Bruce Loeb on Piano. (Satanic Rhapsody). Elderly Countess Alba d'Oltrevita lives alone in the Castle of Illusions with only the memory of a heartbreaking youthful affair. From a painting, Mephisto comes out to offer her twenty years restored, on the one condition that she refuse love. She accepts the deal, and immediately finds herself wooed by two brothers madly in love with her. The conclusion: "Love: all. The rest is mocking illusion." The apogee of a contemporary esthetic movement, Rapsodia satanica is a poetic homage to the art of Borelli. It is, as well, an example of outdoor filming at which Italians of the period excelled, creating "a feeling of perfect liveliness, of delicacy and grace" (Pierre Sorlin). The film's life mirrors that of its protagonist, but with a happier ending: a painstaking restoration that we can today appreciate. "For years it was asked where the famous colored copy of Rapsodia satanica could have ended up. Its retrieval...adds new magic to what is probably the most perfect work of Italian silent cinema." (Bologna Film Festival)