THE ITALIAN STRAW HAT – Un Chapeau de paille d’Italie

105 min. / add’l shorts 21 min. / B&W / Tinted / Silent / 1:33:1 aspect ratio

Produced by David Shepard

THE ITALIAN STRAW HAT was first released in English territories in 1930 as The Horse Ate the Hat. Albatros seems to have prepared the English version at the time of production, since the English inserts (such as Lt. Tavernier’s note) match the French ones, but a whole reel of the best scenes was hacked out prior to English distribution. This edition, produced by David Shepard, was mastered in high definition at Ascent Media in Burbank, California from the vintage 35mm English negative, with all the missing and truncated scenes restored from an original European print. The film is presented at 19 frames per second, the speed used at the French premiere as confirmed by the original printed program.