page_title: The Italian (1915 film)
section_title: Modern assessments
hierarchical_section_title: The Italian (1915 film) / Critical reception / Modern assessments
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of film director Reginald Barker.
context_page_description: The Italian is a 1915 American silent film feature which tells the story of an Italian gondolier who comes to the United States to make his fortune but instead winds up working as a shoeshiner and experiencing tragedy while living with his wife and child in a tenement on New York's Lower East Side. The film was produced by Thomas H. Ince, directed by Reginald Barker, and co-written by C. Gardner Sullivan and Ince. The film stars stage actor George Beban in the title role as the Italian immigrant, Pietro "Beppo" Donnetti. In 1991, this film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
context_section_description: In 2008, The Italian was released on DVD as part of a two-disc compilation titled, "Perils of the New Land: Films of the Immigrant Experience (1910-1915)."  At the time of the DVD release, The New York Times praised the film for Reginald Barker's strong direction, including his use of a mobile camera and "liberal use of close-up" which give the film a subjective, personal feel.  The Times also praised Beban's "powerful lead performance" which it described as follows:
  "The audience is drawn to identify with Beppo, even though he remains in many respects an appalling ethnic caricature: dark, brooding, vengeful. That Barker and Beban are able to create so much sympathy for Beppo, despite their own, occasionally quite obvious condescension to the character, is a mark of emerging maturity in the movie business; no longer are films dealing in one-dimensional 'types.'"
  The Los Angeles Times in 2008 described The Italian as "a shameless melodrama that, despite unfortunate stereotypes, musters considerable sympathy for its titular immigrant."  The Times also noted that "Beban, the silent-era star known for his ethnic impersonations, hams up a storm as Beppo, a jaunty Venetian."
  
  The film publication Cineaste published a review of The Italian in March 2009, focusing on the film's depiction of the Italian-American immigrant experience as a Darwinian jungle rather than a promised land paved with gold:
  "Against Horatio Alger expectations, The Italian is a story of failure suffused with a soft-focused, dappled nostalgia for the old country ... 'From sunny Italy to the New York ghetto,' read the taglines on Paramount's original one-sheet, contrasting scenes of 'carefree Beppo at home' in the serene canals of Old Italy with the mean streets of New York where 'to live your baby must have Pasteurized milk.' America is not a promised land paved with gold but a Darwinian jungle, where dreams meet dead ends."
  Cineaste also credited Beban for his intense performance, commenting on the fight sequence in which Beban's character "seethes with murderous determination" as the camera focuses on his face in an extreme close-up: "Beban's sudden transformation from amiability to wrath recalls the first glimpse of Spencer Tracy after nearly being lynched in Fritz Lang's Fury."
  
  A reviewer for the publication Bright Sights wrote that the film had a powerfully downbeat conclusion with a social message:
  "Projecting overwhelming grief, Beban reveals some hefty acting chops, and The Italian certainly gets its liberal point across, a model of how American movies dress social consciousness in the garb of melodrama. Even here, in its infancy, feature film was eager to pick up the call for social reform that sounded out in urban America before the First World War."
  
  In his 2004 historical book on the depiction of Italians in Hollywood movies, Peter Bondanella praised the film:
  "A number of elements sets The Italian apart from the other films treating the Italian immigrant experience. ... Its melodramatic plot reflects a serious sense of artistic construction, aimed at milking the last bit of emotion out of the audience.  George Beban's outstanding performance shows his roots in the dramatic theater. ... Finally, the depiction of the tragic story of Beppo shows a certain sympathy for the character of the poor Italian bootblack but also includes a callous disregard for depicting Italian immigrants in a stereotypical manner, an attitude that no doubt reflected the opinions of the majority of Americans at the time.  Its plot is simple and compelling."
  Despite its occasional use of patronizing stereotypes, Bondanella concludes that Beppo "is represented with great dignity and even comic twists, making Beppo a far more lovable figure than one might expect."  He concludes his chapter on the film with the following comment: "In short, what emerges from The Italian is an unusually complex view of tenement life and multiethnic immigration in America, and the film consequently retains its value not only as social history but also as a work of art."
  In his book about the h
caption: Director Reginald Barker has been credited for his innovations in filming The Italian.
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