What is the plot of Il cappello da prete?

Name: Il cappello da prete
Genre: crime
Released: 1944
Rating: 6.3

Il cappello da prete (1944) Plot Summary & Story Breakdown

Plot Analysis Summary

A 1944 Italian historical thriller based on an 1887 novel, delayed by war and released post-liberation.

Story Breakdown

Production Context — Filmed at Cinecittà Studios during summer 1943 under wartime conditions.
- Director & Cast — Directed by Ferdinando Maria Poggioli, starring Roldano Lupi, Lída Baarová, Luigi Almirante.
- Art Direction — Sets designed by art director Gastone Simonetti.
Cinematic Style — Exemplifies the calligrafismo movement with refined visual aesthetics.
- Visual Approach — Focus on elegant composition and period detail.
- Literary Adaptation — Based on Emilio De Marchi's 1887 novel of the same title.
Release History — Delayed due to ongoing war events until Rome's liberation.
- Production Delay — Summer 1943 shoot postponed by wartime circumstances.
- Premiere Event — Finally premiered in Rome after Allied liberation.

The baron of Santafusca, descended from a noble family, leads a dissipated life. To pay debts he is forced to sell his house. He tries to steal from the house of a very rich priest and, surprised during the theft, he kills the priest, and then throws the body in an abandoned well. He continues his life of revelries and luxury, until the remorse for the crime trigger a process of self-destruction. The nightmares of the baron, tormented by the only evidence left of the murder, the hat of the priest ,drags him into a daring and hallucinated series of ups and downs to the brink of insanity and jail.

Key Cast

Roldano Lupi — Baron Carlo di Santafusca
Lída Baarová — Marinella
Luigi Almirante — Don Cirillo
Carlo Lombardi — Count Vico di Spiano
Loris Gizzi — Marquis Usilli

Il cappello da prete (1944) — AI Story Visualization

Plot Analysis Summary

Story Breakdown

Directed by

Key Cast