Welles at Yale

[Glenn Anders]

Todd: I must say that, in future, there will be so many alternate cuts and version of films from TURISTAS to THE IMMORTAL STORY that there will no longer be "authorship" [or should that be "auteurship"?] as we have known it. The guy who sweeps up the studio will have his DVD, too.

Personally, the filtered version of REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE that I saw Huston introduce once, his personal copy, he said, was one of the most imaginative and symbolic uses of color I've ever seen. If you watch the original version of his MOBY DICK, you can get a similar impression, much darker than the widely released edition. It has the additional virtue of keeping Gregory Peck's face in half shadow, which benefits his performance as Captain Ahab!

Glenn

[Glenn Anders]

Whoops! I missed one here.

No, Tony, I was referring to THE GODFATHER III, an unfairly maligned finish to Coppola's trilogy.

But you may have a point.

You will remember that in that operatic finale, Michael Corleone returns to Italy, and hopes to leverage his new position as a minor Knight of the Church into being able to be able, evidently, to reform the Vatican, cleanse the remains of the old Italian Mafia, and enter what would soon be called Globalization. As the drama plays out, his whole grand scheme falls apart, losing him his apple-of-the-eye daughter, the renewed respect of his ex-wife, and control of the Mob, all against a background of the murder of a Pope, the mysterious "suicide" of an Italian financier, and the fictional machinations of rival gang factions, who hire assassins in Italy to do Michael in.

The whole script might have been footnoted because almost all the events dramatized had their actual counterparts in the Italian political and social scene of the time. One of many prominent figures implicated in wide-ranging investigations was International Movie Star Rossano Brazzi.

I have always thought THE GODFATHER III a perfect denouement, possibly the most effective single film of the trilogy.

But it would have made sense to have Johnny Fontane (based on Sinatra) make an appearance at that climactic performance of Cavaliere Rusticano.

Here is a link to a fairly extensive review I did of GODFATHER III --

http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-18CD-3AC1370-39345796-prod5

But I had not thought of the Sinatra/Fontane connection, established in GODFATHER I. Perhaps "Old Blue Eyes" cocked one on that script idea. I can see him thinking, enough is enough.

Orson Welles, in the Mediterrean area during those later years, would no doubt have had some special interest in Mr. Brazzi's troubles.

Glenn

[Roger Ryan]

Therefore, the Munich Film Archive will be creating a new print with the color slightly muted in keeping with Welles' wishes, and that will be the version used for future screenings.

This is not entirely accurate. The French film company that owns "The Immortal Story" and struck the admittedly beautiful-looking print shown at Yale on Saturday refuses to allow Willy Kurant to do the color grading on any future print, claiming, according to Stefan, that cinematographers should not be allowed to do post-production work on films! Stefan suggested that he might invite Kurant to assist in the grading on a high-definition video version of the film, but this would not be endorsed by the French company that owns the work nor would it result in an actual 35mm print.

Apparently, only two new prints of "The Immortal Story" exist. The one shown at Yale was called the "best print of it I have seen" by Kurant despite his reservations about the color; a second print struck later in an attempt to honor Kurant's wishes (but without his direct participation) supposedly looked horrible according to both Kurant and Stefan. This means the world currently has only one good looking print of this film!

The story behind the color issue is that Welles felt that the color needed to be exaggerated for TV since that medium did not reproduce color well in the late 60s. For 35mm showings, Welles reportedly preferred a more muted approach. I can understand this viewpoint. As beautiful as the new print is, there are still a few scenes where the color lighting effects are too obvious and unrealistic in nature. Some may feel this enhances the "dream-like" quality of the story, but apparently Welles and Kurant thought differently.

[Tony]

Isn't it time for Beatrice to step in and protest people adjusting her father's work?

???

[ToddBaesen]

Thanks for that update Roger. But while the French company may not approve of an update, the beauty of Stefan's working for an archive, is he can do that kind of "restoration" without the approval of the owners or Beatrice. So if he and Willy Kurant make a muted pastel print of "The Immortal Story" that can be shown at the next Welles conferance, nobody will be the wiser. The sad thing, however, is that it obviously won't be available as any kind of dual version DVD release.