MARTOGLIO, NINO

(1870-1921)

Journalist, poet, playwright, film director. Already a prolific and highly renowned poet, playwright, and theater director, Martoglio also came to earn an honored place in the history of early Italian cinema by directing three films for the short-lived Morgana Film company, which he had helped to found in Sicily:Sperduti nel buio(Lost in the Dark, 1914),Capitan Blanco(1914), andTeresaRaquin(1915). The meticulously realistic sets and the naturalistic acting in these films were in very strong contrast to the artificial scenography and the more stylized acting in the historical superspectacles and costume dramas that were monopolizing so much Italian film production at the time. This has prompted many to see Martoglio's films as distant forebearers ofneorealism. Indeed, the only known existing copy ofSperduti nel buiocontinued to be used for teaching at theCentro Sperimentale di Cinematografiaas a consummate example of cinematic realism until 1943, when it was destroyed while being transported to Germany.