Ballerine
Film, print, restoration
«Ballerine» («Ballerinas») is an Italian silent drama directed by Lucio D’Ambra and produced by Do-Re-Mi in 1918. Gosfil’mofond Rossii holds the only known copy of the film under the title «Prima-Ballerina», featuring German intertitles. While maintaining the original division into four parts, the existing version is shortened compared to the original, with a runtime of approximately half the initial length. The footage appears to be severely worn and altered. The footage was correctly identified by researcher Tamara Shvediuk in 2022.
The source for the 4K digital copy was a 35mm black and white triacetate dupe negative print of a much later generation. Thanks to the screenplay of the first part, the only one published in L’Arte Cinegrafica, vol. I, no. 2, 15 June 1918, and no. 3-4, 15-31 July 1918, it was possible to identify the original names of the characters. The film has been digitally restored in 2024.
Synopsis
Count Mario [orig. Marco, editor’s note], who lives with his blind mother, falls in love with Colette, a dancer, and wishes to marry her. Colette, who also loves Mario, agrees but encounters unexpected opposition from her father regarding the marriage. She is bewildered, plans to run away from home, and her father ultimately reveals to her that Mario is none other than her brother, born from an illicit and long-past affair between him and the Countess. Colette, devastated, goes to Paris, where she leads a life of debauchery in an attempt to attract Mario’s disdain and seek to be forgotten by him, but to no avail, as he pursues her relentlessly with his love and ultimately kills her.
Vittorio Martinelli, Il cinema muto italiano: i film della Grande Guerra, 1918, Nuova ERI-Bianco & Nero, 1991, p. 24, based on a film review published in: Maxime, Corrispondenze. Da Milano, Cinema Giardini – Ballerine, “La Rivista Cinematografica”, vol. 2, no. 10, 25 May 1921, pp. 59-60
Contemporary reviews
Ballerine of the Do-re-mi. – An intimate drama, rooted in an unfortunate family situation, and a tragic ending that, despite appearing somewhat implausible, deeply moves the audience. The staging is artistic, and the cinematography excellent. The talented Mary Corwin had a very worthy counterpart in this work: Ernesto Sabatini [sic], who demonstrated his artistic talent.
Max, Nei cinema di Alessandria – Cinema Centrale, “La Rivista Cinematografica”, vol. 1, no. 19, 10 October 1920, p. XX
This fine and charming play by Lucio D’Ambra, after holding its place on the billboard for several days at the Modernissimo cinema in Rome, achieved equal success at the Moderno cinema. Maria Corvin was greatly appreciated; in addition to having a lovely face and a pleasing, shapely figure, she comes across as attractive, composed, and delightful in her performance.
Notizie varie – Ballerine, della “Do-Re-Mi” Film, “La Vita Cinematografica”, vol. 9, no. 23-24, 22-30 June 1918, p. 95
Ballerine is a dramatic film that, within Lucio D’Ambra’s cinematic work, stands apart from the series of comedies that includes “La signorina Ciclone”, “Il Re le Torri gli Alfieri”, “Le Mogli e le Arance”, “Emir cavallo di circo”, and “Napoleoncina”, instead reconnecting to the dramatic genre to which other works of his belong, such as “La chiamavano Cosetta”, “Storia dei Tredici”, and “Carnevalesca”. This drama is the most powerful of them all. It contains a dramatic situation that leads the narrative from the frivolous, light, and sparkling lightheartedness of a ballet troupe to a tremendous tragedy in which the past reflects on the present, and the innocents pay for the guilty ones. The interpretation of Ballerine is entrusted to Mary Corvin, the leading actress of Do-Re-Mi, and Ernesto Sabbatini. In Ballerine, Corvin, already triumphantly revealed, establishes herself as an exceptional actress as well as a woman of exquisite beauty and extraordinary elegance. Ballerine is the second film that Lucio D’Ambra has personally directed. […] The film features an extraordinary richness and variety of settings, fantastic luxury in staging, and innovative elements such as the Cabaret of Shadows in Montmartre, the parables of the Lean Cows and the Fat Cows, of the Wise Virgins and the Foolish Virgins, and the caricatures of great film actresses created by the painter Sciti. Other performers in Ballerine, alongside Mary Corvin and Ernesto Sabbatini, include two distinguished artists from the dramatic theater: Gemma De Sanctis and Achille Vitti.
Notiziario – L’attività di Lucio D’Ambra, “In penombra”, vol. 1, no. 1, June 1918, p. 52
From the pen of Lucio D’Ambra
I didn’t write the film, but my actors already know it. I gathered them around one evening and told them, just as one tells a story at the table after coffee, between one cigarette and another, the little story that, through a series of images, we would like to tell together. If they don’t know this morning exactly what they will do, they have already known for a month, very precisely, who they are. They are the interpreters of Ballerine: they are Susetta [sic], the little ballerina with golden hair; they are the old painter Germani, poisoned by a wasted life and alcohol; they are the Marquis Tralalà, the black gadfly among the white ballerinas; they are Tina, Pina, and Coccodè, Pipelet and monsieur Gibus, the doorman full of heart, and the choreographer, all charm. Here is Mary Corvin coming out of her dressing room, dressed in the white tarlatan of Susetta, her blonde hair adorned with a small crown of artificial roses. Mary Corvin does not know what precise gestures she will make in the theater today, nor does she ask to know. But she already knows she is Susetta, joyful and sorrowful, in her story set between two Christmases. She is already Susetta, light and solemn in every glance, every gesture, every pose. Here comes Achille Vitti to join her. He does not know where he will sit. He doesn’t even know if he will have a place to sit, but he knows he is Germani, knows he is Germani, is already Germani, from head to toe. Then, after them, comes Ernesto Sabbatini. Where will Marco d’Arna’s tormented love take him today? To Susetta’s room? To the blind mother’s room? To the cabaret in Montmartre? He doesn’t know. But he knows his drama and lives it. He is ready to live it. It is already his, it is already within him. The personification has taken place. And this is essential.
Lucio D’Ambra, Come metto in iscena i miei “films”, “La Vita Cinematografica”, vol. 8, special issue, December 1917, p. 145
Notes
Some exterior scenes of the film were presumably shot near the Teatro Costanzi, now the Teatro dell’Opera, in Rome. If confirmed, it is partially visible in its original configuration, prior to the radical restructuring and expansion undertaken in 1926 by the architect Marcello Piacentini.
The visual quality of the film is severely deteriorated and shows significant signs of wear and re-edits. For this specific title, the digital restoration focused exclusively on addressing some of the most relevant issues, as far as it was possible.