Vanina (1922)

The royal governor rules his city of Turin with an iron hand. One day, his unyielding, authoritarian manner drives the people to rebel and attempt an uprising. They even try to storm his palace. But the governor, who is severely physically disabled and walks with crutches, has the rebellion crushed by force, arrests its leader, Octavio, and sentences him to death. Meanwhile, the governor’s daughter, Vanina, has fallen in love with Octavio and is determined to save him from the gallows. So she decides to marry him. To everyone’s surprise, her father agrees and allows Octavio to marry his daughter—but only so that he can subsequently appear even harsher and more unyielding before the people. For he intends to make Vanina a widow again immediately after the planned wedding. During the wedding itself, the governor once again orders Octavio’s imprisonment. Vanina refuses to watch her father’s sadistic game without intervening, and beats him in an effort to secure her husband’s release. She forges a release order for Octavio. The two try to make their way out through the prison’s labyrinthine corridors, but the route from the prison gate to freedom actually leads straight into the prison compound’s courtyard. The executioner is already waiting there for Octavio. Octavio ends up on the gallows, and his deeply shocked bride dies of a broken heart shortly afterward.