ITALA FILM

Production company. Founded in 1905 by Carlo Rossi and William Remmert as Carlo Rossi & C., the company recruited a number of technicians from the French Pathe to become one of the first film manufacturing companies in Turin. Two years later it was joined byGiovanni Pastrone, who helped to reorganize its management procedures on a much firmer commercial basis. In 1908, with Rossi leaving to work for theCinesin Rome, the company was transformed into Itala Film, adoptingFixiteas its motto and principle.

For the next decade the company's growth and development was ably guided by Pastrone, who demonstrated remarkable skills as manager, producer, director, and technician.One of Pastrone's shrewdest moves was to entice the Pathe's most successful comedian,Andre Deed, to Itala's well-outfitted new studios in Turin, where Deed was able to turn out hundreds of the extremely popularCretinettifilms. At the same time,La caduta di Troia(The Fall of Troy, 1910), directed by Pastrone himself, broke box office records in the United States, allowing Itala to set up a subsidiary in New York in 1913 and thus pave the way for the stellar success of Pastrone'sCabiriathere in 1914. Under Pastrone's firm guidance, Itala distinguished itself for the quality of its literary adaptations and its costume melodramas while also exploiting the character ofMaciste, the mucleman with a heart of gold who had first appeared inCabiria, in a string of very popular films bearing his name. Segundo De Chomon's remarkable talents for special effects, also first seen inCabiria, were further showcased in the brilliant animation ofLa guerra e il sogno di Momi(The War and the Dream of Momi, 1917).

Nevertheless, by 1918 Pastrone had lost financial control of the company, which in 1919, in the general crisis that began to engulf the industry, was absorbed into the ill-fatedUnione Cinematografia Italiana(UCI). In 1927 the derelict Itala studios in Turin were bought up byStefano Pittaluga.