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Emilio Ghione (Turin 30th July 1879-Rome 7th January 1930) was an Italian silent cinema actor, director and novelist. He is best known for his Za La Mort series of films and two novels. He is the sone of the painter Celestion Ghione and the father of the actor Pierfrancesco Ghione, also known as Emilio Ghione Jr.

Early Life
Emilio Ghione served in the Italian army (probably as a sergeant in a cavalry regiment) before working as a miniaturist and painter. A chance meeting led to some stunt work in an unknown 1909 film, during which he had to fall from a horse. Following this, Emilio Ghione started working as an actor and stagehand.

Mainstream success
Emilio Ghione became a popular success after he played St. Francis of Assisi in Il poverello d'Assisi.

The Za La Mort films
Inspired by Gentlemen Thieves, such as Arsene Lupin, Ghione created his Parisian apache (outlaw and thief) in 1914 and produced the first film with the character in 1915.

The Italian cinema crisis
The Italian cinema industry was in crisis in the years 1919-1921, as the markets for their films had dried up and there were large problems with the capitalisation of Italian film companies. Ghione was forced to make some reductions to his extravagent expenditure and to travel to Germany and produce some Za La mort films there. These films were heavily censored and attacked by critics for their narrative inconsistencies.

Other activities
Emilio Ghione wrote two novels, Za La Mort and L'ombra di Za La Mort (the shadow of Za La mort). Za La Mort recounted the adventures of Ghione's famous character. In L'ombra di Za La Mort, Ghione tells of the creation of the Za La Mort character and how he had a series of adventures in Venice, Zara, Paris and New York as the character. The novel was probably written around 1919-20, but was only published in 1933.

Films as director
Il Circolo Nero (1913)

Idolo infranto (1913)

Nelly la gigolette o La danzatrice della Taverna Nera (1914)

Guglielmo Oberdan, il martire di Trieste conosciuto anche con come Oberdan (1915)

Sposa Nella Morte (1915)

Teresa (1915)

Za la Mort(1915)

Anime buie (1916)

Don Pietro Caruso (1916)

La grande vergogna (1916)

La rosa di Granada (1916)

Tormento gentile (1916)

Un dramma ignorato (1917)

Il numero 121 (1917)

Il triangolo giallo (1917) serial in quattro episodi.

L'ultima impresa (1917)

Nel gorgo (1918)

I topi grigi (1918) serial in otto episodi.

Dollari e fraks (1919)

Il castello di bronzo( 1920) serial in due episodi: Tredici di notte e Za-le-Frack.

L'ultima livrea (1920)

Il quadrante d'oro (1920)

I quattro tramonti (1920)

Senza pietà (1921))

Quale dei due?, also known as Za-la-Mort contro Za-la-Mort (1922))

Le due catene (1923))

Ultimissime della notte (1923))

Zalamort - L'incubo di Zalavie, titolo originale Zalamort - Der Traum der Zalavie(1923/1924) , produzione tedesca.