Orson Welles’ film adaptation of The Trial — newly restored from the original 35mm negative — will be shown at the Cannes Film Festival later this month.
It is the first screening of the restoration undertaken earlier this year by Studio Canal and overseen by Sophie Boyer and Jean-Pierre Boiget.
The 4K image and sound restoration were completed at the Immagine Ritrovata Laboratory (Paris-Bologne).
The French fashion house Chanel underwrote the cost of the restoration of The Trial.
The 75th edition of the Festival de Cannes runs May 17-28 and The Trial is one of its Cannes Classics selections. Other restored offerings include Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen’s Singin’ in the Rain and The Last Waltz from director Martin Scorsese.
Based on the Franz Kafka novel of the same name, it stars Anthony Perkins as Josef K., a bureaucrat who is accused of a never-specified crime. In addition to directing, Welles wrote the screenplay and co-starred in the movie.
Producer Alexander Salkind secured backing of French, German and Italian investors.
Welles began the production in Yugoslavia with scenes also shot in Rome, Milan and, most notably, the Gare d’Orsay, an abandoned Parisian railway station.
Upon its release in December 1962, Welles boasted “The Trial is the best film I have ever made.”
The film has been described as polarizing with critics divided over it upon its release. However, it now holds an 84 percent critical rating and 87 percent audience approval rating at the aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.
Nearly 20 years after its release, Welles planned to create a documentary on the making of The Trial, similar to his Filming Othello. Cinematographer Gary Graver filmed Welles addressing a University of Southern California audience on the film’s history in 1981. However, Welles never completed the proposed documentary.
The Trial‘s copyright was never filed and the film has been available on a number of low quality videotapes and DVDs. However, that changed with a restoration in 2000 by Milestone Films and a high definition release by Studio Canal 12 years later.
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