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Dante's Inferno (1911) - Francesco Bertolini, Adolfo Padovan, and Giuseppe De Liguoro


I didn't know what to expect from this movie going into it. However, I was really intrigued. I haven't read Dante Alighieri's work but I know parts of the story. It wasn't too unfamiliar. Turns out I really enjoyed it. If you want to know about Inferno then check out this link.


L'Inferno, as it's called in native Italy, is the first full-length Italian feature film. It is a fantastic movie and one of the greatest silent pictures. The directors do a great job of making this movie seem so much larger than it actually is. Inferno draws little from the actual text of Dante but it follows the illustrations of Gustave Doré. 


The 'Divine Comedy' of Dante was inspired by a little girl,only nine years of age, when her beauty first impressed the poet.  Beatrice died at the age of twenty-four, and Dante's plan to immortalize her, resulted in one of the most stupendous achievements of human genius -- the Inferno.

The film has some amazing scenes and effects. The directors really worked hard. Apparently it took three years to complete this piece. It shows. The hard work shines though. It has amazing cinematography and tells a story really well. The effects they utilized are genius. Different effects for all of the different levels of hell.

The camera is stationary and our characters just move about. However, it doesn't take away from anything. The directors show a vast amount of creativity in solving the problem of making this all look good in that little box. 

This movie isn't scary but it deals with some really terrifying themes. Stronger themes than the silver screens were used to at that time. The main story line revolves around hell and the various tortures that happen there. It's weirdness is bound to give a weak willed individual some strange nightmares. 

Country: Italy
Style: Classic Tale

Did ya know...
The film was first screened in Naples in the Teatro Mercadante on March 10, 1911. The film had a budget greater than 100,000 Lire. According to "The People's Almanac Guide to the 20th Century", this is the very first movie to ever show male front nudity, well over half a century before it turned up again in Women in Love (1969).

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