Lucrezia Borgia (1935)

Synopsis: Abel Gance, master of large-scale historical epics, focuses on the murderous Italian clan of the Borgias in his renaissance saga LUCREZIA BORGIA. The three children of the corrupted Pope, Alexander... Abel Gance, master of large-scale historical epics, focuses on the murderous Italian clan of the Borgias in his renaissance saga LUCREZIA BORGIA. The three children of the corrupted Pope, Alexander VI (Roger Karl)--Cesar (Gabriel Gabrio), a power-hungry barbarian; Jean (Maurice Escande), a jaded, limp-wristed dandy; and the scheming, love-crazed Lucrezia (Edwige Feuillere)--treat 15th-century Rome as their personal debauched playground. When Niccolo Machiavelli (Aime Clariond) decides that savage Cesar is his ideal "prince," he begins to influence the Borgia clan to aid a murderous play for domination, his complex scheme depending heavily upon whom Lucrezia chooses to wed. Meanwhile, the Borgia's power begins to slip as the family's increasing outrages are matched by the citizenry‘s rising disdain. A religious zealot, Savanarole (Antonin Artaud in a small but pivotal role), decries the Borgias' corruption and eventually leads a revolt against the Pope and his brood. The scandalous doings of the Borgias, replete with extravagant orgies, elaborate murders, poisonings, and rapes are compellingly detailed by Gance with his signature stylized editing and evocative cinematography. As in NAPOLEON and BEETHOVEN, Gance uses history as a springboard from which to construct elaborate cinematic visions of the rise and fall of charismatic leaders, doomed geniuses, and beautiful heroines. [More]

Starring: Josette Day, Edwige Feuillere, Gabriel Gabrio, Roger Karl

Starring: Josette Day, Edwige Feuillere, Gabriel Gabrio, Roger Karl, Aime Clariond, Gaston Modot, Antonin Artaud

Director: Abel Gance

Director: Abel Gance
Screenwriter: Leopold Marchand, Henri Vendresse
Producer: Henri E. Ullmann
Composer: Marcel Lattes

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