Nita Naldi filmography update

Nita Naldi's filmography has been quite the conundrum...her mid 20s work was not researched well and her late 20s work was said to be in Europe.  26% of her films were found to exist, with only 6 full films out of 25 still around (most of those were Rudolph Valentino pictures.)

Since I published my biography of Nita Naldi there have been two film finds.  A mid 20s film of hers (1924), "The Breaking Point" is being screened at Cinecon 46 this Fall.  Unfortunately Cinecon is run by the Wicked Witch and most bitterest of old people, and there is no way to buy a ticket for one screening.  Add to that the usual 10am run time of silents and the people who wish to see it the most won't this time around.  Such a shame that they make the event so unfriendly and unwelcoming, as the film line up can be quite interesting.  There is no information given on where the print is from, but this does show it exists.

The other development is a bit more depressing/intriguing.  A dear man from Italy named Samuele wrote and gave me the low down on the mysterious, "La Maschera D'Oro (The Golden Mask)".  This film was said to be released in 1929, and if true, was Nita's last.  Well...it doesn't exist...kind of.

As Samuele explains, "IT DOESN’T EXIST because that film is only the Italian Version of “Die Pratermizzi”, the film Nita Naldi made in Austria. In "Die Pratermizzi" Nita wore a golden mask on her face in order to hide the signs of a terrible illness. Well, when the film arrived in Italy, it was called LA MASCHERA D'ORO (The Golden Mask), probably because producers thought that Italian audience would not be able to understand the Austrian title, even if it was translated ino Italian (in English it would be "Mizzi of the Prater": Mizzi is the German short form of "Marie" and Prater is the famous park in Vienna). Even in Spain the film was called la MASCARA DE ORO for the same reason."

"Die Pratermizzi" does exist, and bits of it was released on a German DVD a few years ago.  However how complete the print is is currently unknown.  This means either "Die Pratermizzi" or "La Femme Nue" were Nita Naldi's last films.  They were all silents.  She never made a talkie.

For more of Nita Naldi's filmography click here.  For more on Nita Naldi click here.