I had seen stills of this 1911 Italian epic for many years but it wasn’t until 2005 that I had the opportunity to see it. That was shortly after this DVD was released by Snapper UK. A quick look at the other titles available from that label indicate that they primarily released concert footage of progressive rock music. That’s were Tangerine Dream comes into the picture. If it weren’t for them wanting to accompany the film, it wouldn’t have been released at all. Too bad because the score they came up with is unfortunate. I used to listen to Tangerine Dream back in the 1970s and really liked them. I thought their score for Ridley Scott’s LEGEND w/Tom Cruise was excellent but that is not the case here. Unlike LEGEND, the music does not match the visuals which is paramount for accompanying a silent movie. Even without the film the score is tedious and repetitive and far from their best work.
As for the movie itself, considering when it was made (1911), it’s a truly remarkable achievement. Before the onset of World War I the Italian film industry was one of the best in the world. It was the Italians who pioneered the feature length movie as well as the epic spectacular. Such films as LAST DAYS OF POMPEII, QUO VADIS?, and especially CABIRIA inspired moviemakers in France and the United States to do the same thing. D. W. Griffith decided to make his own epics and came up with BIRTH OF A NATION and INTOLERANCE. Skilled at opera sets and scenery, the Italians did a masterful job in recreating Gustave Dore’s celebrated engravings. The lengthy title cards are necessary to convey some of Dante’s text and the images depicted.
Unfortunately there does not appear to be a restored version of the movie available, if one has even been done at all. The technology for a full restoration now exists so hopefully one day we’ll be able to see it as it really looked. Let us also hope that an appropriate musical accompaniment will be provided as this Tangerine Dream score is not it. There is currently another version of this film available coupled with HAXAN another silent movie that deals with witchcraft. It uses the same print but adds color tints and has generic classical music as a soundtrack. Of course you can turn the volume down and use your own music. That’s one of the beauties of silent movies.
UPDATE; 7-19-21: There is currently a high quality version of L’INFERNO available on You Tube. The picture image has been cleaned up considerably with clear intertitles and effective color tints added. This version features a newly composed soundtrack (2016) by Mike Kiker which somewhat resembles early Mike Oldfield. Highly recommended until a fully restored version comes along.
The Capsule Critic 