. Photo: Alba Film. Oreste Bilancia in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924).


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 203. Photo: publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924) with Italia Almirante and Alberto Collo.


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 204. Photo: publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924) with Italia Almirante.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 209. Photo: Italia Almirante and Alberto Collo in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924).

An attractive cast

L'arzigogolo/The Court Jester (Mario Almirante, 1924) has an attractive cast. The leading lady is Italia Almirante Manzini (1890-1941), the cousin of director Mario Almirante. After she had starred in the classic epic Cabiria (1914), Almirante had become one of the divas of the Italian silent cinema.

Her co-star was Annibale Betrone (1883-1950), an important figure in the Italian theatre of the first half of the 20th century. Betrone also appeared in several silent and sound films. Oreste Bilancia (1881-1945) was another well-known face of the Italian silent cinema. As in L'arzigogolo, he mostly worked as a supporting actor, but occasionally played the main character.

Almirante plays Monna Violante, daughter of the Prince of Carpi. Her father forces her to find a husband from among her suitors, or he will lock her up in a convent. Violante chooses Floridoro (Oreste Bilancia), a fat and rich merchant, self-confident and convinced that he is protected by good fortune.

Even after the wedding, however, Violante does not abandon her goal of finding the man of her dreams. On a visit to the castles of the Principality, she meets Count Giano (Alberto Collo), one of her former suitors. Cruelly, she pretends to be willing to give him up. So Giano orders Spallatonda (Annibale Betrone), his court jester and servant, to bring her to him, or Giano will chop his head off.

Spallatonda attempts, but with such vehemence that Violante is sensually disturbed. She even allows herself to be seduced by the jester, who then no longer wants to take her to his master. So Giano will carry out his terrible threat. Violante, however, offers herself for the jester's life, and Giano accepts. Spallatonda will be beheaded in mockery. The jester feigns unconsciousness and hides in Violante's room. When Giano arrives, Spallatonda kills him, and then Monna Violante and Spallatonda flee together.


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 205. Photo: Alba Film. An ensemble shot from the opening scene of L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: The tournament in honour of Violante.


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 206. Photo: Alba Film. Italia Almirante as Monna Violante in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: Violante leaves for the hunt.


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 20?. Photo: Alba Film. Italia Almirante as Monna Violante and Alberto Collo as Count Giano in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: Giano tries in vain to conquer Violante's coldness.


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 209. Photo: Alba Film. Annibale Betrone as The Jester in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: Spallatonda chased from the village.


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 210. Photo: Alba Film. In the back, Italia Amirante as Monna Violante and Alberto Collo as Count Giano in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: The dinner in the house of Count Giano.


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 211. Photo: Alba Film. Publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: The arrival of the buffoon at the castle of Giano.


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 214. Photo: Alba Film. Annibale Betrone as The Jester and Alberto Collo as Giano in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: Giano to the Jester: ... if you don't manage to convince Violante of my love, I will have your head chopped off!


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 216. Photo: Alba Film. Italia Almirante and Annibale Betrone in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: In the calm moonlight, the buffoon sees Violante and declares her his love.

Classic love story

L'arzigogolo is a classic love story in the vein of William Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'. Director Mario Almirante wrote the script originally in French. Almirante directed such films as Il fornaretto di Venezia / The Baker Boy of Venice (1923) and L'ombra / The Shadow (1923). He wrote a liberal adaptation of a popular 1922 Sem Benelli's 'comic poem in four acts'. The Italian playwright, essayist and librettist Benelli provided the texts for several noted Italian operas, including Italo Montemezzi's 'L'amore dei tre re' and 'L'incantesimo', and Umberto Giordano's 'La cena delle beffe', based on Benelli's own play of the same title.

The sets for L'arzigogolo were designed by Luigi Sapelli, better known as Caramba, who specialised in costume dramas. The Director of photography was Ubaldo Arata, who was one of Italy's most famous cinematographers.

After the premiere, the critic of Il Roma della Domenica wrote: "L'arzigogolo did not delude the high expectations, because it is the result on the screen of an original and interesting work. Therefore the poet (Sem Benelli) can be satisfied."

The critic of La Vita Cinematografica adds: "We never saw Italia Almirante so perfect in place. She exquisitely figures as an intelligent woman. Her plastic beauty, preserved by exuberant costumes, makes the complex and enigmatic character of Violante more fascinating and suggestive."

Società Anonima Stefano Pittaluga distributed the film. L'arzigogolo became one of the most successful films in Italy in 1924. The most popular film that year was Die Nibelungen, a two-part German fantasy film by Fritz Lang. L'arzigogolo is now in the public domain.


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 217. Photo: Alba Film. Oreste Bilancia as Floridoro in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: Floridoro and the servant. Floridoro: Her true love? Who is it? When will he come? Is he far away? Is he here?


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 218 or 219. Photo: Alba Film. Annibale Betrone as The Jester and Italia Almirante Manzini as Monna Violante in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: The Jester: What! No Milady! You have too great haste to forget. But I remember!


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 220. Photo: Alba Film. Annibale Betrone as The Jester and Alberto Collo as Giano in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: The mockery. The Jester: She is in this, it is hers. She whom you'll never have... never!


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 221. Photo: Alba Film. Italia Almirante as Monna Violante, Annibale Betrone as The Jester, Oreste Bilancia as Floridoro, and Alberto Collo as Giano in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: The Jester rebels against Giano and defies death out of love for Violante.


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 222. Photo: Alba Film. Annibale Betrone as The Jester in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: The Jester in prison.


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 224. Photo: Alba Film. Annibale Betrone as The Jester, Oreste Bilancia as Floridoro, and Alberto Collo as Giano in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: The Jester: I redeem myself! I am no longer a jester, but a man!


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 226. Photo: Alba Film. Annibale Betrone as The Jester, Oreste Bilancia as Floridoro, and Alberto Collo as Giano in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: Dead!


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 227. Photo: Alba Film. Annibale Betrone and Italia Almirante in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: True love...attained in vain... He is dead!


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 228. Photo: Alba Film. Annibale Betrone and Oreste Bilancia in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: The buffoon resurrected to the great terror of Floridoro.


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 229. Photo: Alba Film. Oreste Bilancia as Floridoro, and Alberto Collo as Giano in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: The Death of Giano.


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 230. Photo: Alba Film. Italia Almirante Manzini as Monna Violante, Annibale Betrone as The Jester, and Alberto Collo as Giano in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: The flight of Violante and Spallatonda after Giano's death.

Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Il Cinema Muto Italiano 1923-1931 - Italian), Wikipedia (Italian and Cymraeg) and IMDb.

Annibale Betrone

Italian actor and stage director Annibale Betrone (1883-1950) was an important figure of the Italian theatre of the first half of the 20th century.


Italian postcard by A. Traldi, Milano, no. 29. Photo: Badodi, Milano.


Italian postcard. Photo: G. Di Virgiliis, Genova. Annibale Betrone as Liliom in the play 'La leggenda di Liliom' by Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnár. Liliom was one of Betrone's best-known stage roles.


Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna, no. 435. Photo: Vettori, Bologna.

A strong dramatic, sometimes explosive, temperament

Annibale Betrone was born in Turin in 1883. Unlike many of his stage colleagues, he was no ‘figlio d’arte’, his father was a tailor, who was passionate about the stage. Annibale found a way to study acting with Domenico Bassi.

His debut came at the age of 17, in 1900, with the title of ‘second actor’ in the company of the brothers Marchetti. He was then hired by the company of Ermete Novelli, with whom he remained from 1901 to 1908. He passed the whole trajectory going from extra, to lover, to the young first actor, and finally the first actor.

He then moved over to Virgilio Talli’s company for a long period (1909-1921), where he established a famous triad with Maria Melato and Alberto Giovannini.

Between the two wars, he formed famous companies with some of the most reputed actresses, such as Maria Melato, Giannina Chiantoni, Tatiana Pavlova, Emma Gramatica, Paola Borboni, Kiki Palmer, Margaret Bagni, Olga Solbelli, and many more.

Betrone was an actor of a strong dramatic, sometimes explosive, temperament, and moved around within a vast repertory. He achieved great fame. Among his greatest successes are 'Il beffardo' by Nino Berrini and 'Glauco' by Ercole Luigi Morselli. He also played in 'Anfissa' by Leonid Andreev and in 'La sonata di Kreutzer' (The Kreutzer Sonata) by François Nozières, after Leo Tolstoy.

He was Bruneri-Canella in 'L’uomo no. 15' by E. Wool, and also recited in plays by Rosso di San Secondo ('Il delirio dell’oste Bassà') and Diego Fabbri. In 1945, in the just liberated Rome, he performed in 'The Moon is Down' by John Steinbeck, directed by Vito Pandolfi.

In the late 1930s, he had his own company, together with Anna Magnani. He directed her and Salvo Randone in several plays at the Roman Teatro Eliseo.

In 1940 he worked with Letitia Maria Celli and Angelo Calabrese, but after the outbreak of the war and the immediate post-war period, he reduced his presence on stage and focused on film acting.


Italian postcard, no. 17. Photo: Badodi, Milano.


Italian postcard by Fotocelere, Torino. Photo: Badodi, Milano. The card was sent in 1921.


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 212. Annibale Betrone as The Jester, Oreste Bilancia as Floridoro, and Alberto Collo as Giano in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: The Jester: Oh my pumpkin!... I could switch your head with that of a cow.


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 214. Photo: Alba Film. Annibale Betrone as The Jester, and Alberto Collo as Giano in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: Giano to the Jester: ... if you don't manage to convince Violante of my love I will have your head chopped off!


Italian postcard by Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 222. Photo: Alba Film. Annibale Betrone as The Jester in L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: The Jester in prison.

Breakthrough in the sound film

Annibale Betrone was very active in cinema, though his silent parts were scarce. He began in 1916 with the silent films Tigrana (Edouard Micheroux de Dillon, 1916) and Alcova tragica/Tragic alcove (Edouard Micheroux de Dillon, 1916), both with Betrone, Mary Light, and Sergio Tofano.

After this followed two films with Italia Almirante Manzini: L’innamorato/The lover (Gennaro Righelli, 1920) and L’arzigogolo/The Jester (Mario Almirante, 1924).

In the early 1930s. Betrone had a new breakthrough in the Italian sound film when he got a critical and public success playing king Vittorio Emanuele II in the feature film Villafranca (Gioacchino Forzano, 1934). A year earlier, he had also acted in Forzano's fascist propaganda film Camicia nera/Black shirt (Gioacchino Forzano, 1933).

Later he was admired as the human uncle in Piccolo mondo antico/Old-Fashioned World (Mario Soldati, 1941) - where he rivaled with the icy Ada Dondini - and the sensitive father of Doris Duranti in Nessuno torna indietro (Alessandro Blasetti, 1943).

During the war years, Betrone acted in some 26 films, ranging from propaganda films like Giarabub (Goffredo Alessandrini, 1942) to comedies like Teresa Venerdi (Vittorio De Sica, 1941) with Vittorio De Sica himself and Adriana Benetti, and (melo)dramas like the two-part film Noi vivi/Addio Kira! (Goffredo Alessandrini, 1943) with Alida Valli, Rossano Brazzi and Fosco Giachetti.

In 1912, Betrone had married Elvira Sanipoli - who later took the name of Elvira Betrone - and who often played with him on stage and on the screen, such as in the films Teresa Venerdi/Doctor, Beware (Vittorio De Sica, 1941), Noi vivi/We the Living (Goffredo Alessandrini, 1942), and Nessuno torna indietro/Responsibility Comes Back (Alessandro Blasetti, 1945).

Betrone was also the father of the young assistant-director, scriptwriter, and editor Gino (Cino) Betrone, who e.g. edited the film Tosca (1941) by Carl Koch and Jean Renoir. As lieutenant of the Alpine soldiers, he fell on the Greek-Albanian front in 1941.

Dedicated to his memory was the film Quelli della montagna/Those of the Mountain (Aldo Vergano, 1943) with Amedeo Nazzari and Mariella Lotti. Cino had delivered the idea for this film, and Annibale played a small part in it.

After the war Betrone was active for the radio. Among his last film roles were minor parts in two epics: Fabiola (Alessandro Blasetti, 1949) and Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei/The Last Days of Pompeii (Marcel L’Herbier, Paolo Moffa, 1950), starring Micheline Presle and Georges Marchal.

Annibal Betrone died in Rome in 1950. His wife Elvira Betrone died in Milan in 1961.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 209. Photo: publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante 1924), with Italia Almirante Manzini and Alberto Collo.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 209. Photo: publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924).


Italian postcard by ASER (A. Scarmiglia Ed. Roma), no. 80. Photo Pesce / Scalera Film. Could be a publicity still for the period piece La Gorgona (Guido Brignone, 1942) in which Betrone played count Ranieri.


Italian postcard, no. 301.


Italian postcard. Photo Massaglia, Torino.

Sources: Wikipedia (Italian) and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 7 March 2021.