Director: Mario Bonnard – Story: Ettore Maria Margadonna, Gino Rocca – Screenplay:Ettore Maria Margadonna, Mario Bonnard – Film editor: Eraldo Da Roma - Director of photography: Carlo Montuori – Production design: Alfredo Montori -Music: Giulio Bonnard – Set decoration: Mario Rappini – Costume design: Casa Lola -Production:Consorzio I.C.A.R. - Industrie Cinematografiche Artistiche Romane / Production Capitani Film - Country: Italy - Running time: 75’

Cast: 

Angelo Musco (Pompeo Darly), Rosina Anselmi (Amalia Darly), Mario Mazza (the acrobat Johnson), Alida Valli (Dora Florida/the pretty Sulamita), Lino Carenzio (Gastone), Maria Donati (Ivonne), Nicola Maldacea (the chamberlain), Nino Marchesini (Commander Fani), Luigi Zerbinati (Secretary of Fani), Carlo Duse (the movie director), Checco Durante (theater Vittoria director), Alberto Sordi (the man hidden in the lion costume), Elli Pardo [Elli Parvo] (the actress with the Asian makeup), Giuliana Gianni (a dancer), Pina Renzi, Rocco D’Assunta, Giovanni Barrella, Elio Marcuzzo, Natalino Otto

The film:

Pompeo Darly is an illusionist at the end of his career, who performs in mediocre theaters with a scant success. He meets Dora and he decides to help her to tread the stage. Pompeo, by now  without a job, starts to sell candies and sweets in the theater. Among the confections of chocolate, the public finds  the “Feroce Saladino”, a rare picture card belonging to the Perugina-Buitoni contest ,which was a big success in the fascist Italy around the second half of the thirties.  The confusion and the enthusiasm of the discoveries of the picture cards inspire Pompeo the idea of a revue based on the figure of Saladino, where Dora will perform the role of the beautiful Sulamita. 

"Il feroce Saladino was one of the rarest picture cards. People used to make incredible swaps to get it. A shop called 'Borsa delle figurine' (Pictures cards Exchange) opened in Roma, at Via dell’Umiltà, where you could get, paying a certain price, the cards you wanted and needed. The government then intervened to stop the game […] For the generation that experienced those years of madness, the “Feroce Saladino” became an indelible memory."

Fabrizio Gabella mentioned in Lorenzo Pellizzari, Tutti a caccia del Feroce Saladino,in Angelo Musco e Alida Valli in Il feroce Saladino di Mario Bonnard, Torino, Museo Nazionale del Cinema, 2006

The film restoration:

The digital and analogic technology was used for the restoration of Il feroce Saladino, with respect for the materials. The nitrate positive print, held at the film archive of Fondazione Cineteca Italian, was used to print a conservation dupe which was later bought and reworked digitally for the restoration of the images and the sound at the L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in Bologna.

The restoration of Il feroce Saladino was conducted by Museo Nazionale del Cinema di Torino, Jaeger Le Coultre, La Biennale di Venezia, Provincia di Milano – Settore Cultura, Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali.

The restoration, which was carried out in 2006, was presented as a preview at the 63rd Venice Film Festival during the film cycle Storia segreta del cinema italiano.

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