ITO, THE BEGGAR BOY
Ito, the Beggar Boy
(Vitagraph Company of America, USA, 1910)
DCP, 13’; tinted, toned; intertitles: RU, subtitles: PL; source: National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute
A beggar woman hangs around outside the palace of Lord Idzu and Lady Wistaria with her small child. When the woman dies, her son Ito is taken in by Idzu and Wistaria, who have long prayed for an heir. Soon the gods would also send them a little daughter, whom Ito loves as his own sister.
The film was produced by the Vitagraph Company of America, one of the first film studios in the USA, which was founded in 1897. Initially dealing primarily with the production of newsreels, it quickly conquered the market and went on to revolutionise the American film industry. For example, it was Vitagraph that filmed the first westerns, and also helped to make a border collie named Jean famous – known as the Vitagraph Dog, she was the first-ever canine movie star in history. In 1910 alone, the studio made over 160 films. In 1925, it was bought by Warner Bros., the studio founded by a family hailing from Poland.
Ito, the Beggar Boy was considered a lost film until recently. In 2017, however, Jay Weissberg, director of the Pordenone Silent Film Festival, identified it in the FINA collection. The coloured nitrate print with Russian intertitles in our collection is currently the only known copy of the film in the world. The sea scene is particularly interesting from a visual perspective, with the tape tinted blue and hand-applied torrential rain effects. (MP)
The film was restored in 2021 by FINA based on a coloured nitrate print with Russian intertitles.
introduction to the movie: Michał Pieńkowski
section: FOUR SIDES OF THE WORLD
music: Kuba Płużek Quartet
FRIDAY | OCTOBER 29
22:00 | screening room: STOLICA
Presented with: Polish Sketch
-
Ito, the Beggar Boy
-
Ito, the Beggar Boy
-
Ito, the Beggar Boy
-
Ito, the Beggar Boy
-
Ito, the Beggar Boy
-
Ito, the Beggar Boy