Enrico Guazzoni

"Messalina" (1924), the tale of that wicked and lustful empress who had a talent for causing problems. (imdb)

In "Fabiola" (1918) Herr Guarzzoni moved from the earliest days of Christianity when the new faith was struggling to just survive to a later period in the Roman Empire when the religion was a major force and attempting to win over Rome. (imdb)

A fragment of a short comedy of Neapolitan setting, in which the actor Vincenzo Scarpetta, son of playwright Eduardo, is struggling with a Miss across the Atlantic. The woman throws a chest in the sea, asking his lover to recover it as proof of love. He turns to a fisherman, offering him money to complete the recovery for him. The film, shot in 1916, was, for reasons unknown, unpublished until 1918.

"Madame Tallien" (1916) depicts the libertine life and loves of the eponymous decadent aristocrat, an important activist who was ahead of her time in deciding to make both love and war before, during and after the French Revolution . She even caused Robespierre to lose his head (literally) because of her.

A colossal epic film like this that tries to depict the life and glory of Julius Caesar, must have a variety of scenery appropriate to the film's hero. This includes the Senate and its conspirators..or .. strange places beyond Rome full of barbarians that must fall under the Rome yoke. Let's not forget the sequences depicting the masses mentioned before.. or.. the human side of Caesar and his troublesome relationship with his son Brutus. (imdb)

Problems at the cinema....

Based loosely on Shakespeare's play, Plutarch's "Life of Antony", and Pietro Cossa's dramatic poem, "Cleopatra", this movie was spectacular for its time. It offers location shots made in Italy and Egypt, large crowd scenes (e.g., the Roman army embarking in Alexandria), lots of emotional drama (Marc Antony & Cleopatra, his wife Octavia, sister of Antony's rival Octavian, unhistorically coming to Alexandria to beg him to return to her, mean looks exchanged between Octavia and Cleopatra. (imdb)

Returning to Rome after 3 years in the field, General Marcus Vinicius meets Lygia and falls in love with her. (imdb)

A patriotic film tinged with humor and sentimentalism. Stock footage (the crowded town, the departure of warships) and reconstructed war scenes in the desert are part of the second half about the war in Libya. The soldier Bidoni (P. Cuticca) is a mess-maker but has a great affection for Claretta (M. Tucci), the young daughter of the colonel, which she returns.

In "Agrippina" (1910), Herr Guazzoni recreates the particular and troublesome relationship between Frau Agrippina, the second wife of the Emperor Claudius, and her son Nero. Such family troubles of course were not confined to Imperial Rome since family feuds were customary in German aristocratic circles as well. However even though mother figures in Germany are strong it is true that aristocratic mammas preferred going to the opera rather than fretting over little troubles with their sons. (imdb)

La Sposa del Nilo (1911) was a proto-epic, where you could sense the Italian filmmakers (Enrico Guazzoni) gearing up to the gigantic imaginings of Cabiria and Quo Vadis just a few years on. The film wanted to impress you with its stateliness and scale; at time the central action (a young virgin is drowned to appease Isis and ensure that the Nile floods) became lost in the crowded frame - but that just reminded you that early cinema audiences look that much more intently at what was going on.

A 1910 Drama directed by Henri Andréani, David Barnett, and Enrico Guazzoni, starring Ugo Bazzini, Fernanda Negri Pouget, Alfredo Bracci, and Giuseppe Gambardella. Writers: Jules Barbier and Michel Carre, based on Goethe's "Faust" and Faust" opera by Gounod. Produced by Pathe Freres (Serie d'art Pathe Freres -- SAPF). Two reels, 605 m. Different versions (minor changes) for UK, France, Italy, US. Distributed in Italy by Cines.