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The Italian (1915 film)
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==Production== [[File:C. Gardner Sullivan.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Screenwriter [[C. Gardner Sullivan]] (''pictured'') wrote the story with [[Thomas H. Ince]].]] Historical accounts indicate that Thomas Ince and C. Gardner Sullivan had originally titled their project ''Dago'', but agreed to change the title at the request of the film's star, [[George Beban]].<ref name=Dago>{{cite book|author=Peter Bondanella|title=Hollywood Italians: Dagos, Palookas, Romeos, Wise Guys, and Sopranos, pp. 22-23|publisher=Continuum International Publishing|year=2004}}</ref> ''The Italian'' marked the first motion picture role for Beban, who had gained acclaim as a Broadway actor and vaudevillian specializing in ethnic caricatures.<ref>{{cite news|title=LINDEN PHOTODROME|publisher=Suburbanite Economist|date=1915-01-29}} ("'The Italian,' featuring the celebrated artist, George Beban, extensively known as a performer of superior merit ... Mr. Beban is famed far and wide for his very fine dramatic work in many roles, notably in his repertoire, being, 'The Sign of the Rose.' This is Mr. Beban's first appearance in screen work and from 'The Italian' we may expect unusually fine productions in which he takes the leading part.")</ref> Beban only agreed to join the project for a salary of $7000 and a percentage of the films profits.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=America's film legacy : the authoritative guide to the landmark movies in the National Film Registry|last=Eagan, Daniel.|date=2010|publisher=Continuum|others=National Film Preservation Board (U.S.)|isbn=9781441116475|location=New York|pages=41β42|oclc=676697377}}</ref> Ince and Sullivan are credited with writing the film's story, but film historian Kevin Brownlow has shown that the plot was essentially lifted from the earlier [[Independent Moving Pictures]] (Ince's former employer) film [[The Wop (1913)|''The Wop'' (1913)]].<ref name=":0" /> Though set on [[Manhattan]]'s [[Lower East Side]], the New York scenes for ''The Italian'' were shot in the immigrant quarter of [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]].<ref name=NYT/> While most accounts indicate that the scenes of Beppo as a gondolier were shot in [[Venice, Los Angeles, California|the Venice district of Los Angeles]], an account published by the ''Los Angeles Times'' in November 1914 reported that "Ince sent Beban to Italy to get special canal scenes for the eight-reel play."<ref>{{cite news|author=Grace Kingsley|title=Film Flams|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=1914-11-11}}</ref> One of the vivid scenes in ''The Italian'' is the fight scene between Beppo and his muggers. The scene lasts five minutes on the screen, and a newspaper story reported that, for realism, "a number of the biggest men at Inceville were used in the scene."<ref>{{cite news|title=A THRILLING SCENE IN "THE ITALIAN"|publisher=Logansport Journal-Tribune|date=1915-04-17}}</ref> In a story on the production of ''The Italian'', a newspaper reported that a hundred pounds of rice were bought for the film's wedding scene. An initial order of fifty pounds of rice was left uncovered overnight by a "property man" at the Inceville studio. A "heavy rain caused each grain to swell to enormous proportions," requiring the purchase of another fifty pounds of rice.<ref>{{cite news|title=FUNNY INCIDENT IN "THE ITALIAN WEDDING"|publisher=Logansport Journal-Tribune |date=1915-04-16}}</ref>
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