The Italian
About The Italian
Pietro Donnetti (George Beban), a Venetian gondolier called Beppo, is given a year to make a home for Annette (Clara Williams) or lose her to a merchant. He shines shoes on the Lower East Side and sends for her. They marry and have a son, Tony. In a heat wave the baby needs pasteurized milk. Beppo is robbed on the way to buy it, fights, and is jailed for five days after the ward boss Corrigan refuses to help. Tony dies. Beppo goes to Corrigan's house to kill the boss's sick daughter and cannot do it. He leaves flowers on his son's grave.
Cast & crew
More about The Italian
Reginald Barker directed. Thomas H. Ince produced and shared the story with C. Gardner Sullivan. Joseph H. August photographed it. Victor Schertzinger wrote music, uncredited on the original release. Paramount released it on 18 June 1915. It runs 78 minutes. The working title was Dago. Beban, in his first film, was paid $7,000 plus a share of the profits, and he asked for the title change. Kevin Brownlow has shown that the plot follows the 1913 IMP film The Wop. The Library of Congress named it to the National Film Registry in 1991.
Themes
Making
Barker and August staged the Venice opening and then the tenement, the milk shop, and the jail as one continuous drop in Beppo's luck.
Look
Joseph H. August photographed the gondola, the shoe stand, and the tenement during the heat wave.
Music
Victor Schertzinger wrote a score. It was uncredited on the 1915 release. The film is silent.
Preservation
The 78-minute film survives. The Library of Congress selected it for the National Film Registry in 1991.
Notes
- Beppo's line to Corrigan, in the titles, is 'I must get-a-de-milk or my babee is die.'
- Annette's father is Trudo Ancello. The merchant who wants her is Roberto Gallia.
- J. Frank Burke, Leo Willis, and Fanny Midgley are in the cast.
- Ince's company released through Paramount, not through Triangle.
Scenes
- Annette's father gives Beppo one year.
- He is robbed of the milk money and Corrigan will not get him out.
- He stands over Corrigan's daughter and leaves her. Later he puts flowers on Tony's grave.
Influenced by
- The Wop (1913)
Quotes
I must get-a-de-milk or my babee is die.
