L'Inferno
First full-length Italian feature film, adapted from Dante's Inferno.
L'Inferno (Italian for "The Hell") is a 1911 Italian silent film that loosely adapts the first part of Dante Alighieri's *Divine Comedy*. It took more than three years to produce and holds the distinction of being Italy's first full-length feature film.
The story follows Dante, who is blocked from a hill of salvation by three beasts representing Avarice, Pride, and Lust. The heavenly figure Beatrice descends and asks the poet Virgil to guide Dante through Hell's nine circles. The pair enter a cave and encounter the river Acheron, where Charon ferries the dead. They also see the three-headed Cerberus and Geryon, a flying serpent with a human face. The Devil is shown devouring whole people, harpies feast on the corpses of suicides, a condemned man must carry his own severed head forever, and others are half-buried in flaming lava. Throughout their journey, Dante and Virgil meet famous historical figures whose souls reside in Limbo or Hell, including Homer, Horace, Ovid, Lucanus, Cleopatra, Dido, the traitor Caiphus, Count Ugolino, Peter of Vigna, Francesca da Rimini and her lover Paolo, and Brutus and Cassius. The film's main draw was its elaborate set designs depicting Hell's horrors, with graphic violence and gore intended to frighten audiences into piety.
The cast includes Salvatore Papa as Dante, Arturo Pirovano as Virgil, Giuseppe de Liguoro as Count Ugolino, Augusto Milla as Lucifer, Attilio Motta, and Emilise Beretta as Beatrice.
The film's hellish imagery closely followed Gustave Doré's engravings for an edition of the *Divine Comedy*, which were already familiar internationally. Several special effects were used. Because Dante's poem places Muhammad in Hell, the film briefly shows Muhammad with his chest exploding and entrails exposed. Writer Nancy Mitford saw the film in Italy in 1922, calling it *Dante*, and noted it ran from 9:00 PM to 12:15 AM with two intermissions. Her detailed letter describing the deaths and tortures is quoted in Harold Acton's biography *Nancy Mitford*. Footage from the Hell sequences was later reused in other films, such as the 1944 race film *Go Down, Death!*. Some U.S. state film censor boards required removing these sequences from *Go Down, Death!*, including a scene where a woman's b
- Running time
- Approximately 68–70 minutes
- Box office
- Box office figures are unverifiable and likely exaggerated
Lore & Background
The film follows Dante, barred from the hill of salvation by three beasts (Avarice, Pride, Lust). Beatrice descends and asks Virgil to guide Dante through the Nine Circles of Hell. They cross the river Acheron via Charon's ferry, encounter Cerberus and Geryon, and witness the Devil eating humans, harpies attacking suicides, a man carrying his own severed head, and people half-buried in flaming lava. They meet historical figures in Limbo or Hell, including Homer, Horace, Ovid, Lucanus, Cleopatra, Dido, Caiphus, Count Ugolino, Peter of Vigna, Francesca da Rimini and Paolo, and Brutus and Cassius, who tell their tales in flashback.
Reader's Guide
L'Inferno is significant as a landmark in early cinema: it was the first full-length Italian feature film and one of the first films shown in its entirety in the United States. Its depictions of Hell closely followed Gustave Doré's engravings, familiar to international audiences, and employed special effects. The film's excessive violence and gore were designed to frighten audiences into piety. It was an international success, grossing over $2 million in the U.S. and allowing theaters to raise ticket prices. Its hell sequences were later reused in the 1936 exploitation film Hell-O-Vision and the 1944 race film Go Down, Death!, though some American censor boards required removal of scenes, including one showing a woman's bare breast. The film was largely unseen for decades until restorations in 2004 and 2011, and a 4K restoration was announced for Blu-ray in December 2023.
Did You Know?
- L'Inferno took over three years to make.
- The film's hell sequences were reused in the 1936 exploitation film Hell-O-Vision and the 1944 race film Go Down, Death!.
- Nancy Mitford recorded seeing the film in Italy in 1922, referring to it as Dante, and described it in a letter home.
- The 2004 restored version was scored by Edgar and Jerome Froese of the German electronic band Tangerine Dream.
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