This is an amazing story off love and death, of deception for good and for worse, of jealousy, murder and redemption, and of revolution. Clara loves Enrico, who is a revolutionary devoted to the cause of liberating Italy from the Austrians, so he is outlawed, chased to death but survives but Is still caught again and just about to be hanged in public when the revolution breaks out. Believed dead, his sweetheart has married a nobleman who runs into debt and is seduced by a vile woman Nora to poison his wife to get at her vast fortune. When she is dead her will becomes a dreadful disappointment, since she left everything to their daughter and nothing to him. That's where the tide is turning, and you are in for a marvellous lot of surprises. There are many highlights, a splendid ball scene in the very beginning when Enrico first gets chased out of her house and shot, and especially in the convent, where her daughter has been concealed. This is the kind of story which they made grand operas of in the 19th century, this is just the stuff for great, heartrending, glorious and mighty music, like Verdi used to do, but here it is a film with impressive cinematography and great acting - there are two villains, one a corrupt police superintendent and the other a lewd woman. You learn what happens to him but not to her. It is fascinating all the way through, inviting both to heartbreaks, sobs and enthusiastic triumph. This is a great story and a film great and beautiful enough to match it.
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