It's All True, again

[Tony]

Ray: I believe it was George Schaeffer who ordered the Ambersons cuts and reshoots, though I can't recall if he had been fired from RKO by the time the picture was released.

[JMcBride]

My friend Michael Schlesinger, who was head of repertory at Paramount
when IT'S ALL TRUE: BASED ON AN UNFINISHED DOCUMENTARY BY
ORSON WELLES, commissioned the project. He told me when his
bosses saw it, they fired him and had him immediately escorted
off the lot by armed guards. I asked Mike what they found so
objectionable. He said they had not realized much of it was
a silent film about people of color who were impoverished fishermen.
The studio basically dumped the film. Theaters in various parts
of the country wanted to play it, but Paramount did not respond.
Under the circumstances, I am surprised that it was later released on VHS and DVD.
Mike later tried, at Sony, to get his bosses to back THE OTHER SIDE OF THE
WIND when we pitched it to him, but to no avail. So he is an unsung hero
of Welles scholarship, a rare Hollywood executive who actually tried to help
Welles and his work in later years.

[atcolomb]

It would be nice if Criterion can release it on Blu-ray. Saw this in the theater when it came out and there were a good amount of folks in the theater.

[Tony]

I remember hearing that after the IAT film cans were discovered in 85, Welles was contacted about them and he expressed no interest, which surprised me.

[JMcBride]

Fred Chandler was the man who found the footage
in the Paramount vaults.

Welles told him that he couldn't deal emotionally
with the film anymore. But he did express the desire
for his missing AMBERSONS to be found. Chandler had
to tell him he could not find it.

[Wellesnet]

Out of print in recent years, the 1993 documentary Its All True: Based on an Unfinished Film By Orson Welles was re-released on DVD on March 23 by Paramount Home Video.
https://www.wellesnet.com/its-all-true-dvd/

[edmoney]

I assume it's identical to the previous release that went out of print, other than having different packaging.

[Wellesnet]

Yes, no extras, like the previous release. Producer Myron Meisel said this on Facebook:

We have well over a half hour of essential additional material that was either censored by the money people or couldn't fit into the runtime.

Wouldn't that make a great extra?

[Tony]

I strongly feel that IAT should be completely re-edited and re-scored before being re-released. It was a noble, but botched attempt. As Welles said, editing is not an aspect but the aspect of cinema, and the difference between the men and the boys (sexist, I know) is knowing when to leave out a shot; unfortunately, the IAT team seemed to leave everything in, in addition to adding a truly un-listenable score, leading to an almost unwatchable mess.

[Colmena]

The Brave One (1957), a RKO movie that made use of the Robert Flaherty story that Welles drew upon for "My Friend Bonito," part 1 of "It's All True," can now be streamed via Amazon. (I haven't watched it yet, but intend to.) Dalton Trumbo, under the guise of "Robert Rich," won an academy award for the story. As Welles says in one of his Bogdanovich interviews, "Trumbo took a great big invisible bow-- which Flaherty deserved."

Also regarding "My Friend Bonito," does anyone know whose music we hear during the delightful Bonito footage in the 1993 documentary "It's All True"? My recollection is that Welles wanted to commission Carlos Chavez, but did not. This music sounds like it could be by Chavez-- it's definitely post-Aaron Copland, as Chavez was. It's not identified in the credits.

(Nor do the credits identify the composer for the bad music that accompanies "Four Men on a Raft.")

I agree with Tony that a new version of IAT is much needed, one that offers a narration that would take us through Welles' intended chronologies. The 1993 omits the climactic convergence of the two Brazilian parts, with the four jagandeiros on their raft appearing as a float in the Carnival parade-- a major lapse.

Would it work better, be more focused, to present IAT as a two-part movie that covered the Brazilian material, and offer Bonito separately?

[Wellesnet]

Moncayo's "Huapango", written, interestingly enough, in 1941, the same year Norman Foster started filming the Bonito section of IAT. Yes, it goes perfectly with the footage seen in the '93 docu. Rumors are that there is still a lot of Bonito footage waiting to be developed.



Here's Wiki on Four Men on a Raft's composer:
Jorge Arriagada (born 1943) is a Chilean film composer. He is perhaps best known for his long-term collaboration with director Raúl Ruiz.

[RayKelly]

IT''S ALL TRUE is streaming now on CBS All Access

https://www.cbs.com/movies/its-all-true-trailer/trailer/AN6_XL_zuelZ_ivK7g0y5b_QKJRrJGs8/

[Roger Ryan]

IT''S ALL TRUE is streaming now on CBS All Access

https://www.cbs.com/movies/its-all-true-trailer/trailer/AN6_XL_zuelZ_ivK7g0y5b_QKJRrJGs8/

Ugh, that trailer looks like it was from a second or third generation VHS tape. I hope the film itself looks at least as good as the DVD (although, it really should look better).

[RayKelly]

Ugh, that trailer looks like it was from a second or third generation VHS tape. I hope the film itself looks at least as good as the DVD (although, it really should look better).

There was a remastered DCP shown at MoMA in spring 2019. I would hope they used that.