Maria Cebotari

"Gems" - Embedded in a frame story, the film shows excerpts from 18 entertainment films of the time, among others, "The Gypsy Baron", "The Three Codonas", "La Habanera", "Viennese Blood", "Sophienlund", and "Mask in Blue".

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A biopic of soprano Maria Malibran (1808–1836). A beautiful singer, Maria Malibran, is forced to turn to the stage after her husband takes to gambling, and goes to Paris where she falls in love with a famous violinist. When her money-seeking husband reappears, the couple go to London, where they find happiness. A composer falls in love with Maria but when his affections are unrequited, he becomes broken, takes to drinking and dies.

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The occupation of Bessarabia by the Russians in 1940 separates an opera singer from her family, leaving her under Bolshevik rule until Romanian troops enter Odessa.

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Italian filmmaker Carmine Gallone was still in his "operetta" mode when he helmed 1938's Il Sogno di Butterfly (Dream of the Butterfly) Maria Cebotari plays opera diva Rosa Belloni, currently starring in a production of Puccini's Madama Butterfly. The plot thickens when Rosa's backstage life begins to mirror the travails of the character she is portraying. The climax comes when Harry Peters (Fosco Giachetti), the American father of Rosa's illegitimate child, returns after four years with his new wife in tow, leading inexorably to a doleful ending both on- and offstage. Critics complained about the substandard photography in Il Sogno di Butterfly, but this might have been due to poor laboratory work.

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The great Italian opera composer recalls his eventful life on his deathbed: his childhood in Busseto, his studies in Milan, his first opera "Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio", the death of his wife and his children killed by smallpox.

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A romance between two temperamental singing stars. Highlights include a lengthy selection from Faust, with Gigli making a most impressive Mephistopheles. The plot takes a melodramatic turn towards the climax, with the lives of the characters mirrored in their on-stage behavior. Director Carmine Gallone was something of an expert in the field of filmed opera, as witness his Tosca, Rigoletto and Il Trovatore.

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On the eve of the Russian Revolution, a performance of "Tosca" is taking place at the opera house. The artists and staff are too engrossed in their work to notice the unrest in the streets. The leading roles are played by Marina Marta and René Areno, who are also lovers. However, Marina has another admirer in Captain Alexander von Harbin. When, during the final performance, the insurgent communists suddenly storm the opera house, Alexander seems to be Marina's last hope…

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A student at St. Petersburg Smolny Institute wants to follow in her mother's footsteps in opera but her fiance,an imperious count, objects.Another student whose boyfriend is a grand duke accuses her of stealing jewelry.

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