Filibus
About Filibus
Baroness Troixmonde, played by Valeria Creti, robs banks as the air pirate Filibus and sets out to frame detective Kutt-Hendy, played by Giovanni Spano. She drugs him, copies his hand, and, disguised as the Count de la Brive, courts his sister Leonora while planting his print on a jewel theft. He hides a camera in a statue's eye. She drugs him again so the camera records him, then leaves a diamond on his desk. Unmasked, she signals her airship and escapes, and a letter from Filibus falls out of the sky.
Cast & crew
More about Filibus
Mario Roncoroni directed. Giovanni Bertinetti wrote it. Luigi Fiorio photographed it. Corona Film produced it in Italy and released it in March 1915. The Turin studio was not finished, so the company shot in and around Genoa. The listed length is 79 minutes at 18 frames a second. Cristina Ruspoli plays Leonora. Mario Mariani plays the police magistrate. Filippo Vallino plays Leo Sandy. Creti also plays the Count de la Brive.
Themes
Making
With the Turin studio unfinished, Roncoroni shot the picture around Genoa and built the airship effects on a small budget.
Look
Luigi Fiorio shot the Genoa locations and the airship, including the capsule Filibus uses to leave the ship and the heliograph she signals with.
Preservation
The Eye Filmmuseum holds a nitrate print. EYE and Milestone Films restored it in 2017.
Notes
- One actress plays the baroness, the thief, and the male suitor.
- A nitrate print is at the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam. A dupe is at the National Museum of Cinema in Turin.
- EYE and Milestone Films finished a digital restoration in 2017. Milestone issued a DVD in 2019.
Scenes
- Filibus drugs Kutt-Hendy and takes a print of his hand for a glove.
- A camera in the statue's eye photographs the detective while he is unconscious.
- She is tied up as the Count, signals the airship, and leaves.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Filibus 1915.webm)
- Milestone Films DVD (2019)