and thrilled." A newspaper in San Antonio, Texas praised the "vein of innocent humor" that runs through the film at the expense of Beppo and concluded: "'The Italian' is regarded as Thomas H. Ince's masterpiece and is said to be greater than his 'Wrath of the Gods,' 'The Typhoon' and 'The Bargain.'" Modern assessments In 2008, The Italian was released on DVD as part of a two-disc compilation titled, "Perils of the New Land: Films of the Immigrant Experience (1910-1915)." At the time of the DVD release, The New York Times praised the film for Reginald Barker's strong direction, including his use of a mobile camera and "liberal use of close-up" which give the film a subjective, personal feel. The Times also praised Beban's "powerful lead performance" which it described as follows:"The audience is drawn to identify with Beppo, even though he remains in many respects an appalling ethnic caricature: dark, brooding, vengeful. That Barker and Beban are able to create so much sympathy for Beppo, despite their own, occasionally quite obvious condescension to the character, is a mark of emerging maturity in the movie business; no longer are films dealing in one-dimensional 'types.'" The Los Angeles Times in 2008 described The Italian as "a shameless melodrama that, despite unfortunate stereotypes, musters considerable sympathy for its titular immigrant." The Times also noted that "Beban, the silent-era star known for his ethnic impersonations, hams up a storm as Beppo, a jaunty Venetian." The film publication Cineaste published a review of The Italian in March 2009, focusing on the film's depiction of the Italian-American immigrant experience as a Darwinian jungle rather than a promised land paved with gold:"Against Horatio Alger expectations, The Italian is a story of failure suffused with a soft-focused, dappled nostalgia for the old country ... 'From sunny Italy to the New York ghetto,' read the taglines on Paramount's original one-sheet, contrasting scenes of 'carefree Beppo at home' in the serene canals of Old Italy with the mean streets of New York where 'to live your baby must have Pasteurized milk.' America is not a promised land paved with gold but a Darwinian jungle, where dreams meet dead ends." Cineaste also credited Beban for his intense performance, commenting on the fight sequence in which Beban's character "seethes with murderous determination" as the camera focuses on his face in an extreme close-up: "Beban's sudden transformation from amiability to wrath recalls