Portrait of Gina

[Store Hadji]

AROUND THE WORLD WITH ORSON WELLES meets F FOR FAKE via THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH

Welles said he worked a lot on it, and the result was something that looked like it had been worked on a lot

Then he abandoned it in a hotel in Paris, where it remained until after his death

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iynIlPsXqnQ

[Glenn Anders]

Excellent travel piece, Hadji, very commercial; in which our roving correspondent, rover Orson Welles, builds a half hour show around a brief scene from what must have been a longer interview with one of the two or three most admired beauties of the time. I can see why Gina didn't care for the result because the portrait of her Welles sketches reveals the circumstances around transforming a "country girl" into a world phenomenon, without giving us the catalyst -- at least for a general audience -- which produced her very canny personality.

Also, typical Wellsian irony drains the sexiness out of Gina.

It occurs to me that Welles moved to color late in his career because he may have equated color with passion or at least sex. Think of the Copacabana sequence in IT'S ALL TRUE, the breezy sexuality of IT'S ALL TRUE, the voyeurism of "The Immortal Story," and the hot musk given off by much of what we've seen from THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND.

Black and white may have been good for Art, irony and actors, but not so good for the eroticism.

In his TV pilot here he suggests the theme which emerged in "The Fountain of Youth," as you observe, Hadji, but he probably does not give the "Sponsor" what he wanted.

Glenn

[Store Hadji]

One of the themes, exemplified here by both Rossano Brazzi and Vittorio De Sica, was that of being more popular abroad than in one's native land.

Welles could unfortunately identify with that. As could Kurosawa.

[tonyw]

Yes, this documentary is an early examination of celebrity status that Welles would continue in F FOR FAKE. Brazzi was also active in the Italian Resistance, was very talented, but became stereotyped as the Latin lover for most of his career. With De Sica, we all know that Neo-Realism was never popular in Italy despite its achievements.

[Glenn Anders]

True, Hadji.

Welles may have been making a value judgment in bracketing Gina with Brazzi and De Sica. Of course, De Sica, so far as I know, was long regarded a national treasure, as an actor in varied material, on stage and screen, and as a director. Brazzi, on the other hand, eventually ended up being investigated for connections to Italian organized crime.

Gina, for her part, developed into reasonably distinguished photographer, presumably hanging on to some of her film winnings, so she did okay.

Glenn

[Tony]

Glenn: at one point, in the early 60s. Gina was one of the most highly paid stars in the world. Her earnings were so big that she was scouting for places to establish residence outside of Italy for income tax purposes. In fact, she visited a house my grandfather was building outside of Toronto in 1964, flying there by helicopter. Her visit was the talk of the town that week.

I must, though, disagree with the claim that Welles didn't bring out her sexiness: I think she's very sexy in the interview, and the subtle view of her bosom emphasized her sex symbol stature, not to mention her natural beauty. After all, the first few minutes of the show are all about breasts and bums in those fabulous posters. I only wished the whole show had been about Lollabrigida, and Welles had not included the De Sica and Brazzi in order to focus on Gina. It was a bit of false advertising to call the show "Portrait of Gina", if in fact that is its name.

I can also never understand why Gina hates this show, and has forbid its being shown for decades, other than the show's premise that Italy doesn't appreciate its stars.

[Glenn Anders]

Forgive me, Tony, I was being unclear.

Gina certainly was closer to De Sicca than to Brazzi (though I understand, whatever his other troubles late in life, he did have a good wartime record). Her obvious wit and intelligence was always there, as it was in the case of Sophia Loren.

I can only think that she might have wanted a little more of that interview with her used in the finished show.

She has always been a favorite of mine.

Glenn

[Tony]

Yes, she's been called the poor man's Loren. but I always thought that she was prettier, and an equal comedienne. I don't know about her dramatic roles, the Italian films. Loren was clearly brighter, but for my money more beautiful than sexy; Gina was clever and very sexy. Underrated, I'd say.

The Welles show is a bit of a shaggy dog show: we keep waiting and waiting for Lollabrigida, and then we go to yet another commercial and then to something else. Maybe Welles lost half the interview!! He didn't think very highly of it, and neither do I. Fountain of Youth remains his TV masterpiece; God, how I wish he had been able to continue the Desilu series.

[Alan Brody]

I wish we could see both Fountain and Gina in high quality 35mm prints and Gina sans subtitles. The fact that both are on Youtube is great, but I hope it doesn't undermine the possibility of a commercial release someday. When I first saw Gina a couple of years ago I thought it was the worst Welles film I'd ever seen, but it's grown on me since. I think it's a kind of cinematic love letter to Italy and to his wife as well. Viva Italia is probably a more appropriate title.

[jbrooks]

Alan Brody, the Museum of Television and Radio in New York and LA (which has some new name these days -- the Paley Center for Media) has a more or less perfect version of Fountain of Youth in their collection. So if you're in New York or LA, pop in and have a look. As I recall, only the final coming attraction by Welles for the never-filmed second episode suffered from poor source quality. Of course, it would be ideal if it were out on DVD.

[Alan Brody]

That sounds great, but I wonder who owns the negatives for both films, or if the negatives still even exist.

[Tony]

About 10 years ago I saw the Gary Graver travelin road show and he had a perfect print of both Fountain of Youth and Filming Othello, and I mean perfect.

[Skylark]

Darn, it's been taken down - I only caught part one ... it looked promising...

[Sir Bygber Brown]

yeah, i missed it too