''Prince of Foxes'' is a 1949 film adapted from

Samuel Shellabarger Samuel Shellabarger (18 May 1888 – 21 March 1954) was an American educator and author of both scholarly works and best-selling historical novels. Born 18 May 1888 in Washington, D.C., Shellabarger was orphaned in infancy, upon the death of bot ...

's novel ''

Prince of Foxes ''Prince of Foxes'' is a 1947 historical novel by Samuel Shellabarger, following the adventures of the fictional Andrea Orsini, a captain in the service of Cesare Borgia during his conquest of the Romagna. Plot introduction Andrea Zoppo, an Ita ...

''. The movie starred

Tyrone Power Tyrone Edmund Power III (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958) was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include ''Jesse James (193 ...

as Orsini and

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

Cesare Borgia Cesare Borgia (; ca-valencia, Cèsar Borja ; es, link=no, César Borja ; 13 September 1475 – 12 March 1507) was an Italian ex-cardinal and ''condottiero'' (mercenary leader) of Aragonese (Spanish) origin, whose fight for power was a major i ...

. It was nominated for two

Oscars The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

during the 22nd Academy Awards: Best Black and White Cinematography (

Leon Shamroy Leon Shamroy, A.S.C. (July 16, 1901 – July 7, 1974) was an American film cinematographer known for his work in 20th Century Fox motion pictures shot in Technicolor. He and Charles Lang share the record for most Oscar nominations for Cinemato ...

) and Best Costume Design, Black and White (

Vittorio Nino Novarese Vittorio Nino Novarese (May 15, 1907 in Rome, Italy – October 17, 1983 in Los Angeles, United States) was an Italian costume designer who found great success in Hollywood after decamping there in 1949. In his first year there he scored an Oscar n ...

). They lost the Cinematography award to '' Battleground'' (Paul C. Bogel) while they lost the Costume Design award to '' The Heiress'' (

Edith Head Edith Head (October 28, 1897 – October 24, 1981) was an American costume designer who won a record eight Academy Awards for Best Costume Design between 1949 and 1973, making her the most awarded woman in the Academy's history. Head is cons ...

and

Gile Steele Gile Steele (24 September 1908, in Ohio – 16 January 1952, in Culver City, California), was a Hollywood costume designer. His career began at MGM in 1938 with one of his first assignments being the Norma Shearer film ''Marie Antoinette''. He ...

Plot

In August 1500, Andrea Orsini (

), an artistic minor nobleman who is equally skilled with the brush, the sword, words, and women, serves the Machiavellian Prince

(

) as a soldier. Pleased with Andrea's ability to "follow my mind and keep his eyes fixed on the ultimate goal", Borgia selects Andrea to accomplish an intrigue: arrange the marriage of his widowed sister, Lucrezia (whose husband he has just had assassinated for the purpose), to

Alfonso d'Este Alfonso d'Este (21 July 1476 – 31 October 1534) was Duke of Ferrara during the time of the War of the League of Cambrai. Biography He was the son of Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara and Eleanor of Naples and became duke on Ercole's death i ...

, the son of the Duke

Ercole d'Este Ercole I d'Este KG (English: ''Hercules I''; 26 October 1431 – 25 January 1505) was Duke of Ferrara from 1471 until 1505. He was a member of the House of Este. He was nicknamed ''North Wind'' and ''The Diamond''. Biography Ercole was born i ...

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

. By doing so, Borgia will remove Ferrara as an impediment to conquest of central Italy. In being selected, however, Andrea earns the enmity of Don Esteban Ramirez (

Leslie Bradley Leslie Ernest Bradley (1 September 1907 – 20 July 1974) was an English actor. He died in Desert Hot Springs, California. Filmography * ''The Way of Youth'' (1934) as Lieut. Burton (film debut) * ''Play Up the Band'' (1935) as Jack Heckd ...

), an ambitious mercenary captain and rival. Andrea travels to Venice to sell some of his paintings to raise money for expenses. He meets the lovely Camilla di Baglione ( Wanda Hendrix), young wife of the elderly Count Marc Antonio Varano of Citta del Monte, and smitten with her, gallantly gives her a painting he was haggling to sell for a hundred

ducats The ducat () coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages from the 13th to 19th centuries. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained ...

. Soon after, an assassin attempts to kill Andrea, but he thwarts the attack and spares the assassin to learn who hired him: the Duke Ercole d'Este. He hires the assassin, Mario Belli (

Everett Sloane Everett H. Sloane (October 1, 1909 – August 6, 1965) was an American character actor who worked in radio, theatre, films, and television. Early life Sloane was born in Manhattan on October 1, 1909, to Nathaniel I. Sloane and Rose (Gerst ...

), as part of his own entourage. Resuming the mission, Andrea stops to visit the farm of a blacksmith's widow, reputed to be hiding gold stolen by her bandit son. She is actually his mother (

Katina Paxinou Katina Paxinou ( gr, Κατίνα Παξινού; 17 December 1900– 22 February 1973) was a Greek film and stage actress. She started her stage career in Greece in 1928 and was one of the founding members of the National Theatre of Greece in ...

), and he is in fact Andrea Zoppo, not the noble Orsini he pretends to be. The reunion is a rocky one, because the mother does not approve of her son's evil ways. Belli spies on them through a window. Andrea continues to Ferrara, where he succeeds in arranging the marriage by intimidating the duke and flattering Alfonso. Andrea's next mission, again chosen over Don Esteban, is as ambassador to Citta del Monte, with orders to help Borgia conquer the mountaintop city by spring, using a romantic conquest of Camilla to facilitate a "correct" elimination of the elderly count ( Felix Aylmer). Borgia secretly hires Belli to spy on Andrea and report if his loyalty wavers. Andrea learns that when the old count has a problem to solve, he climbs to a high precipice looking out over the landscape. Belli is delighted because it would make it easy to kill the count, but Andrea is moved by the older man's wisdom and love for his people. Camilla, despite her suspicions of Andrea, grows to admire his artistic soul as he paints her portrait. When Borgia, through Don Esteban, orders the count to allow passage of his army and to supply troops for it, the count defies him with the support of his people. Andrea changes sides to join his cause but Belli, a self-professed "born traitor", gives notice to Andrea and returns to Borgia. The count reveals to Andrea that he married Camilla only to protect her after her father died, and has treated her as his own daughter. He is mortally wounded in an ambush and rout of the vanguard of Borgia's army and Andrea takes up the defense. After three months of repelling assaults, the city is at its last extremity. Don Esteban offers Camilla terms that are generous to her and her people, but would require her to surrender Andrea to Borgia. In love with Andrea, she rejects the terms, but Andrea gives himself up to Don Esteban at the price of putting the terms in writing. At a triumphal dinner with Camilla, who has begged him to spare Andrea's life, Borgia hauls in Andrea, tortured by Don Esteban, and exposes "the noble Orsini" as a peasant. He brings Andrea's mother to confirm it. Borgia orders his death by starvation but Belli, now a lieutenant in Borgia's service, protests and demands to gouge out Andrea's eyes in front of everyone and make him a blind beggar. However, Belli has secretly remained loyal to Andrea and fakes the disfigurement, and Mother Zoppo takes her son home. After Borgia moves on to another campaign, Andrea and Belli plot to free the imprisoned Camilla and help the people retake their city. Belli aids Andrea in entering the castle to rescue Camilla, but the signal for the citizen uprising is given before they can make their escape. Andrea kills Don Esteban in single combat, but is about to be killed by another officer after Andrea stumbles over Esteban's corpse. However, Balgioni, an officer, weary of killing for Borgia and an admirer of Andrea's, recognizes and spares him. The uprising sparks widespread resistance to Borgia, and after his fall, Andrea and Camilla are married.

Cast

as Andrea Orsini *

as Cesare Borgia * Wanda Hendrix as Camilla Varano * Marina Berti as Angela Borgia *

as Mario Belli *

as Mona Constanza Zoppo * Felix Aylmer as Count Marc Antonio Varano *

as Don Esteban (uncredited)

Production notes

Original novel

The novel was published in 1947. It became a best seller. In February 1948 the film rights were bought by 20th Century Fox for a reported $200,000. They intended it to be a vehicle for Tyrone Power. It was thought the novel would involve censorship challenges because the Pope,

Pope Alexander VI Pope Alexander VI ( it, Alessandro VI, va, Alexandre VI, es, Alejandro VI; born Rodrigo de Borja; ca-valencia, Roderic Llançol i de Borja ; es, Rodrigo Lanzol y de Borja, lang ; 1431 – 18 August 1503) was head of the Catholic Churc ...

was a major character.

Development

Sol Siegel was assigned the job of producing, Henry King was to direct and Milton Krims to write the script. Censorship issues were resolved by removing the character of Alexander VI so the Borgias had no father. As long as the script didn't mention religion or the church, the Catholic Church indicated that they would not protest. King left for Italy in April 1948 and the others followed in June. Orson Welles signed in July. Zanuck said at the time finance for the film came from "frozen" funds in Italy, but the studio had to provide an extra $1.5 million.

Shooting

Most of the scenes were shot on the exact locations in Italy and San Marino, with all the studio work done at

Cinecittà Studios Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City Studios), is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres (99 acres), it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studios we ...

. * Chapel of the Palazzo Pubblico *

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

* Rome *

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

San Gimignano San Gimignano () is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. Known as the Town of Fine Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the preservation of about a dozen of ...

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

Terracina Terracina is an Italian city and '' comune'' of the province of Latina, located on the coast southeast of Rome on the Via Appia ( by rail). The site has been continuously occupied since antiquity. History Ancient times Terracina appears in anc ...

* Latina *

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

"It was worth every dollar it cost and it cost plenty", said Zanuck of location filming.

References

External links

* * * * {{Authority control Films based on American novels 1949 films 1940s adventure drama films 1940s historical adventure films 20th Century Fox films American historical adventure films American adventure drama films American black-and-white films American swashbuckler films Films scored by Alfred Newman Films based on historical novels Films directed by Henry King Films set in the 1490s Films set in the 1500s Films set in Italy Films shot in San Marino Cultural depictions of Cesare Borgia Cultural depictions of Lucrezia Borgia Films produced by Sol C. Siegel 1949 drama films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films