Someone else may own the maestro...



Ennio Morricone sued as guitarist's daughter seeks a few euros more

Dispute over who played guitar on composer's soundtracks for Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns to go to court in Rome


    Tom Kington in Rome
    guardian.co.uk, Friday 10 May 2013 13.41 EDT   


Rarely have a few notes on a reverb-drenched guitar defined an entire film genre, but half a century on, the twangy riffs of Ennio Morricone's soundtracks are for many the perfect expression of Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns.

Which is why an Italian woman is suing for the €800,000 she says is due to her father, who she claims played those notes for Morricone but never received full credit.

Maria Rucher says her father, Pino Rucher, who died 17 years ago, played solos on the soundtracks of all three of Leone's seminal westerns starring Clint Eastwood – A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – which were made by the Italian director between 1964 and 1966...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/10/ennio-morricone-sued-guitarist-daughter

[Deception]

Deception (1946) Noir-ish classical music world women's melodrama, good performances by Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, and Claude Rains with lavish sets and nice score. The DVD from Netflix is a beautiful pressing, Extra features include an interesting commentary track  by film historian Foster Hirsch.


From IMDb

Superb Trio in Classic of Classical Music Score, 21 February 2008

Author: phd12166 from United States

One of the few actors of Bette Davis' time who could match her screen intensity was Claude Rains. Paul Henreid is paired with Davis as her true love for another convincing romance. But, the script-stealing scene is between Davis and Rains. Matched penultimately perfect for the picture, Davis and Rains match each other's most intense acting skills during a major bedroom blow-out between them. I live to watch that scene over and again for its acting mastery.

Since Deception is about three classical music artists, the classical music score makes Deception's choice script musically enhanced to a classy degree. I love how Rains takes "the 4th Warner Brother's" acting intensity and levels it with his own. Even Bogie couldn't do that when staged with Davis! Don't miss this tightly wound triangulation with Henreid underplaying himself as his role calls for.

A way underrated treasure, 14 April 2009

Author: meyermihm from United States

How did I never come across Deception (1946) before? It's got to be Claude Rains' most delicious role. He absolutely has a blast playing the grand, tyrannical, jealous composer who hates giving Bette up to Paul Henreid, her former lover who has just returned from Europe at the end of the war. Both men are wickedly jealous of each other. The scene where the great composer unexpectedly arrives at Bette's and Paul's festive wedding party at her great loft apartment overlooking the river in New York (modeled on Leonard Bernstein's apartment) and trades poisonous banter with Bette and Paul makes the movie worth it by itself. But every scene is a gem, such as the scene where Claude takes them to a haute cuisine French restaurant and spends 10 minutes going back and forth over whether to order pheasant, trout, or saddle of lamb and whether to go with a Hermitage or a Vosne Romanee wine. This is some of the sharpest, wittiest dialogue I've seen in a movie, rivaling Ernst Lubitsch and every bit as good as in All About Eve. Oh, and I forgot to mention the amazingly good symphony performance scenes, with an original cello concerto by Korngold, ("played" by Henreid with the arms of two real cellists reaching in from either side to play the instrument). And Bette, a trained pianist, playing Beethoven at her wedding party (she really wanted to play it herself but Jack Warner decided against it but you can see she knows what she's doing in fingering the keys). If you haven't seen it, do check it out.

Funny, just saw this photo posted this week, of the NYC theater which became the 8th Street Playhouse, between 5th and 6th, a revival joint that shuttered in the '90s:

 When was the last time anyone heard  Young Girl?   Can't remember the singer's name.    Anyone know how to get these songs out of your head? 

"Young Girl" was by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap.  And since that song has been stuck in my head for 45 years, I'm guessing it's never coming out.  At least I actually like the darned thing.

A happy birthday to Shane MacGowan--nobody had 55 in the office pool, that's for sure--and a great time to spin that modern day Christmas carol, the Pogues' "Fairytale of New York."  About the song's origins, MacGowan recently told the Sun newspaper that “Our idea of New York was based on movies like Once Upon A Time In America, which we were obsessed with.  We borrowed a lot from the soundtrack of that film."  In fact, the Pogues had apparently never been to New York at that point.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9jbdgZidu8

I always felt guilty towards him because I systematically jumped side 1 when listening to the Concert for Bangla Desh.

I felt the same way about the last ten minutes of the Monterey Pop Festival movie.

[The Winning Team]

The Winning Team (1952) 7/10

FOR ALL YOU BASEBALL FANS: This is a fun little biopic about the legendary baseball player Grover Cleveland Alexander, who came from the Nebraska country, and battled epilepsy and alcoholism, and became one of the greatest pitchers of all-time, playing from 1911-1930. Ronald Reagan stars as Alexander (the player was named after one U.S. President and played by another  ) Doris Day as his wife, and Frank Lovejoy as the great 2nd baseman and manager Rogers Hornsby.

Alexander's most famous moment came in Game 7 of the 1926 World series, at Yankees Stadium, where his St. Louis Cardinals were playing the heavily-favored Yankees: Alexander had already started and won 2 games in the series, including game 6 the day before. As he was not expecting to pitch in Game 7; rumor had it that he had gotten trashed the night before. Now, in the 7th inning of Game 7 with the Cardinals leading by a run, the Yankees loaded the bases against starter Jesse Haines, who develope a blister and had to be removed. Now, manager Rogers Hornsby shocked everyone by calling Alexander in from the bullpen to face hot Yankee rookie Tony Lazzeri. On a  1-1 count, Lazzeri pulled a ball just foul down the left field line, narrowly missing a grand slam, and on the next pitch, Lazzeri struck out swinging, in one of the more famous World Series at bats ever. Alexander went on to pitch two more scoreless innings, and the Cardinals won the Series, shocking the heavily favored Yankees and the baseball world.

According to Jimmy Breslin's bio of Damon Runyon, Alexander wasn't even at the stadium for the start of the game, but on a barstool at a speakeasy called Billy Lahiff's on W. 46th Street with (maybe) Toots Shor behind the bar.  When the Cards started thinking about using him, a call was made and Alex went up to the Bronx.  Breslin never lets facts get in the way of a good story, so take it for what it's worth.

The movie made a baseball-crazy nine-year-old cheer when Reagan won his first term as governor.  I got over that rather quickly.

A piece in Time Out New York this week:

At last spring’s Cannes, an even longer, 256-minute version debuted, adding a lengthy death scene from Antony and Cleopatra that Leone had chosen to cut. (Frayling’s verdict: “I adore Elizabeth McGovern, but she was not a Shakespearean actress.”) Warner Bros. has since taken this extra-extended cut out of circulation for unspecified legal reasons...

European theatrical version it is, then.


www.timeout.com/newyork/film/once-upon-a-time-in-america-restored?cmpid=TONY+Dly+112412

yeah, that makes sense; release of the extended version was delayed cuz they needed to do more work on it, so you think the venues that booked showings just decided to show the regular 229-minute version in the time slots that they'd originally intended to show the new version? That's an interesting point, although if that's the case, that FF is just going to show the 229-minute version, then why are they waiting until Nov. 23 to show it, instead of just showing it now, as MoMA did?
 Maybe the extended version is supposed to be ready by that time?

I guess there's no use worrying about it yet; I'll just call FF in 3 weeks and see if they have any updates...

MOMA's screening was set up in advance, being part of their now-concluded annual film preservation fest.  FF books their schedule well in advance; each calendar shows three months of repertory programming.  The current calendar goes from August 10-November 8; the upcoming one, with OUATIA, runs November 9 to February 7.  Who knows how far ahead it's booked?  If Melbourne cancelled in late July, maybe FF decided to go ahead anyway.

And maybe it will be the extended version.  Or maybe the "restored" 229 minute version is offered to meet contractual obligations, or maybe it means the extended version is a long way from being ready.  We'll see.

btw, there is one thing I am still unclear about: did anyone here attend the screening at MoMA a week ago? If yes, what version did they show?

I went, and as I've posted elsewhere, it was the 229 minute "European theatrical cut," or what's on the DVD.  And my guess is that that is what's coming to FF.

I think the MOMA screening, as part of their annual film preservation series, and this FF engagement were booked with the intent of showing the extended version.  But with the reports of the technical issues stalling that, they've settled for the restored--but not restored AND extended--version.  The Melbourne festival in July cancelled screenings since the extended version wasn't ready yet.

I hope to be proven wrong.

I think we're all being confused by other people's phrasing and definitions.

The film I saw at MOMA is the 229 minute version, same as on the two-disc special edition DVD.  And that's the version I saw at MOMA five years earlier, which is before I owned the DVD.  So the montage near the end--Noodles looks down at the gun Max has put on the table, and fades into scenes from their childhood--was new to me in 2007, but it was the only difference that I recall between that and the two tape VHS version.

Per the Scorsese trailer I put up a couple days ago, Marty emphasizes the "restored" quality of the film, while also talking about additional scenes.  There is a very beat-up print of the scene where young Deborah dances in the back room, and then an overlay of what the cleaned-up print looks like.  So a cleaned-up version of the 229 "European theatrical cut" is being called "restored," at the same time that a "restored" version extending the film with the additional footage which has circulated on the board is being prepared.  This is where the confusion, it seems to me, comes from, and it was either disingenuous or plain wrong of Scorsese to not clarify that.  Similarly, the MOMA print from two weeks ago, with its credits to those who helped "restore" the movie, punts on the issue, and neither DeNiro nor the other two speakers spoke of the extended version at all, not ackowledging its existence, and not conceding that what we were going to see was the unextended result.

I presume at some point the board will develop some nomenclature for the two versions, but I wonder which of the two will be considered the standard movie going forward?  When the film comes out on some future technology, will it be the best possible print of the 229 minute cut as the standard, or will the extra scenes permanently be considered the standard?  And, as someone else has posted, what of the implications from Scorsese's remark that we've gotten closer to what Leone wanted, suggesting that even more could possibly be added at a later date?

I saw a trailer listed elsewhere on the board, on YouTube, that looked extremely sharp.  But has this trailer for the restored version, with Scorsese narration, been listed here?  If so, I apologize; if not, enjoy.

www.gucci.com/us/worldofgucci/articles/once-upon-a-time-in-america-gucci-restoration

Craziest thing: when I saw the film the other night at MOMA, I noticed for the first time that in the scene filmed at McSorley's--they skip the offer of a dollar to instead roll the drunk--there was a sign on the bar near the clock that said "128th."  1982 would have been the 128th anniversary of McSorley's opening in 1854 (this year is disputed by some NYC historians, but the bar has claimed it for decades), which would seem to be the time the scene was shot there.  The only reason I know such an obscure factoid is that a friend of mine cooked there for a few years in the early '90s and the bar's history becomes ingrained in your head like the sawdust on the floor clings to your shoes.

Also, I don't know if anyone put these up: three restored scenes which I presume will make up half of the reported extra 25 minutes.

www.youtube.com/results?search_query=leone+restored+scene&oq=leone+restored+scene&gs_l=youtube.3...658.9575.0.9981.22.21.1.0.0.0.739.2615.16j2j2j6-1.21.0...0.0...1ac.1.ErZ8gnWypTw

Millions of people? Drink, now I KNOW you are on drugs.

I'm guessing the 229 is what some idiot at MoMA put down after looking up the film on some kind of list. The fact that the show is playing as part of MoMA's program of a film restorations, and that the source of the film is credited to Andrea Leone, AND that DeNiro was supposed to personally introduce it leads me to believe that what they were showing was NOT the 229 minute version.

It was the "European theatrical cut," or the film as it appeared on the two-DVD set.  DeNiro spoke briefly--of course--and did say that he worked a year on the picture, and that Sergio seemed to never want to stop making the movie, the implication being so great was his enthusiasm for it.  I will say this: I saw OUATIA at MOMA about five years ago, and this didn't seem to be in better shape than I remember that print being, although it's quite possible the quality of the DVD has obscured my sense of its quality on the big screen.  Maybe it was just the projector's illumination, but it seemed fairly dark at times.  MOMA's presentation of Scorsese's restoration of OUATITW a few years back was a noticeable upgrade over my previous theatre-going experiences of that film.  Almost forgot: Burt Young was in attendance, and stood up to good applause prior to DeNiro's appearance.

May 1-5, Museum of Modern Art, New York City

Sergio Leone reimagined the American Western genre with Once Upon a Time in the West, in which two mysterious strangers join forces to defend a widow after a sinister hired gun murders her family in a bid to grab their land for the railroad. Unlike the well-groomed characters depicted in traditional studio Westerns, the inhabitants of Leone's frontier are dusty, sweaty, and grimy. Leone also cast good-guy icon Henry Fonda radically against type as the darkest of villains, and brought the European stylistic reinterpretations perfected in his low-budget spaghetti Westerns to the quintessential cowboy movie location—John Ford's iconic Monument Valley.

Since it was shot in the Techniscope format—which hasn't been in use since the early 1970s—restoration of the film required that an interpositive be printed from the original negative to create a new preservation internegative. As a result, the new prints offer a sharper image and finer grain than even the original prints. In addition, the color was completely restored to capture the rich earth tones of the original photography, and the audio for both the Italian and English soundtracks was restored from magnetic masters, significantly improving upon the original optical soundtracks.

Organized by Rajendra Roy, The Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film. This presentation is a collaboration between the Tribeca Film Festival and the Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art. The restoration was made possible with support by The Film Foundation and The Rome Film Festival in association with Sergio Leone Productions and Paramount Pictures.


Upcoming related screenings:

Ticketing policies for film screenings
Sign up now to receive MoMA's biweekly Film E-News
Once Upon a Time in the West. 1968. Italy/USA. Directed by Sergio Leone. Screenplay by Leone, Sergio Donati. With Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Charles Bronson, Jason Robards. 165 min.
Thursday, May 1, 2008, 6:30 p.m., Theater 2, T2
Friday, May 2, 2008, 7:00 p.m., Theater 2, T2
Saturday, May 3, 2008, 2:00 p.m., Theater 2, T2
Sunday, May 4, 2008, 2:00 p.m., Theater 2, T2
Monday, May 5, 2008, 6:30 p.m., Theater 1, T1