Luchino Visconti

[Rupert Pupkin]

Mubi UK are currently streaming an HD version of Sandra (Vaghe stelle dell'orsa..., or Of a Thousand Delights as it was called on its UK cinema release in 1965). This version has English audio, rather oddly. It's available until 16 August.

L'innocente is also being streamed, until 17 August. This has Italian audio with English subtitles, but is SD.

Is it because I'm trying to access to Mubi via France : I can see "Sanda"'s web page but no trailer at all ? and got the message regarding "Sandra" "this film is not currently playing on MUBI but 30 other great films are. See what’s NOW SHOWING"

I would like to try this web site just for this movie; I have the Blu-Ray Spanish bootleg which is a shame in terms of picture quality (the V.Zurlini on Blu-Ray "La Fille à La Valise" was at least a fair HDTV transfer)
how is the picture quality of this HD version (is it 720 or 1080 ?) of Sandra ? - do you think that it's based on the recent Bologna restoration ?
is this streaming only or can we download it ?

[GaryC]

Mubi UK are currently streaming an HD version of Sandra (Vaghe stelle dell'orsa..., or Of a Thousand Delights as it was called on its UK cinema release in 1965). This version has English audio, rather oddly. It's available until 16 August.

Is it because I'm trying to access to Mubi via France : I can see "Sanda"'s web page but no trailer at all ? and got the message regarding "Sandra" "this film is not currently playing on MUBI but 30 other great films are. See what’s NOW SHOWING"

I would like to try this web site just for this movie; I have the Blu-Ray Spanish bootleg which is a shame in terms of picture quality (the V.Zurlini on Blu-Ray "La Fille à La Valise" was at least a fair HDTV transfer)
how is the picture quality of this HD version (is it 720 or 1080 ?) of Sandra ? - do you think that it's based on the recent Bologna restoration ?
is this streaming only or can we download it ?

Mubi (UK) showed Sandra a year ago and it was for the standard thirty days, sorry. Picture quality looked fine on my TV, as I remember, but I couldn't say what the resolution was except that Mubi can stream in 1080.

At least there is a HD master out there. Now for someone to licence it for a Blu-ray release.

[Michael Kerpan]

Rocco and His Brothers looks gorgeous in its new Milestone BluRay incarnation -- but I must say I found Rocco unbelievably stupid (as opposed to being "saintly") and the Mother fairly loathsome. Lots to admire in the film visually -- but dramatically it was pretty much a fail for me.

[Fred Holywell]

Interesting to see Visconti, in 1961, testing Sophia Loren for a film they ultimately never made -- The Nun of Monza. Loren apparently had second thoughts about playing a killer-nun and dropped out, halting this production of the oft-filmed story.

Director Carmine Gallone ended up doing his own version, released in 1962, with Giovanna Ralli in the lead. And Visconti's nephew Eriprando directed another one in 1969, starring British actress Anne Heywood as the wayward nun.

Visconti's take on nunsploitation might have been a classic or a hoot (or something in between), but Loren certainly looked unhappy -- like she didn't want anything to do with it, from the start.

[domino harvey]

"I vill destroy you, Mother Superior!"

[Toby Dammit]

Film Movement has detailed its upcoming Blu-ray release of Luchino Visconti's L'Innocente a.k.a. The Innocent (1976), starring Giancarlo Giannini, Laura Antonelli, Jennifer O'Neill, Rina Morelli, and Massimo Girotti. The release will be available for purchase on July 14.



I love this movie. Shame Criterion didn't pick it up but glad it's coming on Blu-ray.Day one for me.

[domino harvey]

There is in the UK

[Stefan Andersson]

A good Italian site on Visconti. Site is up for sale, so may not be available forever:
http://www.luchinovisconti.net/

[Stefan Andersson]

A lecture (no subs) on Visconti´s Proust film:
https://vimeo.com/242722039

[tellmewhy]

Has anyone ever heard of any filmed recordings of the theatrical or operatic productions Visconti directed? I've never read of any, but it's the sort of thing that could easily exist in some archive somewhere. It's sort of a fantasy of mine to see, given the ephemerality of theater and also the importance he places on performance in his films (especially in the glorious opening of Senso, but also the masquerades in Ludwig, or even the boxing in Rocco). The apparent artifice of those productions in his movies always seems to me to be some kind of reflection or refraction of the aestheticization he applies to the world.

An even wilder fantasy of mine is to imagine that he could have made a film with Maria Callas, who he directed at least twice at La Scala. Her role in Pasolini's Medea is so magnificent, in my opinion, that it makes me almost angry that we'll never get to see what Visconti did with her. I don't think I'll ever forgive him for not making a film with her!

[domino harvey]

Speaking of (almost a year later…), I just learned Visconti directed Romy Schneider and Alain Delon in a 1961 French stage adaptation of Tis a Pity She’s a Whore and now I can’t help but think how much better a film of that would have been than most of what he’d make from that point onwards

[Fred Holywell]

That production was actually filmed for French TV. IMDb claims Visconti directed it, though it's rarely if ever discussed in writings on his films. Except for some clips on the web, it seems to have mostly disappeared from view.

[domino harvey]

Interesting find. It's hard to believe any film, even a TV capture of a play or otherwise, starring the two and directed by Visconti wouldn't have received theatrical distribution somewhere in the world

[Fred Holywell]

The TV broadcast of 'Tis Pity She's a Whore may have coincided with the play's opening night at the Théâtre de Paris. Or it may have actually been a showing of the play's first performance there. I seem to remember reading something along those lines, but forget the specifics.

I do remember that Visconti directed the production to give Delon some stage experience. He hadn't any at that point, and Visconti thought it would do him well to get in front of a live audience. And, of course, all the publicity surrounding the Schneider-Delon romance couldn't hurt at the box office.

There have been two scenes on YouTube for the past 10 years, but nothing more unless I've missed it. One scene appears to have been shot in the theater, while the other has a studio look. No idea why it never got a wider distribution, or whether the entire film of the play still exits.

[kekid]

Yesterday I saw the Cult version of the L'innocente Blu Ray, and found it stunning. Colors are gorgeous. A great film to exit with.
I was heartbroken when after this I looked at the Criterion version of Death in Venice. I think it is an abomination, and should never have been released. The colors are so atrocious that it is impossible to continue to watch it. I understand that Visconti intended a different look for Death in Venice than for L'innocente, but we cannot explain the Criterion version as an authentic representation of the former. I had seen the film in a theater years ago, and it looked nothing like the Criterion version. I cannot understand how DVDBeaver gave it a positive review.

This film needs a proper 4K restoration with original colors. Perhaps it will never happen and we will be left with the current travesty.

[tenia]

There is a simple answer to the positive Beaver feedback to Death in Venice, which is that most people, including tech-oriented reviewers and even people directly working within the industry, are blind to this issue and have been unable so far to realise the matter.

I'm always happy to when someone working on restorations or video releases tells me they caught such an issue, whichever the concerned lab (Ritrovata, Eclair, now Hiventy too), but unfortunately, while it seems more and more active people are able to catch these and prevent another botched work (and I shiver when thinking how many movies are thought to be preserved but this is how they actually are "saved"), dozens, hundreds simply won't be.

I still can't understand how we've had the Magenta Push era, something widely recognized as endemic, structural and absolutely unfaithful, and not realise we've entered into exactly the same issues AGAIN (but within other color biases).
We (reviewers, labels, studios, labs, rightholders, festivals, foundations) seem to never learn.

[Toby Dammit]

I feel very frustrated that "Sandra" has not been released to date by any house in the USA or UK.
I've seen dozens of much darker Italian films (some poor quality giallos) out there. So, the invisibility of a film by Maestro Visconti is inexplicable.

[crimlaw]

Visconti’s “The Stranger” ‘67, is also MIA. Not sure whether Paramount still has the U.S. distribution rights.

[A Tempted Christ]

Visconti’s “The Stranger” ‘67, is also MIA. Not sure whether Paramount still has the U.S. distribution rights.

I was aware of a Japanese Blu-ray which, like most Japanese Blu-rays of obscure titles, was from a scan of a theatrical print but apparently it has also been released in Spain recently. I wonder what's the source of the Spanish disc.

[Matt]

Does anyone have anything to say about the Milestone Blu-ray of Rocco? Gary at DVDBeaver seems to lean slightly towards the Masters of Cinema release, and they're the same restoration. It would be nice to see a UHD of this result from Criterion and Milestone's partnership, but I don't know that a UHD is going to be an appreciable improvement for this film over a good Blu-ray.

[GaryC]

The BFI Southbank in London has a Visconti retrospective in January, details here. Includes 35mm showings of Senso, Death in Venice, Ludwig (full version), Conversation Piece and The Innocent, plus the UK premiere of the 4K restoration of White Nights.