''Dante's Inferno'' is a 1935 American drama film starring Spencer Tracy and loosely based on Dante Alighieri's '' Divine Comedy''. The film remains primarily remembered for a 10-minute depiction of

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

realised by director

Harry Lachman Harry B. Lachman (June 29, 1886 – March 19, 1975) was an American artist, set designer, and film director. He was born in La Salle, Illinois on June 29, 1886. Lachman was educated at the University of Michigan before becoming a magazine and bo ...

, himself an established

post-impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction ag ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

. This was Fox Film Corporation's last film before the company merged with Twentieth Century Pictures to create

20th Century-Fox Film Corporation 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

Plot

Jim Carter, a former stoker, takes over a fairground show, run by 'Pop' McWade, which depicts scenes from Dante's Inferno. He marries Pop's niece Betty and they have a son, Alexander. Meanwhile, the show becomes a great success, with Carter making it larger and more lurid. An inspector declares the fair unsafe but Carter bribes him into silence. There is a partial collapse at the fair which injures Pop. Recovering in hospital, he admonishes Carter and we see a lengthy vision of the Inferno. Undeterred, Carter establishes a new venture with an unsafe floating casino, only for disaster to strike again at sea.

Cast

* Spencer Tracy as Jim Carter *

Claire Trevor Claire Trevor ( Wemlinger; March 8, 1910April 8, 2000) was an American actress. She appeared in 65 feature films from 1933 to 1982, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in ''Key Largo'' (1948), and received nomina ...

as Betty McWade * Henry B. Walthall as Pop McWade *

Alan Dinehart Mason Alan Dinehart Sr. (born Harold Alan Dinehart; October 3, 1889 – July 18, 1944) was an American actor, director, writer, and stage manager. Biography Dinehart initially studied to be a priest, but he turned to the theater instead. ...

as Jonesy * Scotty Beckett as Alexander Carter * Rita Hayworth (credited as Rita Cansino) as Dancer * Willard Robertson as Building Inspector Harris * Morgan Wallace as Chad Williford *

Robert Gleckler Robert Gleckler (January 11, 1887 – February 25, 1939) was an American film and stage actor who appeared in nearly 60 movies between 1927 until his death in 1939. He was cast for the role of Jonas Wilkerson, overseer of the slaves at Tara in ...

as Dean *

Don Ameche Don Ameche (; born Dominic Felix Amici; May 31, 1908 – December 6, 1993) was an American actor, comedian and vaudevillian. After playing in college shows, stock, and vaudeville, he became a major radio star in the early 1930s, which l ...

as Man in Stoke-Hold (uncredited) * Jack Mower as Court Bailiff (uncredited) * George Irving as Judge (uncredited) This was Spencer Tracy's last film for Fox before moving to MGM.

Production

Development

The film uses a conventional story of greed and dishonesty to project an image of the ''Inferno'' conjured up in Dante's 14th-century epic poem. Director Lachman had established a substantial reputation as a painter before embarking on a

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

career and he summoned his artistic vision to realise Dante's work in cinematographic form, drawing on the engravings of Gustave Doré. The film's reputation pivots on the 10 minute vision of the Inferno and reception has been mixed. Leslie Halliwell described it as "one of the most unexpected, imaginative and striking pieces of cinema in Hollywood's history," while '' Variety'' held that it was, "a pushover for vigorous exploitation."

Release

The 1935 film was produced by Fox Film Corporation just before the May 31, 1935 merger that created Twentieth Century-Fox, and so it was released as a Twentieth Century-Fox film.

References

External links

* * * * 1935 films 1930s fantasy drama films American black-and-white films Films based on Inferno (Dante) Films directed by Harry Lachman Films set in hell Fox Film films American fantasy drama films Films produced by Sol M. Wurtzel 20th Century Fox films 1935 drama films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films {{1930s-drama-film-stub