It's All True

UPC: 097360504040

Studio: Paramount

MPAA Rating: G   Contains:null

Summary: Both a documentary and a unique exercise in film restoration, It's All True tells the complex story of Orson Welles' ill-fated attempts to make an anthology film about the life and culture of South America and concludes with a reconstruction of one of Welles' unfinished segments, edited together from rediscovered original footage. The idea for Welles' South American project was conceived by the American government as a sort of cultural exchange to improve relations with Latin America. Using interviews and period footage, the filmmakers relate how the project quickly turned sour, as both the Brazilian government and RKO studio executives objected to Welles early footage; indeed, thanks to a local witch doctor, the film could literally be said to be cursed. Although Welles persevered, RKO eventually withdrew support from the project. The failures of It's All True and The Magnificent Ambersons, which was damaged by studio cuts made while Welles was overseas, are thought by many to have irreparably damaged the director's Hollywood career. It's All True concludes with a partial reconstruction of the "Four Men on a Raft" segment, in which Welles tells the true story of a dramatic, thousand-mile raft journey by four Brazilian peasants. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

Category: Culture & Society

Awards: Best Documentary – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Special Citation – National Society of Film Critics Special Citation – National Society of Film Critics Special Citation – National Society of Film Critics Film Presented – New York Film Festival Film Presented – Berlin International Film Festival

Features: cc[None specified]

It's All True

Format: DVD

Release Date: 11/30/2004

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Audio: DD2 Dolby Digital Stereo

Runtime: 85 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Prologue [5:16]
2. My Friend Bonito [3:04]
3. Filming Carnival [7:09]
4. The Jangadeiro Story [8:47]
5. Filming "Four Men on a Raft" [8:09]
6. A Day of Fishing [10:06]
7. Love and Marriage [9:30]
8. The Funeral [5:19]
9. The Departure [7:29]
10. The Voyage [10:16]
11. Sailing Into Rio Harbor [3:43]
12. "Here Comes the Samba, Now!" [6:35]

Michael Hastings

While the recollections of Orson Welles' 1942 goodwill expedition to South America are compelling, this documentary ultimately depends on the strength of the original footage of the director's never-completed work, which prefigures the atmospheric, naturalistic approach that Welles would later apply to Othello. With its extreme low-angle shots and reverent, beatific presentation of the Brazilian people, "Four Men" recalls the work of another propagandist, Leni Riefenstahl, in Olympia or Triumph of the Will. It's All True's reconstructing team fails Welles, however, with a tacked-on, cloying soundtrack; it's also doubtful that Welles and his crew would have edited the film as literally as the filmmakers have done. Still, as a record of the project that kept the director away from his final cut of The Magnificent Ambersons, It's All True is sure to satisfy Welles completists. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Pery Ribeiro  Actor 
Joseph Biroc  Actor 
Maria do Carlo de Souza  Actor 
Richard Wilson  Actor 
Elizabeth Wilson  Actor 
Edmar Morel  Actor 
Grande Othelo  Actor 
Miguel Ferrer  Actor 
Joachim Olimpio Meira  Actor 
Orson Welles  Actor 
Francisca Moreira da Silva  Actor 
Jorge Arriagada  Composer (Music Score) 
Jean-Luc Ormieres  Producer 
Richard Wilson  Director 
Richard Wilson  Producer 
Richard Wilson  Screenwriter 
Myron Meisel  Director 
Myron Meisel  Producer 
Myron Meisel  Screenwriter 
Bill Krohn  Director 
Bill Krohn  Producer 
Bill Krohn  Screenwriter 
Regine Konckier  Producer 

Country: France,USA