The Dream of Butterfly

1939 film

The Dream of Butterfly

Directed by| Carmine Gallone
Written by|

* Guido Cantini
* Ernst Marischka

Produced by| Fritz Curioni
Starring|

* Maria Cebotari
* Fosco Giachetti
* Germana Paolieri

Cinematography|

* Anchise Brizzi
* Alberto Fusi

Edited by| Oswald Hafenrichter
Music by| Luigi Ricci

Production
company

Grandi Film Storici

Distributed by| Industrie Cinematografiche Italiane

Release date

* 12 September 1939 (1939-09-12)

Running time

| 100 minutes
Countries|

* Germany
* Italy

Language| Italian

The Dream of Butterfly (Italian:  Il sogno di Butterfly, German: Premiere der Butterfly) is a 1939 musical drama film directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Maria Cebotari, Fosco Giachetti and Germana Paolieri.[1] It is an variation of the plot of the opera Madame Butterfly. A co-production between Italy and Germany, two separate versions were produced in the respective languages. It is also alternatively titled Madame Butterfly. It was one of several opera-related films directed by Gallone following on from Casta Diva (1935) and Giuseppe Verdi (1938).[2]

It was shot at the Cinecittà Studios in Rome. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Ivo Battelli and Guido Fiorini. It was shown at the 1939 Venice Film Festival.

## Synopsis[edit]

In nineteenth-century Italy, promising singer Rosi Belloni meets American music student Harry Peters and the two become engaged and she falls pregnant by him. Before she can tell him this news he informs her he is returning to the United States for three years for further musical education. Unwilling to stand in the way of his future, she does not tell him about her pregnancy. Although he promises to be in contact within a year, she receives no word from him.

Five years later Peters, now a conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, returns to Italy with his new American wife. In the meantime Rosi Belloni has risen to become a leading opera singer, and is chosen by Puccini to sing the title role in his new opera Madame Butterfly at La Scala. Encountering the five-year-old son who has been raised to honour the idea of his father, Peters comes to realise what he missed by not marrying Belloni. In turn she comes to appreciate how much her own life resembles that of Madame Butterfly.

## Cast[edit]

### Italian version[edit]

* Maria Cebotari as Rosi Belloni/Madame Butterfly
* Fosco Giachetti as Harry Peters
* Lucie Englisch as Anna Ranieri
* Germana Paolieri as Mary Peterson
* Luigi Almirante as Riccardo Belli
* Angelo Ferrari as Ispiziente
* Renato Cialente
* Guglielmo Barnabò
* Carlo Lombardi
* Miranda Bonansea
* Giuseppe Pierozzi
* Paolo Stoppa
* Rio Nobile
* Gino Viotti
* Elena Ambrosetti
* Carlo Bonansea
* Liana Del Balzo
* Gabriella Duda
* Mary Dumont
* Achille Majeroni
* Guido Notari
* Giovanni Stupin
* Saro Urzì

### German version[edit]

* Maria Cebotari as Sängerin Rosi Belloni
* Fosco Giachetti as Kapellmeister Harry Peterson
* Lucie Englisch as Anni Eigner, Rosis Freundin
* Paul Kemp as Richard Hell, Maler und Annis Bräutigam
* Joachim Pfaff as Harry, Rosis Sohn
* Luise Stranzinger as Mary Peterson, Harrys Frau
* Siegfried Schürenberg as Paul Fieri, Richards Freund
* Alfred Neugebauer as Camillo Chiosone, Puccinis Beauftragter
* Heinrich Fuchs as Luigi Volegno, Theaterangestellter
* Angelo Ferrari as Der Inspizient der Mailänder Scala
* Walter Schramm-Duncker as Gast beim Silvester-Ball
* Herbert Weißbach as Gast beim Silvester-Ball
* Roma Bahn as Gast beim Silvester-Ball
* Else Ehser as Eine Verehrerin von Harrys Klavierspiel
* Willi Schur as Der "Weltuntergangsverkünder"
* Klaus Pohl as Der schwerhörige Mann beim "Weltuntergang"
* Egon Brosig as Der Ober im Restaurant
* Hans Junkermann as Der Theaterdiener
* Gertrud de Lalsky as Rosis Garderobenfrau
* Paul Schneider-Duncker as Der Direktor beim Empfang nach der Premiere
* Max Wilmsen as Der Hotelportier in Neapel
* Bobby Todd as Der Inspizient in der Oper von Bologna

## References[edit]

1. ^ Bagnoli p.344
2. ^ Barron p.142-34

## Bibliography[edit]

* Bagnoli, Giorgio. The La Scala Encyclopedia of the Opera. Simon and Schuster, 1993.
* Waldman, Harry. Nazi Films in America, 1933–1942. McFarland, 2008.
* Barron, Emma. Popular High Culture in Italian Media, 1950–1970: Mona Lisa Covergirl. Springer, 2018.

## External links[edit]

* The Dream of Butterfly at IMDb

* v
* t
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Films directed by Carmine Gallone

* Il bacio di Cirano (1913)
* The Naked Truth (1914)
* Senza colpa! (1915)
* Flower of Evil (1915)
* The Wedding March (1915)
* Sotto le tombe (1915)
* Avatar (1916)
* La falena (1916)
* Malombra (1917)
* The Thirteenth Man (1917)
* La storia di un peccato (1918)
* Redemption (1919)
* A Doll Wife (1919)
* The Sea of Naples (1919)
* On with the Motley (1920)
* The Faces of Love (1924)
* The Fiery Cavalcade (1925)
* The Last Days of Pompeii (1926)
* The City of a Thousand Delights (1927)
* Pawns of Passion (1928)
* Land Without Women (1929)
* Ship in Distress (1929)
* The Singing City (1930)
* City of Song (1931)
* My Cousin from Warsaw (1931)
* A Son from America (1932)
* Sailor's Song (1932)
* Going Gay (1933)
* My Heart Calls You (1934)
* Two Hearts in Waltz Time (1934)
* My Heart Is Calling You (1934)
* My Heart is Calling (1935)
* Casta Diva (1935)
* If It Were Not for Music (1935)
* The Divine Spark (1935)
* Thank You, Madame (1936)
* Mother Song (1937)
* Scipio Africanus: The Defeat of Hannibal (1937)
* Giuseppe Verdi (1938)
* Marionette (1939)
* The Dream of Butterfly (1939)
* Eternal Melodies (1940)
* Love Me, Alfredo! (1940)
* Manon Lescaut (1940)
* Beyond Love (1940)
* The Secret Lover (1941)
* First Love (1941)
* The Two Orphans (1942)
* The Queen of Navarre (1942)
* Odessa in Flames (1942)
* Harlem (1943)
* Sad Loves (1943)
* The Song of Life (1945)
* Before Him All Rome Trembled (1946)
* The Lady of the Camellias (1947)
* The Legend of Faust (1949)
* The Force of Destiny (1950)
* Night Taxi (1950)
* Messalina (1951)
* We're Dancing on the Rainbow (1952)
* Fatal Desire (1953)
* Puccini (1953)
* Madame Butterfly (1954)
* House of Ricordi (1954)
* Casta Diva (1954)
* Mata Hari's Daughter (1954)
* Don Camillo's Last Round (1955)
* Michel Strogoff (1956)
* Tosca (1956)
* Carthage in Flames (1960)
* Don Camillo: Monsignor (1961)
* Carmen di Trastevere (1962)
* La monaca di Monza (1962)

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