Emilio Ghione

Emilio Ghione

Emilio Luigi Carlo Giuseppe Maria Ghione (born July 30, 1879 in Turin , Italy , † January 7, 1930 in Rome , ibid) was an Italian film director , silent film actor , screenwriter , film producer and writer , a veteran of Italian cinematography.

Live and act

The painter's son Celestino Ghione first followed in his father's footsteps and did his military service in the cavalry. In 1909 Ghione came across the film when a rider was wanted for a production. He then hired himself as a stuntman and got tiny roles in the Turin film companies Aquila and Itala . In 1911 he was featured at Cines with the title role of Francis of Assisi in the dramatic saint film fresco " San Francesco, il poverello di Assisi " by Enrico Guazzoni . Between 1912 and 1914 he often partnered with the legendary silent film diva Francesca Bertini in Baldassarre Negroni's films , including in L'Histoire d'un Pierrot (1914). In 1913 Ghione began directing films on his own, but remained active as an actor and took on the artistic direction of a number of films by other directors.

Above all, his mystery dramas about the character of Za la Mort, whom he first presented in 1914 in the film “ Danzatrice della taverna nera ”, were great audiences in Italy. With the serial Il Triangle Giallo (1917) and I topi Grigi (1918), it became the highest paid to the early male star Italian film . The attempt to gain a foothold in Germany with a Za la Mort film ended in failure in 1924. Ghione returned to Italy that same year and published his memoirs shortly afterwards. Also in 1925 Emilio Ghione ended his career as a director and concentrated entirely on writing - in 1922 he had published his first novel, “ Le Maschere Bianche ”. The ailing Turinese soon got into severe financial difficulties, whereupon the Milanese newspaper 'Il torchio' set up a fund to support Ghione. In 1928/29 Emilio Ghione briefly returned to acting and took part in several stage plays. Most recently, Ghione drew attention to himself with the book 'Le cinéma en Italie' , written in Paris . Weakened by illness, he returned to Italy, where Ghione died at the beginning of 1930. His last novel " L'Ombra di Za La Mort " was published that year .

His son was the film producer Piero Ghione .

Filmography

as an actor

• 1911: La Gerusalemme liberata
• 1911: San Francesco, il poverello di Assisi
• 1912: Idilio tragico
• 1912: Lacrime e sorrisi
• 1913: L'anima del demi-monde
• 1913: La Maestrina
• 1913: Tramonto
• 1913: L'arma dei vigliacchi
• 1913: In faccia al destino
• 1913: Terra promessa
• 1913: La gloria
• 1913: L'ultima carta
• 1914: Danzatrice della taverna nera
• 1914: Histoire d'un pierrot
• 1915: Anime buie
• 1915: La banda della cifre (three parts)
• 1915: Tresa
• 1915: Il naufragatore
• 1916: Don Pietro Caruso
• 1916: La grande vergogna
• 1916: Tormento gentile
• 1916: Un dramma ignorato
• 1917: Il numero 121
• 1917: L'ultima impresa
• 1917: Il triangolo giallo (four parts)
• 1918: I topi grigi (eight parts)
• 1918: Nel gorgo
• 1919: Dollari e fraks
• 1920: L'ultima livrea
• 1920: I quattri tramonti
• 1920: Il quadrante d'oro
• 1921: Za la Mort contro Za la Mort
• 1923: Ultimissime della notte
• 1924: Zalamort
• 1925: La cavalcata ardente
• 1925: The last days of Pompeii ( Gli ultimi giorni di Pompeii )
• 1926: Senza padre

as a director and screenwriter

• 1913: Idolo infranto
• 1913: La cricca dorata
• 1914: Danzatrice della taverna nera (only direction)
• 1914: L'amazzone mascherata
• 1915: Anime buie
• 1915: La sposa della morte
• 1915: La banda della cifre (three parts)
• 1915: Tresa
• 1915: Il naufragatore
• 1916: Don Pietro Caruso (only direction)
• 1916: La grande vergogna
• 1916: Tormento gentile (only direction)
• 1916: Un dramma ignorato
• 1916: La rosa di Granada
• 1917: Il numero 121
• 1917: L'ultima impresa
• 1917: Il triangolo giallo (four parts)
• 1918: I topi grigi (eight parts)
• 1918: Nel gorgo
• 1919: Dollari e fraks (also production)
• 1920: L'ultima livrea (also production)
• 1920: I quattri tramonti (also production)
• 1920: Il quadrante d'oro (also production)
• 1921: Za la Mort contro Za la Mort (also production)
• 1923: Ultimissime della notte (also production)
• 1924: Zalamort

literature

• Denis Lotti: Emilio Ghione: l'ultimo apache: vita e film di un divo italiano , Cineteca di Bologna, 2008, ISBN 9788895862064
• Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 3: F - H. Barry Fitzgerald - Ernst Hofbauer. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 244.
• Angela Dalle Vacche in: Richard Abel. Encyclopedia of Early Cinema, p. 277

Web links

• Emilio Ghione in the Internet Movie Database (English)