Viva Italia

[Tony]

I was wondering if anyone has any info on this show, past the brief mentions in the books and articles on Welles; I know that Brazzi and De Sica are in it, and Lollabrigida is interviewed, and it was made for CBS but was never shown. Might anybody know any more? ???

[NoFake]

While I look through my books, here's a brief bit at imdb.com:
Portrait of Gina[/URL

[NoFake]

Hmmm... looks like the link didn't take. Here's another try: http://imdb.com under "Viva Italia," also known as "Portrait of Gina."

[Store Hadji]

Didn't I send you a copy, Tony?

[Tony]

You sure did, Store; I'm just trying to do a little research on it, but there doesn't seem to be much. Please check my e-mail to you.
Tony

[Store Hadji]

This is what Welles said in an interview. I do not know the date:

"It was made for CBS and sent to them, where there were cries of horror and disgust from [CBS President James T] Aubrey there, whose nickname you may remember was The Smiling Cobra. And that was the end of that. I don't think it was much good of a show, in that case The Smiling Cobra was right. I worked very hard on it and the result was a show that looked like it had been worked very hard on. It's all about the pin-up girls of Italy, and I suppose it was better than most. An essay, yeah, but not the same kind of thing."

And Jonathan Rosenbaum had this to say:

"In the late 1950s Welles left behind what is apparently the only surviving copy of this film in his hotel room at the Ritz in Paris. As the cans were unmarked, they wound up in the hotel's lost-and-found department and were eventually transferred to another storage area. Long thought to be lost, the film remained undiscovered until 1986."

[Tony]

Store: When I read stuff like this:

"In the late 1950s Welles left behind what is apparently the only surviving copy of this film in his hotel room at the Ritz in Paris. As the cans were unmarked, they wound up in the hotel's lost-and-found department and were eventually transferred to another storage area. Long thought to be lost, the film remained undiscovered until 1986."

then I think that God, or at least an angel, must be looking out for Welle's film cans, which he was famous for leaving in taxis, hotel rooms and labs all over the world. And when I think of the film thought to be lost that has been recovered over the years, such as It's All True, the original cut of Macbeth, the reoconstructed Mr. Arkadin, the reconstructed Touch of Evil, the film of Don Quixote that Bonanni and his wife saved from destruction, and Viva Italia, then I think it's qiute possible that Welles's work has "special protection" from above.

If the original Ambersons is found, I'm converting. :;):

[Tony]

Here's a little more info, the first from a Bazin interview in 1958, strongly evocative of F For Fake:

Welles: "Now I'm going to finish a film on Italian cinema, on Lollabrigida...A documentary in a very particular style, with drawings by Steinberg, a lot of still photographs, conversations, little stories...In fact, it's not at all a documentary. It's an essay, a personal essay.

Bazin: "An essay based on fact?

Welles: "Not on fact. It's based on fact as much as any essay, but...it's not trying to be factual, it's simply not telling lies. It's in the tradition of a diary, my reflections on a given subject, Lollabrigida, and not what she is in reality. And it's even more personal than giving my point of view; it truly is an essay.

(If anyone can decipher this last part, please let me know! :laugh: )

And here's Bogdanovich and Welles, c. 1970, with a much less philosophical Welles:

Bogdanovich: "What was the television documentary you prepared about Gina Lollabrigida?

Welles: "It was about the Roman movie world. She was the leading subject, but a lot of other people were in it- De Sica and so on. The film was made as a pilot for ABC of a proposed series, a sort of magazine- a serious one, not variety. And they hated it and that was that.

Bogdanovich: "Was it ever broadcast?

Welles: "No. They said it was technically incompetent and couldn't be shown. Had a lot of new ideas in it- done with Steinberg's drawings, many still photos, conversations, little stories- and they regarded that as technical incompetence. I spent a lot of time photographing movie posters. That bothered them too. It was made for that screen [TV], in the newspaper tradition. Me on a given subject, Lollabrigida, and not what she is in reality. An essay. Anyway, they hated it.

Note that a few words in the 2 interviews are almost identical...Hmmmm.... ???