Luchino Visconti

[domino harvey]

I picked up a copy of Geoffrey Nowell-Smith’s book on Visconti that runs thru 1965’s Vaghe stele dell'Orsa... (which was fine as those are films I value more anyways) and later discovered he revised the book twice, the most recent edition of which apparently also directly addresses Visconti’s homosexuality and the original text’s approach to auteurism. Has anyone read the most recent edition who can assess if those additions are worth reading that version instead?

[Stefan Andersson]

L´Innocente 4K restoration:
https://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2026/films/linnocente/

[sabbath]

L'Innocente 4K restoration trailer, celebrating the film's 50th anniversary.

[Criterion Nitrile]

I picked up a copy of Geoffrey Nowell-Smith’s book on Visconti that runs thru 1965’s Vaghe stele dell'Orsa... (which was fine as those are films I value more anyways) and later discovered he revised the book twice, the most recent edition of which apparently also directly addresses Visconti’s homosexuality and the original text’s approach to auteurism. Has anyone read the most recent edition who can assess if those additions are worth reading that version instead?

Yes, I found the newest edition to be a considerable step up from the previous two, with an analysis of Visconti's final three films, a re-estimation of some of the older films, and a critique of the author's past reliance on a rigid auteur theory. In the newer edition Nowell-Smith gives more weight to Visconti's collaborators, such as screenwriter Suso Cecchi d'Amico and cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno, and he speaks openly about themes that were ignored or politically sensitive in the 1960s and 70s, including how Visconti's homosexuality shaped his aesthetic choices and themes. There's also a more comprehensive filmography, as well as a full listing of the director's theater and opera credits.