The Dumb Girl of Portici

112 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageSilent (English intertitles)

The Dumb Girl of Portici is a 1916 American silent historical drama film directed by Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber and starring Anna Pavlova, Rupert Julian and Wadsworth Harris.^[1] It was adapted by Weber from the libretto by Germain Delavigne and Eugène Scribe for Daniel Auber's 1828 opera La muette de Portici (The Mute of Portici). The film marked Pavlova's only feature film performance.

The film was Universal's most expensive film to that date, made at a cost at approximately $300,000. It was also the longest film made by a woman director in the 1910s.^[2]

Fenella (Anna Pavlova) is a poor Italian girl who falls in love with Duke d'Arcos (Wadsworth Harris), a Spanish nobleman.^[3]

• Anna Pavlova as Fenella
• Rupert Julian as Masaniello
• Wadsworth Harris as Duke d'Arcos
• Douglas Gerrard as Alphonso
• Jack Holt as Conde
• Betty Schade as Isabella
• Edna Maison as Elvira
• Jack Hoxie as Perrone
• William Wolbert as Pietro
• Laura Oakley as Rilla
• Nigel De Brulier as Father Francisco
• Lina Basquette as Child

The film was released on DVD/Blu-ray in 2018 with a new score by John Sweeney.^[4]

• The Mute of Portici (1922)
• The Mute of Portici (1952)

• Slide, Anthony. Early Women Directors. A. S. Barnes, 1977.

• The Dumb Girl of Portici at IMDb
• The Dumb Girl of Portici at silentera.com