Messalina
About Messalina
After the Praetorians kill Caligula, they acclaim Claudius emperor. Their commander Marcus loves Claudius's wife Messalina. She leaves the palace for adventures and, during a raid, is saved by Ennio, a Persian slave, and falls in love with him. Mirit, a priestess of Isis, blackmails Ennio for his favor. Claudius uncovers Marcus's plot and has him killed. Ennio enters a chariot race to win his freedom. Mirit has his horses killed. He crashes and Messalina saves him from the gladiators. She later plots against Claudius. When the plot is found out she kills herself rather than be chained by the Praetorians.
Cast & crew
More about Messalina
Enrico Guazzoni wrote, produced, and directed. Rina De Liguoro plays Messalina, Augusto Mastripietri plays Claudius, Gino Talamo plays Ennio, and Gianna Terribili-Gonzales plays Mirit. Victor Arménise and Alfredo Lenci photographed it. Guido Del Monaco designed the sets. Minerva distributed it in Italy. Italian Wikipedia gives the length as 3,373 metres. A preview was held in July 1923 in the gardens of the Quirinal, with the king and other members of the royal family present.
Themes
Background
Guazzoni made the film as Italian producers, many of them gathered in the Unione Cinematografica Italiana, tried again with Roman spectacles after the war.
Making
Guazzoni later described the king's visit to the set as a reply to what he called the ostracism of culture and the hostility of financiers.
Reviews
Arturo Bernabò, in La rivista cinematografica of 10 June 1924, wrote that Countess De Liguoro suited the part and called the film Guazzoni's pride.
Audiences
Italian Wikipedia reports a large success in Italy and abroad despite scenes then called immoral, and says it was the only Italian film that could be exported to the Soviet Union in the 1920s.
Look
Victor Arménise and Alfredo Lenci photographed the film, including the chariot race.
Preservation
Italian Wikipedia says copies are preserved at the film archives in Rome and Milan.
Notes
- King Victor Emmanuel III visited the set during filming.
- In English-speaking countries the film was called The Fall of an Empress.
- Film Booking Offices of America released it in the United States on 24 August 1924. The English Wikipedia page dates the film 1924, and Wikidata lists 105 minutes, against the Italian figure of 125 minutes for 3,373 metres.
- Silent Era lists Lucia Zanussi as Ela, the slave. Italian Wikipedia spells the name Egle.
- Gildo Bocci plays Apollonius and Aristide Garbini plays Narcissus. Nello Carotenuto plays Caligula.
- Italian Wikipedia says copies are held at the film archives in Rome and Milan.
- Mario Caserini had already made a 432-metre Messalina in 1910.
- Italian Wikipedia says Fred Niblo copied the chariot race two years later in Ben-Hur.
Scenes
- Mirit has Ennio's horses killed, he overturns in the chariot race, and Messalina pulls him away from the gladiators.
- Discovered in a plot against Claudius, Messalina kills herself before the Praetorians can chain her.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-messalina)
