The Capture of Roma
About The Capture of Roma
The short restages the last days of the Papal States in September 1870. General Carchidio meets the papal commander at Ponte Milvio. Hermann Kanzler refuses to surrender. The bersaglieri are called to arms, a cannonade opens a breach in the Aurelian Walls at Porta Pia, and the troops go through. Pius IX orders the white flag raised on the dome of St. Peter's. The last tableau is an apotheosis of Cavour, Victor Emmanuel II, Garibaldi, and Mazzini.
Cast & crew
More about The Capture of Roma
Filoteo Alberini directed this Alberini & Santoni production from a script by Gualtiero Fabbri. The company's bulletin called it a historical reconstruction in seven scenes, the last one colored. Augusto Cicognani built papier-mâché sets for the studio scenes, which were cut with exteriors. Photography is credited to Amedeo Turello, and also to Alberini. The original length was 250 metres. A technical showing was held at the Cinematografo Artistico in Livorno on 16 September 1905. On 20 September, the 35th anniversary of the breach, Alberini projected it outdoors on a large screen in front of Porta Pia for a crowd of thousands, then ran it indoors at the Cinematografo Moderno. Carlo Rosaspina plays Kanzler. Ubaldo Maria Del Colle is billed as Raffaele Cadorna, and elsewhere as a bersaglieri lieutenant.
Themes
Background
The picture marks 20 September 1870, when the Italian army entered Rome after Pius IX refused to hand the last of the Papal States to Victor Emmanuel II. The siege, Kanzler's refusal, and the white flag on St. Peter's are the events the seven scenes follow.
Making
Three of the seven scenes were played on Cicognani's studio sets. The mass scenes were filmed outside, which Italian historians credit with giving the reconstruction a look later epics took up.
Audiences
Thousands watched the open-air showing in front of Porta Pia on 20 September 1905, drawn by handbills for the anniversary.
Look
Amedeo Turello is the photographer on the Italian production record. The Cinema Muto portal credits the camera to Alberini. Studio interiors alternate with the Porta Pia exteriors.
Preservation
Four scenes survive inside a 1935 LUCE compilation. A 2007 restoration by the Cineteca Nazionale rebuilds the missing three from titles and a production still. A six-minute version circulates. Italian notes put the original near 10 minutes, with 4 minutes of original picture remaining.
Notes
- The seven scenes in the 1905 bulletin are: Carchidio at Ponte Milvio; Kanzler's refusal; the bersaglieri camp; the last cannon shot; the breach and assault; the white flag; the apotheosis.
- No material earlier than 1935 is known. That year Corrado D'Errico put four scenes into a LUCE newsreel on the fortieth anniversary of cinema.
- The 2007 Cineteca Nazionale restoration fills the missing scenes with titles taken from the bulletin and from Fabbri's 1907 novel Al cinematografo, which describes a screening shot by shot.
- English titles include The Capture of Roma, The Breach of Porta Pia, and White Flag.
Scenes
- Kanzler refuses the surrender at the parley.
- The bersaglieri go through the breach at Porta Pia.
- A white flag is ordered onto the dome of St. Peter's, and the last scene gathers Cavour, Victor Emmanuel II, Garibaldi, and Mazzini.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-the-capture-of-roma)
- Wikimedia Commons (La presa di Roma (1905).webm)
