The Dream of Butterfly

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.

• Carmine GalloneDirector

• Maria CebotariRosi Belloni
• Fosco GiachettiHarry Peters
• Lucie EnglischAnna Ranieri
• Paul KempRichard Hell
• Germana PaolieriMary Peterson
• Luigi AlmiranteRiccardo Belli
• Renato CialenteCast
• Guglielmo BarnabòCast
• Carlo LombardiCast
• Miranda BonanseaCast
• Giuseppe PierozziCast
• Paolo StoppaCast