DVD: L'Inferno (Eye4Films)
Reviewed by Erick Mertz

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In purely cinematic language, L'Inferno is a classic of the early screen, as seminal in its scope and awe inspiring as DW Griffith's Birth of a Nation and Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potempkin, staples of introduction to film classes. The Italian epic was debuted in 1911 after three years in production and loosely tells a story inspired by a fusion of Dante's Divine Comedy and illustrations by Gustave Doré. Its black and white print possesses lucid dreamlike qualities, in tandem with that familiarly rough hewn feeling of early film. Not only is L'Inferno the first full length Italian feature film, but an international hit in a time when the primordial world of cinema was only forming. In the United States alone, it took in more than $2 million dollars.

Now, 93 years after its initial release, Eye4Films has re-released L'Inferno on DVD. It is a delightful treat for movie buffs, and an opportunity to own and examine a truly unique marvel. The special effects are noticeably primitive, and the values crude, but they were both contemporary states of the art at the time of release. In all, L'Inferno is an enjoyable experience from beyond the "New Release" shelf.

To the buyer goes caution however: new age artists Tangerine Dream provide a soundtrack that at times, proves to be something of a distraction to the film. While adding sound and music to silent film is nothing new (check out some prints of Metropolis and the aforementioned Battleship Potempkin) but the treatment here is slipshod, and sometimes overpowering. The band almost steals the real focus away from the movie. For a film filled with subtlety, and the potential to teach, an outfit as apt as Tangerine Dream surprisingly adds mixed results to what should be an honorific DVD.

[Pick this up at www.linferno.com.]

© 2005 - Erick Mertz