Nerone Nero(1909) Director: Luigi Maggi, Arturo Ambrosio –
Director of photography: Giovanni Vitrotti –
Production: Società Anonima Ambrosio, Torino –
Original lenght: 338m –
Intertitles: Italian –
Censorship certificate: n. 5973 - 26.12.1914 –
Cast: Alberto Capozzi (Nerone / Nero), Lydia De Roberti (Poppea / Poppaea), Mirra Principi (Ottavia), Luigi Maggi (Epafrodito), Dirce Marella (ancella di Ottavia / handmaid of Ottavia), Ernesto Vaser (senatore / senator; uomo del popolo / a man of the people), Ercole Vaser (spione / spy), Serafino Vité, Leo Ragusi (uomini del popolo / men of the people), Paolo Azzurri (senatore / senator)
The film:
The film narrates the life of Emperor Nero, starting from his meeting with the beautiful and lascivious Poppaea. Nero notices her in the street and he brings her directly from the taverns of Suburra to the magnificence of the palace, in defiance of the conformists and of his legitimate wife Ottavia, stabbed because she complained in a too assertive way. In the film, the murder of Ottavia seems the trigger of the popular uprising that Nero tries to stop by ordering to burn Rome, that he will watch on flame playing the lyra and embracing Poppaea.
At the end Nerone escapes, persecuted by the guilt and, reached by the enemies, is helped to suicide by the faithful Epafrodite, who wants save him from the dishonor and from an ignominious death.
The film is important for the development of the Italian silent cinema, both for the ability of the synthetic narration, and for the efficacy of the scenography realized by Decoroso Bonifanti and the workers of the Ambrosio production. The life of Nero is narrated from “the amour fou” point of view: the crimes, the disasters and the fall of Nero are presented as direct consequences of the destructive passion of the diabolic imperial couple. In the last part though, the character of Poppaea, for no obvious reason, disappears. Nero dies alone with Epafrodite and the only thing left from the great passion that set the Eternal city on fire are the ashes.
The film restoration:
Nerone was restored by Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, Museo Nazionale del Cinema di Torino and Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia – Cineteca Nazionale (Roma), using a tinded nitrate positive with Italian intertitles conserved at Cineteca di Bologna, a tinted nitrate positive with Dutch intertitles conserved at EYE Film Institute Netherlands (Desmet Collection), supplemented by a safety dupe negative with Italian intertitles conserved at Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia – Cineteca Nazionale, and by a 16 mm black and white positive conserved at the Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen.
The sequence order and the placement of intertitles were verified through documentation stored at Museo Nazionale del Cinema di Torino. We thank Lobster Films and Cineteca Bruno Boschetto of Torino for aiding the research.
The source materials were scanned in 4K and digitally restored in 2K. A copy for digital projection, duplicates for preservation, and 35 mm Desmet color prints were made from the restored version.
The work was carried out at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in 2018.
