Frate Francesco/The Passion of St. Francis (1927) aka Santo Francesco was the third Italian film on the life of Saint Francis of Assisi. St. Francis, or Santo Francesco in Italian, was played by Alberto Pasquali, and the film was directed by Giulio Antamoro.
The title of this Italian melodrama translates to Pact with the Devil. However, His Satanic Majesty does not appear in the film. Rather, this expensively produced period piece is more along the lines of Romeo and Juliet, with young love threatened by warring families. In his first Italian film, Hollywood veteran Eduardo Cianelli goes through his usual villainous paces as the scheming father of the male lead (Jacques Francois). The most fascinating performance is rendered by Umberto Spadaro, as the village idiot, or is he? Patto col Diavolo makes the most of the visual dynamics of Italy's mountainous Calabrian region.
Paty, an employee of an advertising company, is summoned to a business dinner by Mr. Gutiérrez, a successful businessman. She cannot refuse the invitation since the signing of the contract depends on this meeting. In 1993 this film received the Ariel Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for best medium-length fiction film.
In this film, the renowned muralist Juan O'Gorman bequeaths us his vision of art and life, as well as aspects of his professional career. In the last year of his life, O'Gorman tells the camera all the reasons for his lucid pessimism, in relation to environmental disasters, consumerism in art, and the causes of war.
