Film director, actor and producer. He was an innovator of film technique who was active in the Italian silent cinema. Regarded by many the greatest film director of historical films of the time, he is best remembered as the director of the epic 1914 film "Cabiria" written by Gabriele D'Annunzio. In 1908, he founded the film production company Itala Film, and in the years that followed, he directed and produced films such as "La caduta di Troia" (1910), an ambitious 30-minute film who was the first film shown without interruption in a half hour show, "Giulio Cesare" (1910) where he also worked as an actor, "Più forte che Sherlock Holmes" (1913), "Tigris" (directed under the pseudonym Leblanc, 1913), "Tigre reale" (1916), "Fuoco" (directed under the pseudonym Piero Fosco, 1916), and from 1916 to 1923 a long Maciste films series. Pastrone was an inspiration for major international film masters as David Wark Griffith who drew inspiration from "Cabiria" for his film "Intolerance". He became an expert in film technique, notably inventing and patenting the "fixitè", a method for preventing slippage of film. In 1919, at the height of success Pastrone left the film business and the Itala Film, which was absorbed by another company, rejecting numerous jobs to devote himself to studies and experiments in medicine. In later years, he devoted himself to the cinema only sporadically until in 1931, worked as music supervisor for the musical arrangement of his Cabiria. On the plaque outside his birthplace in Asti is written, "In this house was born Giovanni Pastrone. With him the cinema became art, industry and entertainment."
Film director, actor and producer. He was an innovator of film technique who was active in the Italian silent cinema. Regarded by many the greatest film director of historical films of the time, he is best remembered as the director of the epic 1914 film "Cabiria" written by Gabriele D'Annunzio. In 1908, he founded the film production company Itala Film, and in the years that followed, he directed and produced films such as "La caduta di Troia" (1910), an ambitious 30-minute film who was the first film shown without interruption in a half hour show, "Giulio Cesare" (1910) where he also worked as an actor, "Più forte che Sherlock Holmes" (1913), "Tigris" (directed under the pseudonym Leblanc, 1913), "Tigre reale" (1916), "Fuoco" (directed under the pseudonym Piero Fosco, 1916), and from 1916 to 1923 a long Maciste films series. Pastrone was an inspiration for major international film masters as David Wark Griffith who drew inspiration from "Cabiria" for his film "Intolerance". He became an expert in film technique, notably inventing and patenting the "fixitè", a method for preventing slippage of film. In 1919, at the height of success Pastrone left the film business and the Itala Film, which was absorbed by another company, rejecting numerous jobs to devote himself to studies and experiments in medicine. In later years, he devoted himself to the cinema only sporadically until in 1931, worked as music supervisor for the musical arrangement of his Cabiria. On the plaque outside his birthplace in Asti is written, "In this house was born Giovanni Pastrone. With him the cinema became art, industry and entertainment."
Bio by: Ruggero
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