Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2006 Sommario / Contents

independence against Spain. The son of an aristocratic family, he studied
law, and began his political career in 1811 as Attorney General. He was
later elected a member of Parliament and Secretary of War, and in 1814
he was appointed Secretary of State and Minister of the Treasury. When
José de San Martín and Bernardo O’Higgins organized and led the
Liberation Army of the Andes to free Chile from Spanish rule, Rodríguez was
put in charge of underground activities to destabilize the royalists. He soon
became a kind of romantic folk hero. A genius of disguise, he was as elusive
as a ghost. One of his most celebrated deeds was dressing as a beggar and
obtaining a coin from Marcó del Pont, the Governor of Chile. In November
1816 Del Pont had signed a decree offering a reward for Rodríguez and his
followers, dead or alive, with the death penalty for anyone who did not
denounce the revolutionaries. Bernardo O’Higgins, who was granted
dictatorial powers in 1817, and later became the first leader of independent
Chile, appointed Rodríguez Commanding Officer of the Patriot Army. At the
beginning of 1818 Rodríguez founded the battalion “Los Húsares de la
Muerte” (The Hussars of Death), who helped to defeat the Spanish and
liberate Chile. However, Rodríguez and O’Higgins fell out, which eventually
led to Rodríguez being imprisoned and then escaping to Argentina, where
he received the support of San Martín. The disputes with O’Higgins
continued, and Rodríguez was imprisoned again. He was assassinated in
May 1818, at the age of 33.
El Húsar de la Muerte was first restored for a 1941 revival, when sound
effects and music were added. Once the production company, Andes Films,
no longer considered the film profitable, they gave the negative away to a
comb factory. This was a common fate for films over the years, when
celluloid was used in the manufacture of combs. El Húsar was miraculously
saved by Sergio Bravo, who rescued it from the hands of a comb factory
employee and restored it in 1962. Several parts of the film are believed to
be irretrievably lost, as the negative was considerably damaged. In 1995 the
Chilean Ministry of Education and the University of Chile restored the film
for the third time, with funding from the Organization of American States.
The main source was the only remaining positive of the previous restoration,
as the original negative was lost. As a whole roll of this 35mm print was
also lost, some scenes from an earlier 16mm copy were added.
Despite the quality of the available material, the film’s qualities remain
evident: it is still surprising for its blend of humour, directness, and historical
daring, as well as its artful editing. El Húsar, a milestone in Latin American
filmmaking, was declared a National Historic Monument of Chile in 1998.
Thanks to support from the Instituto Cervantes, the film will be
accompanied by live music, specially composed by Horacio Salinas (director
of the legendary group Inti-Illimani), and performed by the ensemble VIVA6.
KATIA CHORNIK
19
Gösta Ekman in Klovnen.
(Det Danske Filminstitut)
Nordisk 100
KLOVNEN (La maschera della vita / The Golden Clown)
(Nordisk Films Kompagni, DK 1926)
Regia/dir: A. W. Sandberg; cast: Gösta Ekman, Karina Bell, Maurice de
Féraudy; premiere: 30.10.1926; 35mm, 2700 m., 128’ (20 fps), Det
Danske Filminstitut, Kobenhavn.
Didascalie in danese e inglese / Danish & English intertitles.
Accompagnamento musicale dal vivo / Live musical accompaniment:
Ronen Thalmay (piano), Romano Todesco (fisarmonica/accordion).
Si veda la scheda completa del film nella sezione “Nordisk”, pp. 60-61.
For full credits and programme notes, see the main entry for this film in
“Nordisk 100” section of this catalogue, prog. 5, pp. 60-61.
EVENTI MUSICALI
MUSICAL EVENTS