Dante's Inferno (1935) is a motion picture that draws for inspiration on The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri. Its sole substance lies in a ten minuted depiction of hell realised by director Harry Lachman, himself an established post-impressionst painter.

Production

Rita Hayworth appears as a dancer under the credit Rita Cansino.

Cultural impact

The film uses a conventional story of greed and dishonesty to project an image of the Inferno cunjoured up in Dante's 13th century epic poem. Director Lachman had established a substantial reputation as a painter before embarking on a Hollywood career and he summonned his artistic vision to realise Dante's work in cinematographic form, drawing on the engravings of Gustave Doré.

The film's reputation pivots on the 10 minute vision of the Inferno and reception has been mixed.

Leslie Halliwell described it as, one of the most unexpected, imaginative and striking pieces of cinema in Hollywood's history, while Variety held that it was, a pushover for vigorous exploitation.

In many ways, What Dreams May Come (1998) aspires to similar goals and falls into familiar traps.

Plot summary

Jim Carter (Tracy) takes over a fairground show illustrating scened from Dante. An inspector declares the fair unsafe but is bribed by Carter. There is a fatal disaster at the fair during which we see the vision of the Inferno. Carter establishes a new venture with an unsafe floating casino.