The Fall of Troy
About The Fall of Troy
Homer, playing a lyre, tells how Troy fell. Menelaus leaves Sparta, and Paris, arriving as an ambassador, falls in love with Helen (Madame Davesnes). She resists until Venus intervenes and a flying chariot carries the pair to Troy. The Greek siege fails. Warriors hide in a wooden horse; the Trojans break their own wall to drag it in. At night the Greeks set the city on fire. Menelaus kills Paris and takes Helen.
Cast & crew
More about The Fall of Troy
Giovanni Pastrone, signing himself Pietro Fosco, directed with Luigi Romano Borgnetto. Oreste Mentasti and Pastrone wrote the scenario. Giovanni Tomatis photographed it. Luigi Borgogno designed the sets, including a large wooden horse, and Zamperoni the costumes. Itala Film of Turin produced it. A release print ran past 600 meters, timed at Il Cinema Ritrovato at 33 minutes at 16 frames per second. Emilio Gallo plays the king. Olga Giannini Novelli and Giovanni Casaleggio are in the cast, as is Giulio Vinà.
Themes
Background
Pastrone later said that the foreign success of La caduta di Troia, the first large-scale film he directed, convinced him that cinema had to be treated as an art. He went on to make Cabiria.
In film history
It is the earliest known surviving film of Homer's Iliad.
Look
Giovanni Tomatis photographed the film in fixed setups. The siege uses a wooden horse built for the production, large enough for the warriors to climb out of at night.
Notes
- English Wikipedia gives the running time as 31 minutes. The 600-meter print is timed at 33 minutes.
- Trade papers were already calling the film colossal in February 1911, two months before the April release.
- The Italian title is La caduta di Troia.
Scenes
- Venus sends Helen and Paris to Troy on a flying chariot.
- The Trojans open their wall to bring the wooden horse in.
- Menelaus kills Paris in the palace while Troy burns behind them.
Also available
- Internet Archive (58-the-fall-of-troy-1911)
