Satan's Rhapsody
About Satan's Rhapsody
Countess Alba d'Oltrevita, old, gives a party in her castle and, after the guests leave, grieves for her youth. Mephistopheles steps out of a painting. He will make her young if she never falls in love. She agrees. Two brothers, Tristano and Sergio, court her. She turns Sergio away and loves Tristano. When Tristano kisses her, Sergio kills himself. Tristano leaves, guilty. Alba shuts herself in the castle. Mephisto tells her that Tristano rides past the mountains each night. She prepares the rooms. The visitor is Mephisto. He gives her old age back for breaking the vow. She looks at her face in a pond and dies.
Cast & crew
More about Satan's Rhapsody
Nino Oxilia directed for Cines. Alberto Fassini, credited as Alfa, wrote the screenplay from poems by Fausto Maria Martini. Lyda Borelli plays Alba. Andrea Habay plays Tristano. Ugo Bazzini plays Mephisto. Giovanni Cini plays Sergio. Giorgio Ricci is credited with the photography. The picture was finished in spring 1915 and held until 1917 after disputes inside Cines. Pietro Mascagni wrote his only film score and conducted the first performance in July 1917. Alan Mallach records a payment of 45,000 lire from Cines to Mascagni. Italian listings give 55 minutes for the original and 45 for a restored print. The image is tinted, toned, and stencil-colored.
Themes
Making
Cines paid Mascagni 45,000 lire for a score to a diva film it then kept off screens for nearly two years.
Look
Giorgio Ricci photographed the castle party, the painting Mephisto steps out of, and the pond where Alba sees her old face.
Music
Pietro Mascagni wrote the score, his only music for a film, and conducted the first performance in July 1917. Frank Strobel later recorded it with the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz.
Preservation
A restored version runs about 45 minutes, against an original listing of 55. Arte restored the film in 2006. The image is tinted, toned, and stencil-colored.
Notes
- The French-German channel Arte restored the film in 2006.
- Frank Strobel recorded Mascagni's score with the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz for that restoration.
- Mascagni took the Cines commission while he was supporting two brothers who were ill.
- Il Cinema Ritrovato dates the hold-up to fights inside Cines, not to a late shoot: the negative was done in spring 1915.
- Alberto Nepoti is in the cast without a part named on the festival credit.
Scenes
- Mephisto steps out of a painting and offers Alba her youth if she will not love.
- Sergio kills himself when Tristano kisses her.
- She waits for Tristano and meets Mephisto instead. Her old face is in the pond.
Influenced by
- Poems by Fausto Maria Martini
- The Faust legend
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Rapsodia Satanica (Nino Oxilia, 1917).webm)
