The Royal Tigress
About The Royal Tigress
In Paris the Italian diplomat Giorgio La Ferlita falls in love with the Russian countess Natka, who is said to have driven a former lover to death. She tells him she was unhappily married, loved Dolski, and followed him to Siberia after her husband had him confined there. She found Dolski with another woman, refused to see him, and he killed himself at her door. She sends Giorgio away. Months later he is about to marry the rich Erminia. At the engagement party a letter calls him to Natka's hotel. She has taken poison. A short circuit sets the building on fire. Her husband locks them in the room and dies in the fire. They jump from the window. Natka lives.
Cast & crew
More about The Royal Tigress
Giovanni Pastrone directed under the name Piero Fosco, from Giovanni Verga's 1875 novel Tigre reale. Segundo de Chomón and Giovanni Tomatis photographed. Itala Film, released November 1916. Wikidata duration is 80 minutes. A Cinema History lists 77 minutes. Country on Wikidata is the Kingdom of Italy.
Themes
Making
Pastrone, working as Piero Fosco after Cabiria, staged the Siberia flashback and the hotel fire around Menichelli.
Look
Segundo de Chomón and Giovanni Tomatis photographed it, including the hotel fire.
Preservation
A print survives. A copy is on the Internet Archive.
Notes
- Pina Menichelli plays Countess Natka. Alberto Nepoti plays Giorgio La Ferlita. Febo Mari plays Dolski. Valentina Frascaroli plays Erminia. Ernesto Vaser plays a grocer.
- A Cinema History adds a duel in which Giorgio is wounded, and names the hotel the Odeon.
- The film is the one usually credited with fixing Menichelli as a diva.
- An Internet Archive copy is filed as silent-tigre-reale.
Scenes
- Natka tells Giorgio that Dolski killed himself outside her door in Siberia.
- Her husband locks the lovers in a burning hotel room. They jump, and he dies in the fire.
Influenced by
- Giovanni Verga's 1875 novel Tigre reale
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-tigre-reale)
