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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 679

L'Inferno

191173 minItaly

Drama Horror Fantasy

Synopsis

Guided by the poet Virgil, Dante descends through a succession of infernal landscapes. Each encounter reveals a different punishment and a story of how its sufferer arrived there. Elaborate tableaux, transformations and visual effects turn the journey into an early feature-length attempt to put a vast imagined world on the screen.

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Video edition: Wikimedia Commons
Original language: No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: Italian.
This copy runs: 65:08
Subtitles: No subtitle track in this language

No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: Italian. No subtitle track in this language.

Languages and subtitles

No subtitle track in this language

Wikimedia Commons · Giuseppe de Liguoro / Adolfo Padovan / Francesco Bertolini · Public domain

This copy runs shorter than the reference runtime. Editing and playback speed can differ between editions.

Cast

Salvatore Papa

Arturo Pirovano

Giuseppe De Liguoro

Augusto Milla

DirectorsFrancesco Bertolini Adolfo Padovan Giuseppe De Liguoro

Inspirations

The film adapts the Inferno section of Dante's Divine Comedy. Its images draw closely on Gustave Doré's illustrations, connecting the screen spectacle with a visual tradition already familiar to many audiences.

Behind the scenes

Production took more than three years. Elaborate sets and special effects give the imagined punishments a physical presence, turning a literary journey into a sustained visual spectacle.

Sources and availability

General references identify the work and its copy. A reference beside an editorial section is linked to the claims checked in that section.

Wikipedia — film reference Wikidata — film identity and credits

Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.

The public-domain references concern the original films in the United States. Rights can differ for other countries, editions, restorations, music or translations. Sources are listed on each film page.

Availability checked on September 12, 2026.

Photograph credit

Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.

Giuseppe De Liguoro — The original uploader was RamblerBiondo at Italian Wikipedia .; Da La Vita Cinematografica , dicembre 1913 n.23-24 (numero speciale) pag. 51. Coll. Museo Nazionale del Cinema , Torino. Bibliomediateca "Mario Gromo". · CC BY-SA 3.0

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