Beatrice Cenci

A tyrannical count is held prisoner, while his second wife and her stepson plot against his life. His daughter falls in love with a revolutionary who accidentally kills him in a duel.Beatrice Cenci, a renowned costume melodrama set in the sixteenth century, may be Freda’s masterpiece. The events – often horrific – are given a fine rhythm and there is plenty of attention for colour. The outdoor shots in Rome were really made with small models constructed in the studio of Mario Bava. Among the actors we find Antonio De Teffe, who was later to become famous in spaghetti westerns under the pseudonym Anthony Steffen, and Micheline Presle, well known at the time for her role in Le diable au corps by Claude Autant-Lara. Bertrand Tavernier, who was scriptwriter and assistant director to Freda, made a new film version in 1987 entitled La passion Beatrice. (SdC)