Dante's Inferno (1935 film)

For the 2007 film, see Dante's Inferno (2007 film).

Dante's Inferno
Directed by	Harry Lachman
Produced by	Sol M. Wurtzel
Written by	Philip Klein
Starring	Spencer Tracy Claire Trevor Rita Hayworth
Music by	R.H. Bassett
Cinematography	Rudolph Maté
Editing by	Alfred DeGaetano
Studio	Fox Film Corporation
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	July 31, 1935 (U.S)
Running time	88 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$748,900 (estimate)

Dante's Inferno is a 1935 motion picture loosely based on Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy. It is primarily remembered for a 10-minute depiction of hell realised by director Harry Lachman, himself an established post-impressionist painter.

Plot summary

Jim Carter (Tracy) takes over a fairground show illustrating scenes from Dante. An inspector declares the fair unsafe but is bribed by Carter. There is a fatal disaster at the fair during which we see the vision of the Inferno. Carter establishes a new venture with an unsafe floating casino.

Cast

• Spencer Tracy as Jim Carter
• Claire Trevor as Betty McWade
• Henry B. Walthall as Pop McWade
• Alan Dinehart as Jonesy
• Scotty Beckett as Alexander Carter (as Scott Beckett)
• Robert Gleckler as Dean
• Rita Hayworth as Dancer (as Rita Cansino)
• Gary Leon as Dancer
• Willard Robertson as Building Inspector Harris
• Morgan Wallace as Chad Williford

Production background

The film uses a conventional story of greed and dishonesty to project an image of the Inferno conjured up in Dante's 14th century epic poem. Director Lachman had established a substantial reputation as a painter before embarking on a Hollywood career and he summoned his artistic vision to realise Dante's work in cinematographic form, drawing on the engravings of Gustave Doré.

The film's reputation pivots on the 10 minute vision of the Inferno and reception has been mixed. Leslie Halliwell described it as "one of the most unexpected, imaginative and striking pieces of cinema in Hollywood's history," while Variety held that it was, "a pushover for vigorous exploitation."

Some footage was taken from Fox's Dante's Inferno (1924) which was originally tinted red. The 1935 film was produced by Fox Film Corporation just before the May 31, 1935 merger that created Twentieth Century-Fox, and so was released as a Twentieth Century-Fox film.

Rita Hayworth appears as a dancer under the credit "Rita Cansino". This was Spencer Tracy's last film for Fox before moving to MGM.

References

External links

• Dante's Inferno at the Internet Movie Database
• Dante's Inferno at AllRovi
• Dante's Inferno (1935 film) at the TCM Movie Database