Laserdiscs
eyes—one of the great, untamed beauties of the British cinema. One fascinating scene, in which a local girl pleads with Joan to re­ consider her £20 offer for an escort to Kiloran despite the weather, in fear that the storm will drown her needy fiancée, be­ comes fraught with sexual ten­ sion not because of Hiller (who can’t project it), or because of the girl (who claims she would be willing to wait four years, if need be, for her own wedding), but because their two-shot argument is punctuated with potent close- ups of Brown’s ambiguous, dart­ ing glances. The two-disc set (not three,
as the liner notes attest) makes use of a new digital transfer taken from a new preservation print acquired from the British Film Institute, manufactured from the original nitrate elements. The re­ sult is prone to occasional speck­ ling, but it floats by like vintage on a fine wine. The sound quality is acceptable. Ian Christie’s com­ mentary is bright-voiced and gen­ erally well-informed (though he falters at one point with a refer­ ence to “Bill Douglas’ LOCAL HERO,” actually a movie of dis­ tinctly kindred spirit by Bill Forsyth). The supplementary section
commences with two photo jour­ nals narrated by Powell’s widow, Thelma Schoonmaker Powell (better known as the editor of Martin Scorsese’s films). The first is composed of behind-the- scenes stills, and Powell shows an extraordinary sensitivity to the content of each shot, relating stories that her husband told her, as well as offering first-hand in­ sights that show her to be a gra­ cious and generous interpreter of his artifacts. The second chapter contains some color home mov­ ies (c. 1955) filmed by Powell in
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the Scottish highlands, which became his favorite place for es­ cape after completing his later films. This is narrated in part with excerpts from Powell’s autobiog­ raphy A LIFE IN MOVIES, which touchingly express the nature of his friendship with comrades pic­ tured in this footage. Also in­ cluded is a riveting excerpt from Powell’s “first personal film,” the recently restored THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, another man- against-nature tale set on a Scot­ tish isle. The sample is 16m long, but appears to be either time- compressed or adapted from a 25 fps PAL source. But the killer ingredient of the
supplement is, without doubt, Side Three’s presentation of Mark Cousins’
I KNOW WHERE I’M GOING REVISITED, a documen­ tary produced for BBC Scotland earlier this year. Cousins uses archival footage of Powell and Hiller, and new interview footage with Kevin McDonald (Press- burger’s grandson), to comple­ ment the story of one viewer’s obsession with the film. After see­ ing IKWIG for the first time in 1988, magazine editor Nancy Franklin took an impulsive leave of absence from work and sailed to Scotland, revisiting and tour­ ing the film’s original locations, interviewing local participants, sorting out reality and fantasy, and ultimately following her ob­ session to the shores of the little island that Joan never reached. She took a number of photos, capturing the old B&W locations in contemporary color, and sent copies to Powell and Hiller as a testimony to the effect their film had on her. The side concludes with an assortment of these pho­ tos, which Franklin narrates. While not exactly virgin terri­ tory—it recalls the chapter “The Island Revisited” on Voyager’s
magnificent CAV disc of L’AV- VENTCIRA, as well as the Japa­ nese importTWIN PEAKS VISUAL SOUNDTRACK—Franklin’s od­ yssey refreshes one’s apprecia­ tion for those rare films that transcend entertainment to be­ come a siren song. Total proqram runninq time:
164m 32s.
IT’S ALL TRUE: BASED ON AN UNFINISHED FILM BY ORSON WELLES
1993, Paramount XLV5040, D/S/SS/CC, $34.98, 87m 27s
As implied by the subtitle, this
is not quite the restored and re­ constructed version of IT’S ALL TRUE, Welles’ ill-fated (and un­ completed) 1941 South Ameri­ can triptych that was promised several years ago by a tantalizing AFI short. This feature-length con­ coction is part reconstruction, but mostly a documentary (directed by the late Richard Wilson, Myron Meisel and Bill Krohn) about the project itself. It explains why it happened (to improve hemi­ spheric relations in the face of growing anti-American sentiment in wartime Brazil), how Welles was stolen away from the final editing cf THE MAGNIFICENT AMBER- SONS to direct it, how he fell in love with the subject matter of Carnivài despite an initial lack of interest. It also offers a concise account of the actual filming, the tragic accident that took the life of a key participant, and describes how the experience affected the lives of the locals after the dis­ mantled production packed its bags and returned to Hollywood. IT’S ALL TRUE was to have
been a triptych composed of “My Friend Bonito” (directed by Norman Foster and photo­ graphed by Floyd Crosby), “Four
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