portrait of gina & filming the trial

Postby jaime marzol » Mon Oct 31, 2005 4:16 pm

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.
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Postby Roger Ryan » Mon Oct 31, 2005 5:24 pm

"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.
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Postby jaime marzol » Mon Oct 31, 2005 6:03 pm

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
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Postby Tony » Wed Nov 02, 2005 11:33 pm

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:

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Postby NoFake » Thu Nov 03, 2005 1:12 pm

My recollection of PORTRAIT OF GINA (VIVA ITALIA) is that it consisted primarily (or entirely) of Welles interviewing her...
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Postby jaime marzol » Thu Nov 03, 2005 2:40 pm

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.
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Postby jaime marzol » Thu Nov 03, 2005 2:44 pm

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.
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Postby Jeff Wilson » Thu Nov 03, 2005 3:13 pm

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.
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Postby Store Hadji » Thu Nov 03, 2005 3:38 pm

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.
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Postby catbuglah » Thu Nov 03, 2005 4:30 pm

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 :D
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Postby Eve » Thu Nov 03, 2005 5:13 pm

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
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Postby catbuglah » Thu Nov 03, 2005 6:58 pm

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.
...and blest are those whose blood and judgment are so well commingled, that they are not a pipe for fortune's finger to sound what stop she please. Give me that man that is not passion's slave, and I will wear him in my heart's core...
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Postby jaime marzol » Fri Nov 04, 2005 6:43 pm

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.
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Postby chrissie » Fri Nov 04, 2005 6:48 pm

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...
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Postby catbuglah » Sat Nov 05, 2005 12:39 am

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 :(
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