La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders/Jerusalem Liberated (1918) was an Italian silent period piece directed and produced by Enrico Guazzoni. It was an adaptation of an epic poem by Torquato Tasso from 1581 in the late Renaissance. It tells of Christian knights battling Muslims during the First Crusade of 1096 in the Middle Ages, to retake the holy city of Jerusalem. EFSP presents two series of vintage cards made for the film adaptation. Six Spanish cromos in colour were made by Chocolate Imperial when the film was distributed in Spain by José Montañola under the Spanish title 'Jerusalén Libertada'. The other series is a complete set of 12 original Italian postcards by IPA CT Duplex.


Spanish cromo (collector card) by Chocolate Imperial, no. 1 of 6 cards. Photo: Exclusiva José Montañola / Guazzoni Film. Edy Darclea as Armida and Beppo Corradi as Rinaldo in La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders/Jerusalem Liberated (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918).


Spanish cromo (collector card) by Chocolate Imperial, no. 2 of 6. The attack on Jerusalem in La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918).


Spanish cromo (collector card) by Chocolate Imperial, no. 3 of 6 cards. The Crusaders' camp in La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918).


Spanish cromo (collector card) by Chocolate Imperial, no. 4 of 6 cards. Amleto Novelli as Tancredi and Olga Benetti as Clorinda in La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918).


Spanish cromo (collector card) by Chocolate Imperial, no. 5 of 6 cards. Amleto Novelli as Tancredi in La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918).


Spanish cromo (collector card) by Chocolate Imperial, no. 6 of 6 cards. Amleto Novelli as Tancredi and Olga Benetti as Clorinda in La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918).

The master of the revocation of famous historical events
In 1096 Godfrey of Bouillon (Eduardo Monteneve) heads a crusade against the Turks and Aladdin (Ljubomir Stanojevick), the cruel king of Jerusalem. His captains are Tancredi (Amleto Novelli) from Taranto and Rinaldo from Este. Aladin appoints Clorinda (Olga Benetti), an intrepid Persian, to head the troupes defending the city, together with the valiant Argante (Aristide Garbini).

After having saved the lives of Olindo (Rinaldo Rinaldi) and Sofronia, two young Christians condemned to death by the ruthless Aladdin for stealing a sacred image from the mosque, Clorinda fights a duel with Tancredi (Amleto Novelli), one of Godfrey's captains. He has fallen in love with her but doesn't want to fight her on the battlefield. Because of her armour and the darkness, he is ignorant of who he is his adversary. So, he kills his beloved, who converts to Christianity while dying.

Meanwhile, the beautiful magician Armida (Edy Darclea) has enchanted Rinaldo (Beppo Corradi), another crusader, who has fallen in love with her, in her magical garden. Once he re-awakes from the spell, despite the pleas of Armida, he returns to the Christian camp to participate in the assault of Jerusalem, which is conquered after a long and strenuous battle.

The British film journal The Bioscope wrote in 1919 that Gerusalemme liberata confirmed director Enrico Guazzoni's talent after his Quo vadis?. The Bioscope considered Guazzoni the master of the revocation of such famous historical events, even more than D.W. Griffith. While most attention went to the mass scenes, individual praise was for Novelli and Benetti. The triumphant entry into Jerusalem was equaled to the victorious entry of the Allies, 800 years after.

In 1911 Enrico Guazzoni already made an earlier version, again with Amleto Novelli in the lead as Tancredi, but this time also with Gianna Terribili Gonzales as Clorinda, instead of Olga Benetti. In this version, Emilio Ghione played Rinaldo, and Fernanda Negri-Pouget was Armida. Wikipedia mixes up these two versions and mistakes its production year. The 1911 version was well received, nationally and internationally, and considered the second Italian 'feat' after La caduta di Troia/The Fall Of Troy (Giovanni Pastrone, 1911), the first two-reeler epic film. In 1934, Guazzoni re-issued his 1918 version in a 'spoken' and re-cut version with scenes added. The dialogues were written by Fausto Salvadori and an introductory commentary was done by Adolfo Geri who played Torquato Tasso. The version lasted about twenty minutes longer than the silent version and the music was by Luigi Avitabile.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, card 1 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders/Jerusalem Liberated (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: The archangel Gabriel incites Godfrey to go on a crusade. Eduardo Monteneve plays Godfrey of Bouillon, while Gabriel might have been played by the actress Fernanda Negri Pouget.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, card 2 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: In the presence of Peter the Hermite, Godfrey incites the Christian knights to join the Crusade. Godfrey of Bouillon was performed by Eduardo Monteneve.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, card 3 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: Episode of Olindo and Sofronia. The virgin Sofronia before the tyrant Aladin. Ljubomir Stanojevic played Aladin, and Rinaldo Rinaldi played Olindo, but it isn't clear who played Sofronia.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, card 4 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: The King of Tripoli sends gifts and supplies to Goffredo.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, card 5 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: Tancredi reveals his love for Clorinda. Tancredi was played by Amleto Novelli and Clorinda by Olga Benetti.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, card 6 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: The mortally wounded Clorinda is baptised by Tancredi. Olga Benetti played Clorinda and Amleto Novelli Tancredi.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, card 7 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from La Gerusalemme liberata/ The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: Erminia wears the armour of Clorinda before going to the wounded Tancredi. Elena Sangro played Erminia.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, card 8 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from La Gerusalemme liberata/ The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: The loves of Rinaldo and Armida. Beppo Corradi plays Rinaldo, Edy Darclea Armida.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, card 9 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: Ubaldo liberates Rinaldo from the spells of Armida. Of the stairs, Edy Darclea as Armida and Beppo Corradi as Rinaldo. The man gesticulating in the middle is Amleto Novelli, who plays Tancredi.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, card 10 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: The Christians attack Jerusalem with their siege machinery.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, card 11 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from the Italian silent film La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: Thus Godfrey wins. Goffredo di Buglione/Godfrey of Bouillon was performed by Eduardo Monteneve.


Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 12 of a series of 12. Photo: Guazzoni Film, Roma. Scene from the Italian silent film La Gerusalemme liberata/Jerusalem liberated/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Caption: The Allied armies enter Jerusalem (during WW I).

Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Il cinema muto italiano, Vol. 1918 (1991), and Vol. 1911, I (1995)), Wikipedia (English and Italian) and IMDb.

The Italian silent film La Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, Guazzoni Film 1918) was an adaptation of the classic poem by Torquato Tasso from 1581. The film is set during the Crusades and describes Godfrey of Bouillon's conquest of the holy city of Jerusalem in 1099 and the ways in which the Christian knights battled the Muslims. Amleto Novelli played the lead as the crusader Tancredi, a role he had already played in an earlier 1911 version, also directed by Enrico Guazzoni. Ivo Blom found a series of six coloured Spanish cromos of the film.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, Cromo no. 1 of 6. Photo: Exclusiva José Montañola/Guazzoni Film. Edy Darclea as Armida and Beppo Corradi as Rinaldo in the La Gerusalemme liberata (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918). Spanish title: Jerusalén Libertada.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, Cromo no. 2 of 6. The attack on Jerusalem in La Gerusalemme liberata (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, Cromo no. 3 of 6. The crusaders' camp in La Gerusalemme liberata (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918).

The battle of Jerusalem
In 1096, Godfrey of Bouillon (Eduardo Monteneve) heads a crusade against the Turks and Aladin (Ljubomir Stanojevick), the cruel king of Jerusalem. His captains are Tancredi from Taranto and Rinaldo from Este. Aladin appoints Clorinda (Olga Benetti), an intrepid Persian, to head the troupes defending the city, together with the valiant Argante (Aristide Garbini).

After having saved the lives of Olindo (Rinaldo Rinaldi) and Sofronia, two young Christians condemned to death by the ruthless Aladdin for stealing a sacred image from the mosque, Clorinda fights a duel with Tancredi (Amleto Novelli), one of Godfrey's captains. He has fallen in love with her but doesn't want to fight her on the battlefield. Because of her armor and the darkness, he is ignorant of who his adversary is. So, he kills his beloved, who converts to Christianity while dying.

Meanwhile, the beautiful magician Armida (Edy Darclea) has enchanted Rinaldo (Beppo Corradi), another crusader, who has fallen in love with her, in her magical garden. Once he re-awakes from the spell, despite the pleas of Armida, he returns to the Christian camp to participate in the assault of Jerusalem, which is conquered after a long and strenuous battle.

The British film journal The Bioscope wrote in 1919 that Gerusalemme liberata confirmed Enrico Guazzoni's talent after his Quo vadis?. The Bioscope considered Guazzoni the master of the revocation of such famous historical events, even more than D. W. Griffith. While most attention went to the mass scenes, individual praise was for Novelli and Benetti. The triumphant entry into Jerusalem was equaled by the victorious entry of the Allies, 800 years after.

In 1911 Guazzoni already had made an earlier version, again with Amleto Novelli in the lead as Tancredi, but this time also with Gianna Terribili Gonzales as Clorinda, instead of Olga Benetti; with Emilio Ghione as Rinaldo, and Fernanda Negri-Pouget as Armida. Wikipedia mixes up these two versions and mistakes its production year. The 1911 version was well-received, nationally and internationally, and considered the second Italian 'feat' after La caduta di Troia/The Fall of Troy (Giovanni Pastrone, 1911), the first two-reeler epic film.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, Cromo no. 4 of 6. Amleto Novelli as Tancredi and Olga Benetti as Clorinda in La Gerusalemme liberata (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, Cromo no. 5 of 6. Amleto Novelli as Tancredi in La Gerusalemme liberata (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918).


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, Cromo no. 6 of 6. Amleto Novelli as Tancredi and Olga Benetti as Clorinda in La Gerusalemme liberata (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918).

Source: Vittorio Martinelli (Il cinema muto italiano, Vol. 1918 (1991), and Vol. 1911, I (1995)), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Italian actress Olga Benetti (?-1958) acted in many films of the Roman film companies Cines, Celio, and Caesar in the 1910s and early 1920s. She often performed opposite Francesca Bertini, Gustavo Serena, and her husband Carlo Benetti (1885-1949).


Olga Benetti. Italian postcard by Ed. Soc. Anon. It. Bettini, Roma, no. 206.


Carlo Benetti. Spanish collectors card by Amatller Marca Luna, Series no. 1. Photo: Principales Artistas Cinematograficos. On the front of the card, Benetti is misspelled as 'C. Beneti' and at the back of the card, the actor's name is spelled as 'Carlos Bennetti' (sic).


Italian postcard, no. 207. Photo: Bettini.

They immediately got the leads in six films
Carlo Benetti was born in Florence in 1885. Olga Benetti was born on an unknown date in Ceprano (Frosinone). They were married before they entered the film business.

Both debuted in 1912 at the Cines company with two short comedies, E' meglio l'arte/Because of a Widow (N.N., 1912) and In campagna è un'altra cosa/Their Country Relations (N.N., 1912).

In 1913, they were hired by the Latium film company. They immediately got the leads in six films: La finestra illuminata/The Light in the Window (1913), Passa una donna!/Stella Lescaut (1913), La mano della scimmia/The Strange Theft (1913), Verso l'amore/Towards love (1913), and L'orrida meta/The horrid goal (1913). All were directed by Ubaldo Pittei.

The engagement with Latium didn't last long, though. In September 1913 they started to work for the joint companies Cines and Celio. Together they were the protagonists in the drama Un divorzio/A divorce (1914). They also worked as supporting actors.

Olga played opposite Leda Gys and Alberto Collo in the Cines drama Amore bendato/Love Is Blind (1914), and both in Il club delle maschere/The Ghost Club (Mario Ghione, 1913), starring Mario Bonnard. Other titles were e.g. L'oro maledetto/The Lure of Gold (Ivo Illuminati, 1914) for Celio and La parola che uccide/The word that kills (Augusto Genina, 1914) for Cines.


Italian postcard by Magazine Film - corriere dei cinematografici, Napoli/Roma. Photo: Poseo & Co., Napoli.


Italian postcard by Magazine Film - corriere dei cinematografici, Napoli/Roma. Photo: Poseo & Co., Napoli / Caesar Film.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperiale, no. 10. Photo: Pinto, Roma / Caesar Film. Guido Trento and Olga Benetti in Frou-Frou (Alfredo De Antoni, 1918), adapted from the play by Meilhac and Halevy.


Spanish postcard by Amattler Marca Luna chocolate, series 7, no. 13. Livio Pavanelli and Olga Benetti have just heard they will probably not inherit the throne in Carnevalesca (Amleto Palermi 1918), after Lucio d'Ambra. Photography was by Giovanni Grimaldi.

The bond with Francesca Bertini
At the end of 1914, the Benetti couple moved to the Caesar company, where Olga had leads in films by Emilio Ghione such as L'ultimo dovere/The ultimate duty (Emilio Ghione, 1915), and Per la sua pace/For his peace (Emilio Ghione, 1915). However, equally important were Olga Benetti's roles as an antagonist in the Francesca Bertini dramas, starting with Benetti's first feature-length film, Nelly la Gigolette/Nelly the gigolette (Emilio Ghione, 1915). The bond would last for years, with memorable such titles as La signora delle camelie (Gustavo Serena, 1915), Odette (Giuseppe de Liguoro, 1916), Fedora (Giuseppe de Liguoro, Gustavo Serena, 1916), Andreina (Gustavo Serena, 1917), La piccola fonte/The small source (Roberto Roberti, 1917), and Tosca (Alfredo De Antoni, 1918).

In 1918, she also played Clorinda opposite Amleto Novelli and Edy Darclea in the historical epic La Gerusalemme liberata/Jerusalem Liberated (Enrico Guazzoni, 1918), based on an epic poem by Torquato Tasso from 1581. Carlo often co-acted in these films too, such as in Nelly la Gigolette and Odette. In 1915 Carlo played without his wife as Don Federigo opposite Francesca Bertini in the latter's classical 'verist' drama Assunta Spina (Francesca Bertini, Gustavo Serena, 1915). Without Olga, he also played with Bertini in Il capestro degli Asburgo/The halter of the Habsburgs (Gustavo Serena, 1915), Ivonne, la bella danzatrice/Ivonne, the beautiful dancer (Gustavo Serena, 1915), Diana, l'affascinatrice/Diana the Seductress (Gustavo Serena, 1915), La perla del cinema/The pearl of cinema (Giuseppe de Liguoro, 1916), and Lacrymae rerum/Tears (Giuseppe de Liguoro, 1916).

In the mid-1910s the Benetti's were highly productive regulars of the Caesar troupe and thus also appeared in several films by Gustavo Serena, Emilio Ghione, Camillo De Riso, and Edoardo Bencivenga - often performing in the leads or most important antagonists. By 1918 the golden years at Caesar were over. The couple moved to Filmograf, where they acted in films by Gian Orlando Vassallo and Gustavo Serena. Between 1920 and 1924 the couple acted in films at Rinascimento Film and FERT in Turin and at Libertas in Rome.

Carlo played in several films with Maria Jacobini and directed by Gennaro Righelli: La casa di vetro/The glass house (1920), Il richiamo/The recall (1921), Il viaggio/The Trip (1921), and Cainà/Cainà: The Island and the Continent (1922). He also played opposite Jacobini in Guglielmo Zorzi's La bocca chiusa/The closed mouth (1924). He also acted with Italia Almirante Manzini in La grande passion/The great passione (Mario Almirante, 1922), with Helena Makowska in La dama e il mistero/The Lady and the Mystery (Amleto Palermi, 1921), and with Rina De Liguoro in Maremma (Salvatore Aversano, 1924).

La vergine del faro/The virgin of the lighthouse (Telemaco Ruggeri, 1924) was Olga's last film. In the later 1920s Carlo could still be seen in such films as Fra Diavolo (Mario Gargiulo, Roberto Roberti, 1925), Kiff Tebby (Mario Camerini, 1928), and La locandiera/The innkeeper (Telemaco Ruggeri, 1929). Carlo Benetti died in 1949 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. His wife had passed away a year earlier, in 1948.


Italian postcard, no. 317. Photo Civirani, Rome.


Italian postcard by Ed. Vettori, Bologna, no. 524.


Italian postcard by Ed. Soc. Anon. It. Bettini, Roma, no. 165.


Italian postcard by Ed. G. Vettori, Bologna, no. 505. Photo: Pinto, Roma.

Sources: Aldo Bernardini (Cinema muto italiano. Protagonisti - Italian), Aldo Bernardini/Vittorio Martinelli (Il cinema muto italiano, 1912-1929), and IMDb.

NB. IMDb erroneously claims Olga was also in the 1911 version of Gerusalemme liberata/The Crusaders (Enrico Guazzoni, 1911). Prints of Verso l’amore, Amore bendato, and a fragment of Fedora can be found in the collection of the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam.

This post was last updated on 30 April 2023.