Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2005 Sommario / Contents
Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2005 Sommario / Contents
Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2005 Sommario / Contents
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marzo annunciava che il regista “aveva appena concluso il film ”. Forse<br />
nel frattempo erano state apportate <strong>del</strong>le modifiche?<br />
Pubblicizzato con degli enormi manifesti che mettevano in risalto il<br />
nome <strong>del</strong> “maestro Antoine”, Israel creò una forte aspettativa, che<br />
andò poi completamente <strong>del</strong>usa. Il pubblico fischiò e rise nei momenti<br />
drammatici, la stampa bocciò il film quasi senza eccezioni. <strong>Le</strong> critiche<br />
erano giuste: nonostante gli sforzi di Antoine per dare al conflitto di<br />
idee un minimo di spessore umano e sociale, restava un lavoro<br />
astratto. La riduzione cinematografica fu considerata “fredda”,<br />
“incomprensibile”. La cosa peggiore era la recitazione enfatica e fuori<br />
moda dei protagonisti (Vittoria <strong>Le</strong>panto, che si era spesso scontrata<br />
con Antoine, era un’anti-Réjane), mal illuminati in mezzo a scenografie<br />
povere, con mobili che sembravano presi dal rigattiere e non avevano<br />
nulla <strong>del</strong>l’opulenta eleganza necessaria. Per di più gli esterni erano<br />
sacrificati, svolgendosi l’azione a Parigi.<br />
Passò il tempo. Poi un’associazione di ispirazione cattolica, la<br />
“Federazione <strong>Cinema</strong>tografica Educativa” incluse il film nel suo<br />
catalogo, snaturandone il senso in funzione <strong>del</strong> proprio pubblico,<br />
tagliandolo e rimontandolo in funzione <strong>del</strong>la propria dottrina. Il<br />
giovane aristocratico, razzista e devoto, scoprendo di essere il figlio<br />
bastardo di un banchiere ebreo, anziché suicidarsi, entra in convento<br />
per espiare la doppia colpa dei suoi genitori. Si può presumere che<br />
siano stati i membri <strong>del</strong>la Federazione a coprire con l’inchiostro le<br />
nudità <strong>del</strong>le statuette pagane.<br />
Molto mutilata, la copia restaurata dalla Cineteca Nazionale nell’estate<br />
<strong>2005</strong> reca dunque i segni degli abituali dissidi di Antoine con la<br />
censura, così come l’impronta <strong>del</strong>la sua arte di fine attore in un film<br />
che sembra a lui estraneo, essendo proprio il tipo di produzione<br />
artificiale e convenzionale contro cui si era battuto da quando era<br />
entrato nel cinema. – PHILIPPE ESNAULT<br />
It is necessary to know the story of this film to appreciate what remains<br />
of it. In the years following the Great War of 1914-1918, the European<br />
cinema everywhere underwent crises and changes.The evolution of new<br />
mentalities and new techniques, and the advance of American film, all hit<br />
the old system, particularly in France and Italy. The accords between<br />
S.C.A.G.L. and Pathé were challenged, and Gugenheim, the financial<br />
administrator of S.C.A.G.L., hoped to find a new partner in Italy. Hence<br />
at the end of 1918 Antoine came to try out on the spot the facilities of<br />
the Tiber-Film studio in Rome, which was itself failing and on the point of<br />
being absorbed into Unione <strong>Cinema</strong>tografica Italiana (U.C.I.). Instead of<br />
following up Israel with one or perhaps two films, as the beginning of a<br />
new collaboration, the co-production project ended up being abandoned.<br />
Antoine returned home angry; and the quickly confected Israel was soon<br />
forgotten.The initial idea of bringing Bernstein’s play Israel to the screen<br />
was promising.The play had been created in Paris in 1908 by the great<br />
actress Réjane, a friend of Antoine, in her own theatre. Following the<br />
Dreyfus affair, the author – himself “not proud, but happy to be a Jew”<br />
– recognized two strong currents of contemporary anti-Semitism:<br />
L’Action française and the clerical world. This polemic subject had no<br />
chance of being filmed in France, but Antoine was mistaken in thinking<br />
62<br />
that he could work on it more freely so close to the Vatican.<br />
Israel was given an Italian censorship visa on 1 February 1919; only one<br />
title was cut: “Your work is finished! This is how you save the world.”<br />
However, a newspaper announced on 9 March that the director “has just<br />
finished his film”. Had there been modifications in the meantime?<br />
A big publicity campaign with huge posters stressing the name of<br />
“maestro Antoine” aroused big expectations, which were completely<br />
dashed. The public hissed and laughed at the dramatic moments; the<br />
press attacked the film almost without exception. Their criticisms were<br />
just: despite Antoine’s effort to give a little human consistency and social<br />
reality to this conflict of ideas, it remained abstract.The film adaptation<br />
was considered “cold”, “incomprehensible”.Worst was the emphatic and<br />
old-fashioned style of the main actors (Vittoria <strong>Le</strong>panto, who had often<br />
disputed with Antoine, was anti-Réjane), badly lit and performing in<br />
wretched décors among secondhand-shop furniture, without the stylish<br />
opulence demanded. On top of all this, the exteriors had been sacrificed,<br />
since the action is all intended to take place in Paris.<br />
Time passed.Then an assocation of Catholic inspiration, the “Federazione<br />
<strong>Cinema</strong>tografica Educativa”, put the title in its catalogue, distorting the<br />
meaning of the film for its public, and cutting and then re-editing it to suit<br />
their doctrine. The film’s young racist and devout aristocrat, discovering<br />
that he is the bastard of a Jewish banker, instead of committing suicide,<br />
now entered a monastery to expiate the double fault of his parents. One<br />
can also presume that it was the Federazione who inked over the nudity<br />
of the pagan statuary.<br />
Very mutilated, the 50-minute-long print restored by the Cineteca<br />
Nazionale of Rome in the summer of <strong>2005</strong> thus retains the marks of<br />
Antoine’s constant battles with the censors; but it also displays his art as a<br />
fine actor. It is a film which seems to have been made outside of him,<br />
exactly the kind of artificial and conventional production he himself sought<br />
to oppose from the moment of his entry into the cinema. – PHILIPPE ESNAULT<br />
La ricerca su questo film non sarebbe stata possibile senza l’aiuto di /<br />
The research on this film would not have been possible without the<br />
assistance of Teresa Antolín, Rosa Cardona, Daniela Currò, Mario<br />
Lucioni e Vittorio Martinelli.<br />
Di Israel sappiamo che furono distribuite almeno due copie in bianco<br />
e nero. Una copia <strong>del</strong> 1919 con le imbibizioni originali fu trovata alla<br />
Cineteca nazionale. Nel 1973 si fece una copia in bianco nero per<br />
salvare quel che era rimasto <strong>del</strong> film (1036 metri). È questo il<br />
materiale utilizzato in questa ricostruzione, rimettendo le didascalie e<br />
le sequenze nel loro ordine originale. Inoltre sono stati aggiunti alcuni<br />
intertitoli, e pur non avendo il riferimento <strong>del</strong>la copia originale<br />
distrutta l’anno 1977, si è scelto di colorare la copia con il metodo<br />
Desmet; entrambi gli interventi hanno lo scopo di facilitare la<br />
comprensione <strong>del</strong>la storia. – IRELA NÚÑEZ DEL POZO<br />
We know that at least two black-and-white prints of Israel went into<br />
distribution. A copy from 1919, with the original tinting, was found at the