To get a glimpse of the hardships that faced immigrants 100 years ago in the United States, June 1915's "The Italian" will give you one example of an aspiring and hardworking new arrival in New York City's Lower East Side. The movie follows a shoeshiner (played by actor George Beban) from Italy who soon is impoverished after leaving a gondolier job in his native country. Tragedy strikes when his sick infant son needs an expensive special milk to survive.
Thomas Ince produced this heart-tugging story, which he also co-wrote. Director Reginald Baker, whose studio was based on the West Coast, elected to shoot in the tenement quarter of San Francisco in lieu of the story's Manhattan Lower East Side setting. Baker is credited with giving "The Italian" a unique perspective for his audience by posting his camera in varying positions, combining wide, medium and tight shots (unusual for the time) which highlights the characters' progression throughout their ordeals. Embarking on this cinematic tact, Baker illustrates the actors' psychological reasoning for their actions rather than simply unfolding a straight line plot.
"The Italian" clearly was calling for social reform from the poverty so many deligent working immigrants were facing while attempting to making a living in their new country. The predatory politicians and criminals portrayed in the film make life impossible for those new arrivals. Actor Beban's portrayal of an Italian immigrant shows, as one critic wrote, "America is not a promised land paved with gold but a Darwinian jungle, where dreams meet dead ends."
This was Beban's film debut after spending years on vaudeville and in live theater. Typecast as Italian and French throughout his acting career, Beban was of Croatian/Irish mix. He also directed and wrote for film, but retired in the late 1920's upon his wife's death. He died at 54 in 1928 after being thrown off his horse vacationing at a California dude ranch.
Thomas Ince produced this heart-tugging story, which he also co-wrote. Director Reginald Baker, whose studio was based on the West Coast, elected to shoot in the tenement quarter of San Francisco in lieu of the story's Manhattan Lower East Side setting. Baker is credited with giving "The Italian" a unique perspective for his audience by posting his camera in varying positions, combining wide, medium and tight shots (unusual for the time) which highlights the characters' progression throughout their ordeals. Embarking on this cinematic tact, Baker illustrates the actors' psychological reasoning for their actions rather than simply unfolding a straight line plot.
"The Italian" clearly was calling for social reform from the poverty so many deligent working immigrants were facing while attempting to making a living in their new country. The predatory politicians and criminals portrayed in the film make life impossible for those new arrivals. Actor Beban's portrayal of an Italian immigrant shows, as one critic wrote, "America is not a promised land paved with gold but a Darwinian jungle, where dreams meet dead ends."
This was Beban's film debut after spending years on vaudeville and in live theater. Typecast as Italian and French throughout his acting career, Beban was of Croatian/Irish mix. He also directed and wrote for film, but retired in the late 1920's upon his wife's death. He died at 54 in 1928 after being thrown off his horse vacationing at a California dude ranch.