Only the original screenplay of this film was known of (published for the first time in 1971 by Enrico Crispolti) and some fragmentary reports, the fruit of further research carried out by Mario Verdone. Following the indications of Verdone, the Cineteca Nazionale was able to identify and recover this copy in the archives of the National Film and Television Archive, the only surviving testimony, until today, of the work and one of the very rare examples left of Italian avant-garde cinema. Made in Turin between the end of 1930 and the start of ’31, the film was, as far as we know, divided into two shorter films: one lasting 45’, faithful to the original screenplay and the second – whose original length is unknown to us – edited by Eugene Deslaw with a more analogical and abstract rhythm. The rediscovered copy presents in reality many new elements with respect to the original screenplay: in the absence of certain data, it is reasonable to believe that this is Deslaw’s edition.

Recovered by the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematographia-Cineteca Nazionale thanks to the collaboration of the National Film and Television Archive, London