Click here to learn the story.
Click here to learn the story. |
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| Lorenzo Nistri’s poster design (Reproduced courtesy of the Painted Cinema) |
FORTHCOMING FROM CULT EPICS, AVAILABLE ONLY AS PART OF A BOX SET. MORE DETAILS TO COME.
While working on Il Generale della Rovere, Brass approached producer Moris Ergas about making a documentary on twentieth-century revolutions, utilizing footage in the Cinémathèque Française collection. Ergas agreed, and Brass sifted through an overwhelming amount of filmed material, much of which was nearly unknown, and then hired the well-known Giancarlo Fusco to write the commentary. They finished the film, Ça ira, il fiume della rivolta (Ça ira, the River of Revolt) in 1962, but complications kept it on the shelf for years. While Ça ira was collecting dust, Brass made another film for Ergas, In capo al mondo (a.k.a. Chi lavora è perduto). After this and several other films, the way was cleared to screen Ça ira, which had already been booked for the first New York Film Festival even prior to its world-première screening at the Venice Film Festival on Sunday, 6 September 1964. It got a mixed but mostly positive reception. Let’s follow the scrambled story as best we can:
“Current Credits of Italo Directors,” Variety, Wednesday, 29 April 1964, p 82:
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The New York Times (Friday, 28 August 1964, p 19):
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The New York Times, Sunday, 30 August 1964, Drama p 7:
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Vincent Canby, “Lincoln Center’s ‘Love Fest’: Industry Roots N.Y. Conclave,” Variety, Wednesday, 2 September 1964, pp 3, 16:
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Variety, Wednesday, 16 September 1964, p 22:
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The New York Times (Sunday, 20 September 1964, p X11):
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The New York Times (Tuesday, 22 September 1964, p 45):
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“Venice 1964,” Films in Review, October 1964, p 462: September 6. This was supposed to be a “day of rest” — there are no official screenings — but by eleven this morning an enormous crowd had queued in front of one of the Lido’s shoddier cinemas to see a feature-length documentary by the would-be Italian avantgardist, Tinto Bras, called Ca ira—il Fiume della Rivolta (River of Revolt). It is a skillful assemblage of newsreel and other stock footage, and clips from fiction films (e.g., Eisenstein’s), about the revolutions of the last 250 years. Some of the footage has not often been seen, and some of it is quite interesting. But the end result is spoiled by pro-Communist bias, excessive length, and a facetious commentary. |
Daily Variety, Tuesday, 6 October 1964, p 6:
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“Inside Stuff — Pictures,” Variety, Wednesday, 14 October 1964, p 15:
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Esquire (February 1965): Ça Ira (Tinto Brass) : this two-hour mélange of stills, newsreel clips and excerpts from movies by Eisenstein and others was subtitled when I saw it last fall in Venice, “Il Fiume della Rivolta,” and it pretends to be a documentary about revolutions. In fact it is a sensationalistic exploitation of Congo massacres, Chinese butcheries, Algerian tortures, Nazi death camps, Latin-American executions and other horrors of our century, all botched together with a few stabs at arty montage and all very tedious unless one is a necrophile. The Mondo Cane of revolution. |
The movie seems finally to have been released in Italy on 3 December 1964, but (maybe possibly I don’t know for sure) with severe censor cuts. Nowadays Ça ira is occasionally broadcast on Italian television, but with 16 minutes deleted (probably all the stuff about Mussolini). Next time it airs, please record it for me and I’ll buy it from you! Thanks!
The story gets even more interesting in 1969 :
Variety, 26 March 1969, p 35:
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Variety, 10 September 1969, p 6:
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“New York Sound Track,” Variety (weekly, 16 September 1970):
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This calls for some comment. Altura was an independent New York-based film distributor founded by the revolutionary-minded Clem Perry, who had been enamored of Brass’s film. Perry himself was an interesting character, who had released numerous foreign films, notably those of Luis Buñuél, but only after modifying them for American tastes. A friend of his emailed me and said that what many critics praised as Buñuél’s distinctive artistry was actually the work of Perry.
The release title was not Tell It Like Is Is. It was Thermidor.
It was a heavily modified edition of the movie, with new English narration.
Normally I resent it when producers and distributors modify movies
(an exception to that rule, of course, is what Woody Allen did with
International Secret Police: Key of Keys, which he converted into What’s Up, Tiger Lily?
— which I understand has been considerably sanitized in recent years, unfortunately).
But I think I’d make an exception for Thermidor.
Clem Perry put a lot of love into making a US version.
Tinto is apparently not impressed with it, but I don’t think he’s upset either.
Anyway, just look at the folks who participated in making it:
French novelist/playwright Ursule Molinaro,
professor of Italian literature Letizia Brod,
poet and New York Quarterly founder William Packard,
publisher/reviewer/translator Harold Salemson,
actor/director Ben Gazzara,
actor/co-founder of the American Place Theater Michael Tolan,
prominent stage actress Irene Worth,
and actor/director/professor Al Freeman Jr.
This is not the typical producer/distributor’s botched rescue job.
(There are a few other names in the credits too. For instance, Bernard Sznycer.
Is this the Bernard W Sznycer who translated a Chekhoff play? I don’t know.
There’s also Lou Burdi. I couldn’t learn anything about him for the longest time,
but now his credits are on IMDb.
He did sound effects for the US-release editions of the softcore Greek
Hot Month of August
and Cambist’s
Interestingly, Thermidor was possibly the only one of Brass’s films that the Catholic Church ever praised, calling it “a powerful message on the side of peace” (Catholic Film Newsletter 36, no. 17, 15 September 1971, p 86). It premièred on 24 August 1971 at the 5th Avenue Cinema in Manhattan, and the advertisement was never more detailed than the one below. As you will see, it played at a Rugoff cinema, and Clem Perry was an executive at Rugoff. It played for only one week and I know of no other commerical venues that presented it, ever. As with the original version, this new edition also received mixed comments.
The New York Times (Wednesday, 25 August 1971, p 45):
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Cue (28 August 1971): THERMIDOR (Altura) At the Fifth Avenue Cinema. Care to take a look at the devastation man has wrought in the 20th century? I find historical film clips fascinating even when they turn my stomach. Tinto Brass created a documentary in Italy stressing the unremitting violence of the last 70 years, and Clem Perry has produced an American version. You can watch history speed by, punctuated by executions, wars, extermination, assassinations, and atomic bombing. You may find brighter horizons at seeing Man shake his environment by landing on the moon. The narration is a glib, pompous concoction of commentary and poetry. Ben Gazzara, Irene Worth, Al Freeman, Jr., and Michael Tolan try to make it come to life, but the talk, straining to be profound, is merely precious. However, the sights and sounds are there, and so are the people—Villa, Rosa Luxemberg [sic], Franco, Hitler, Roosevelt, Einstein, Mao, et al. Thermidor is an intriguing cauldron of the world’s preoccupation with destruction. |
It’s amazing that Thermidor was so instantly forgotten, considering who narrated it!
As we can see from the credit listing, Altura was associated with Fleetwood Films:
Film Facts (1971, p 515):
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Altura has long been defunct, but its associated company, Fleetwood Films, which took presentation credit, was owned by Crowell Collier and Macmillan, as we learn from this article:
The New York Times (Monday, 15 July 1968, p 45):
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Hence the license for Thermidor went to Macmillan/Audio-Brandon:
A photocopy of a page from an undated Macmillan/Audio-Brandon 16mm Film Catalogue:
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A page from the 1978/1979 Audio-Brandon 16mm Film Catalogue:
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When Macmillan/Audio-Brandon closed shop, its library went to Films Incorporated (5547 N Ravenswood Ave, Chicago IL 60640; defunct URL: http://www.publicmedia.com/fientertainment/index.html):
This is one of those invaluable resources that would bore the skin off your teeth: James L Limbacher, compiler, Feature Films: A Directory of Feature Films on 16mm and Videotape Available for Rental, Sale, and Lease, 8th ed (New York &: London: R R Bowker Company, 1985):
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In 1997 Films Inc got out of the film business and switched exclusively to video, and all of its remaining film materials went to Kit Parker, but by that time Films Inc no longer retained its license to Thermidor. (Kit Parker shortly afterwards likewise abandoned film in favor of video, and many of the remaining prints ended up at the New York Public Library, where, last I heard, the massive job of cataloguing the collection had years yet to go.)
What must have happened is that once the US license expired, all the materials were packed up back to Italy. But where in Italy?
We are offering a bounty for a good video of Thermidor. If you know where we can get one, or if you know where the prints and/or materials are located, write to us. Thanks!
Incidentally, clips from Ça ira are included in several subsequent Brass films: NEROSUBIANCO, L’urlo, and Salon Kitty.
GIANCARLO FUSCO, the noted author, wrote the commentary for the film. He and Brass would team up five more times over the next 17 years. Once their collaborations ended, Brass’s films would never be the same again.
 Once upon a time, a site called Il pacifico, located at http://www.memoriale.com/1974mem.htm, posted this photo of Giancarlo Fusco, who looks rather like a certain American president, yes? But I don’t think this is our Giancarlo Fusco. (If you know who this really is, and/or if you know who owns the rights to this photo, please contact me. Thanks!) |
 On the other hand, I think this is truly the Giancarlo Fusco in question. |
WELL, IT’S DEAD, BUT ONCE UPON A TIME IT WAS WORTH A LOOK:
http://www.icast.com/movies/1,1524,606-141716,00.html
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The unreleased soundtrack LP, RCA SP 8004. It seems that only a few were pressed for a select few VIPs. Nonetheless, tracks from this LP reappeared on other LPs, as we can see from this interesting web site: http://masasaruyoppitako.web.infoseek.co.jp/RCA_SP10000.html. |
IF YOU WANT TO LEARN THE FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY HYMN “ÇA IRA”
(SUNG BY EDITH PIAF, NO LESS!), TUNE IN TO:
Modern History Sourcebook
DVD probably not forthcoming from
.
The announcement was quietly made at
Forum
Raro Video — Tinto Brass “d’Epoca”
ANICA — Associazione Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche Audiovisive e Multimediali
| Directed and edited by | Tinto Brass |
| Commentary by | Giancarlo Fusco |
| Produced by | Moris Ergas for Debora Film and Zebra Film |
| Music | Romolo Grano |
| Research | Carla Cipriani |
| Assistant director | Franco [“Kim”] Arcalli (1929–1978) |
| Assistant editor | Nadia Bonifazi |
| Narrators | Sandra Milo (producer Ergas’s girlfriend at the time)
Tino Buazzelli Enrico Maria Salerno |
| Poems read by | Paul Éluard (14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952, so I presume the readings were archival recordings) |
| Archival recordings of | Edith Piaf
Edmonda Aldini |
| English adaptation and postproduction | Clem Perry and Fleetwood Films |
| English translation | Ursule Molinaro |
| Text contributors | Letizia Brod
William Packard Jean-Paul Renoir Harold Salemson Bernard Sznycer |
| Poems | The Warsaw Ghetto by William Packard
In Distrust of Merits by Marianne Moore |
| Editor | Lou Burdi |
| Narrators | Ben Gazzara,
Michael Tolan, Irene Worth, Al Freeman, Jr. |
