Tarocchi Del Cinema
by Sesar (Sergio Sarri)

This really cool 22-card Major Arcana art deck pays homage to the glamour of the Silver Screen, with cards that feature famous movie stars and celebrities, renowned films and unforgettable scenes.  Since this is an Italian deck, and the movies referenced are internationally famous, I am not personally familiar with all of them.  I've only ever been a moderate movie buff to begin with.  Still, you can see the classic glamour and appeal these cards hold, especially for the true fan of the cinematic arts.

The cards are lovingly rendered in acrylics and are a long narrow size to show off the art to its best advantage.  A thin white border means most of the card is image.  Two text boxes appear on the card, one at the top, in Italian, has the title of the card according to traditional tarot; the text box at the bottom has the name of the featured player/movie/scene.  The text boxes are these cute little black things with the little squares cut out on the edges like film where it is perfed to go through the projector.  I loved this little touch of consistency.

Titles and ordering are traditional; Justice is 8 and Strength 11.  With tremendous thanks to Riccardo Minetti for supplying the cinematographic information, the cards are as follows:

0 -- Il Matto -- Marx Brothers  ("Duck Soup," 1933 - directed by Leo McCarey, starring Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo Marx)
1 -- Il Mago -- Il Gabinetto Del Dr. Caligari  ("Das Kabinett des Dr. Caligari," 1920 - directed by Robert Wiene, starring Warner Krauss, Conrad Veidt.)
2 -- La Papessa -- Greta Garbo  ("Mata Hari," 1932 - directed by George Fitzmaurice, starring Greta Garbo, Ramon Navarro.)
3 -- L'Imperatrice -- Marlene Dietrich  ("The Scarlet Empress," 1934 - directed by Joseph von Sternberg, starring Marlene Dietrich.)
4 -- L'Imperatore -- Eric Von Stroheim  ("Foolish wives," 1921 - directed by Eric von Stroheim, starring Eric von Stroheim.)
5 -- Il Papa -- Luis Bunuel  ("Belle de jour," 1967 - directed by Luis Buñuel, starring Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel.)
6 -- Gli Amanti -- Rodolfo Valentino  ("The son of the sheik," 1926 - directed by George Fitzmaurice, starring Rodolfo Valentino.)
7 -- Il Carro -- Ombre Rosse  ("Stagecoach," 1939 - directed by John Ford, starring John Wayne, Claire Trevor, John Carradine.)
8 -- La Giustizia -- Alfred Hitchcock  ("Psycho," 1960 - directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh.)
 9 -- L'Eremita -- Buster Keaton  ("The Navigator," 1924 - directed by Donald Crisp, starring Buster Keaton.)
10 -- La Ruota -- 2001 Odissea Nello Spazio ("2001: A Space Odyssey," 1968 - directed by Stanley Kubrick, starring Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood.)
11 -- La Forza -- King Kong  ("King Kong," 1933 - directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack)
12 -- L'Appeso -- Harold Lloyd  ("Safety Last," 1923 - directed by Harold Lloyd, starring Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis.)
13 -- La Morte -- Il Settimo Sigallo  ("Det Sjunde Inseglet," 1956 - directed by Ingmar Bergman, starring Max von Sydow, Gunnar Björnstrand.)
14 -- La Temperanza -- La Dolce Vita  ("La DolceVita," 1959 - directed by Federico Fellini, starring Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg.)
15 -- Il Diavolo -- Faust  ("Faust Eine Deutsche Volkessage," 1926 - directed by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, starring Gosta Ekman.)
16 -- La Torre -- Frankenstein  ("Frankenstein," 1931 - directed by James Whale, starring Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, Boris Karloff.)
17 -- La Stella -- Marilyn Monroe  ("The Seven Year Itch," 1955 - directed by Billy Wilder, starring Marylin Monroe, Tom Ewell.)
18 -- La Luna -- La Bella e La Bestia  ("La Belle e La Bête," 1946 - directed by Jean Cocteau, starring Josette Day, Jean Marais.)
19 -- Il Sole -- Lampi Sul Mexico  ("Thunder over Mexico," 1933 - directed by S. M.
Ejzenstejn, starring non professional mexican actors.)
20 -- Il Giudizio -- Il Mostro Di Dusseldorf  ("Eine Stadt Sucht Einen Mörder," 1931 - directed by Fritz Lang, starring Peter Lorre, Otto Wernicke.)
21 -- Il Mondo -- Il Grande Dittatore  ("The Great Dictator," 1940  - directed by Charlie Chaplin, starring Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard.)

 
The cards themselves are long and narrow and have sharp corners and are printed on fairly straightforward card stock.  A semi-gloss coat is on the front only.  The back design is reversible, done in the tarock deck style with a caricature head of the internationally known comic actor, Toto, so that whichever way the card is, his head is upright.  Shuffling and handling are decent but it's not the kind of deck you read with so you don't really end up shuffling them anyway.

This is a really nifty deck for anyone who collects tarots, but even more interesting if you are a fan of the old Hollywood and international movies.  There is a lot of detail to look at and the artwork is good.  Definitely a recommended addition to your collections.  Email Wicce for more information on buying this deck.

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Review Copyright 1999 by Gina M. Pace

Tarocchi Del Cinema by Sesar, 1995
published by LoScarabeo, Torino, Italy