A Diary (5) - The Road to Bologna and IL CINEMA RITROVATO - Best laid plans

The beloved dog sitter Elziby has sent through a photo suggesting that Ralfie is coping with our absence.

First quick update. Film-maker and Cinema Reborn Organising Committee Member James Vaughan is atending his second Il Cinema Ritrovato and has so far been especially impressed with IL GRIDO (Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy, 1957), STELLA DALLAS (Henry King, USA, 1926) made even more special by a brilliant Stephen Horne score performed for the first time in a screening in the Piazza Maggiore, THE RITE (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1969), CROSS OF IRON (Sam Peckinpah, UK/Germany, 1977) and the PROGRAM OF SHORT FILMS FROM 1903.

Meanwhile new records for lengthy introductions are being set by Caterina d'Amico, daughter of the fames scriptwriter Susso Cecchi d'Amico. At a triple bill of short episodes of films by Visconti and Antonioni which Susso wrote, the intro went for (with translation doubling the time) for 40 minutes. This beat the previous day's intro to Processo Alla Citta  (Luigi Zampa, Italy, 1952) which lasted about thirty. An attempt at the 25 minute mark to give Caterina a round of applause was met with "No. I haven't finished yet" as she told an elaborate story of how her mother was working on films for Blasetti, Visconti and Zampa at the same time.

The rouble with intros that over run is that they upset the necessary to the microsecond timing involved in getting from one session to another before the computer clocks you out as a no show. ..and that puts you on a BAD LIST with consequences...

Robert Siodmak

Finally I can report that the world premiere of Universal's restoration of Robert Siodmak's The Suspect  (USA, 1945) drew a packed and very appreciative house. The introductions were  a succinct explanation  by Cassandra Moore of Universal of their restoration program followed by Phillippe Le Guay, an expert on Charles Laughton we were told, who mentioned how Laughton had gone to the States in 1939 and stayed there for a couple of decades.

    and dinner with James  where we discussed his choices was in a new place for me La Cucina del Leopardi... very relaxing as we listened to the thunder and lightning that inevitably meant chaos as the evening's screening in the square was transferred to the much more limited seating of the Arlecchino Cinema. You can see what my focus was on...