portrait of gina & filming the trial

[jaime marzol]

has any one seen PORTRAIT OF GINA, and is it available?

can some one describe FILMING THE TRIAL. if this has been asked and answered before, i could not find it with the search engine.

[Roger Ryan]

"Portrait Of Gina" was shown at the Locarno Film Festival under the title "Viva Italia!"; unfortunately, I missed the showing. My understanding is that it is available for festival showings but not for commercial release.

"Filming The Trial" features the footage shot by Gary Graver of a Q & A with Welles immediately following a screening of "The Trial" at USC in October or November, 1981. Also included is the film's trailer and the deleted "Scientist" scene with subtitles (since the audio is missing). Highlights from the Graver footage can be found in the "One Man Band" documentary included in the "F For Fake" DVD.

[jaime marzol]

ah, the footage with welles sitting on that big chair facing the audience.

ON GINA: i'm very curious about what welles did with a bunch of posters and a camera. i've read a few reviews of it that said it was really nothing special, but i attributed that to reviewers that din't know what to look for. look at what welles did with a few stills of picaso in F-FOR-FAKE.

thank you, roger

[Tony]

Jaime:
I've heard for years that it's Lollabrigida who has stopped a commercial release. By the way, I have a personal connection, here: around 1962, gina came up to Canada, where she was considering living at the time (maybe for tax purposes); she was interested in a mansion that my grandfather had built, and flew over it in a helicopter. She decided the house was too isolated (a country estate), and also that maybe canada was too isolated too! She stayed in Italy, and legally banned public showings of "Gina" for many years.

Somehow, the two events are connected!:cool:

Tony

[NoFake]

My recollection of PORTRAIT OF GINA (VIVA ITALIA) is that it consisted primarily (or entirely) of Welles interviewing her...

[jaime marzol]

what i read about the gina thing is that it was mostly welles filming posters, pictures, and promotional materials, which interested me. welles conducting an interview will not be as interesting as him photograhing stills.

tony, i heard that too, that it was gina holding it back.

[jaime marzol]

wow, i just did an image search on lollobrigida, curious what she looks like. no wonder welles wanted to interview her. she's a knock-out, and dark hair which is what attracted welles.

[Jeff Wilson]

It is more than just an interview of Lollabrigida; here's the description from the Locarno catalog:

"Made for television, Viva Italia was intended to inaugurate the series People and Places. The film turned out to be unsaleable and was only rediscovered after Welles' death. The film takes the viewer to Italy, via a montage of images and sound effects, in search of Gina Lollabrigida, and numerous digressions about the country, its inhabitants and the role of film in Italy. Welles continues the methodology of the series Around the World with Orson Welles and anticipates the style of the later F for Fake. He also uses the musical theme from The Third Man when introducing himself at the start of the film."

I liked it; it certainly seemed like a predecessor to F FOR FAKE, in terms of some of the editing and the handling of the material. Paola Mori appears, along with Vittorio de Sica, and Rossano Brozzi.

[Store Hadji]

I liked the clip of it I saw. Similar to though better than the Around the World series, again filmed in black and white, more musical with the editing. Would love to see the whole thing.

[catbuglah]

lollobrigida, curious what she looks like. no wonder welles wanted to interview her. she's a knock-out,

She surely is - she's a physical attraction - She's The Barefoot Contessa, I believe, in that Bogie flick

[Eve]

She's The Barefoot Contessa, I believe, in that Bogie flick

catbuglah - it was Ava Gardner - if you haven't seen it already, look out for "Pane, amore e fantasia" (1953, aka "Bread, Love and Dreams") - 'physical attraction' is indeed a suiting phrase for her there ... and it's a wonderfully entertaining film - and I could be wrong, but I think the tarantella to which she dances to in "Pane, amore ..." is also heard for a few moments in PORTRAIT OF GINA

[catbuglah]

D'oh! Thank you kindly for clarifying that Eve and thank you for the the film recommendation, I'll definitely keep an eye :p out for it. I got my bogie films mixed up - it's that delightfully derailed Huston-Bogie flick Beat the Devil, :angry: methinks that La Gina appears, in a colorfully fiery role.

[jaime marzol]

that highly derailed film, haaaa, that is funny. it is derailed, and i still like it. huston spoke about BEAT THE DEVIL in an interview. MOULIN ROUGE was a huge hit. BEAT THE DEVIL was a flop that aquired a cult following. at the date he did the interview he said BEAT THE DEVIL over the years had earned more money thatn MOULIN ROUGE. MOULIN ROUGE made a big splash then it was over. BEAT THE DEVIL has continued to play at special screanings of off beat films. i have not seen it in years. need to see it again.

[chrissie]

Funnily enough, it's widely available as a bargain-basement DVD release over here (£4.99), which I've almost bought a few times. Maybe I will next week...

[catbuglah]

derailed, and i still like it. huston spoke about BEAT THE DEVIL

Yeah, I like it too - everyone seems to be having a good time except for Peter Lorre, who aged a lot