Product Description

Would 25-year-old Orson Welles (whose 1941 Citizen Kane staggered Hollywood) go to Brazil and make a film for the United States' anti-Nazi "Good Neighbor Policy"? Welles eagerly agreed, masterminding a complex film that featured three separate stories, each vividly depicting the charm, drama and politics of South American culture. During the course of filming, Welles encountered hazardous locations and an ever-changing cast of studio executives at RKO. After months of arduous shooting, the studio suddenly pulled the plug and shelved the project. Welles never recovered from this and the true story of what happened to him in Brazil was never told.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18559 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-11-30
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Portuguese
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 87 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
In 1942, Orson Welles was at the top of his game in Hollywood and had, as far as he was concerned, a great future ahead of him. Then Nelson Rockefeller asked him to go to Rio to film the annual carnival as part of a goodwill mission to South America. Long story short, what was meant to be a side project destroyed Welles's promising career. He lost control of what might have been his greatest film, The Magnificent Ambersons, became saddled with an unfair reputation as a money squanderer, and had to beg for B-picture projects (which he turned into superb films) in Hollywood for the rest of the decade (after which he scrambled for years to make movies in Europe, except for a brief return to make, and again lose control over, Touch of Evil). Adding insult to injury, the South American footage--both from the carnival and a couple of narrative episodes Welles wanted to put together in a film called It's All True--disappeared for almost 50 years. Then, as these things happen, much of that footage turned up in a vault and eventually was assembled, long after Welles's death, by several people, among them director Richard Wilson (a Welles producer and ally going back to Mercury Theatre days, and who was present with him in Rio when things went from bad to worse). The film now known as It's All True is a combination of Welles's startling material--including the doomstruck episode called "Four Men on a Raft" (during production of which one of the men drowned)--and interviews with Wilson and other principals who witnessed the situation or can comment on it insightfully. Welles fanatics understand the powerful mystique that surrounds It's All True, and others who have enjoyed his work will certainly find this a gripping and ghostly experience. --Tom Keogh

From The New Yorker
Based on an unfinished film by Orson Welles. In 1942, Orson Welles was sent to Rio to make a film that would strengthen wartime relations between the United States and Latin America. In the event, it resulted only in irreparable damage to his career. Long believed lost, the movie has now been partly reconstructed from footage found in 1985, and is wrapped in a documentary that explains its unlikely beginnings and untimely end. The film was to be a hybrid of three stories: a documentary about the Rio carnival, the fable of a boy and a bull, and the dramatized account of a protest, in which four Brazilian fishermen sailed along the coast to Rio to demand justice from the President. This last section was plainly the strongest, and-thanks to the unstinting efforts of Richard Wilson, Bill Krohn, and Myron Meisel-can now be shown as a continuous story, albeit without Welles's planned narration. It would never have been one of his major works, but the swiftness and urgency with which the tale is told, and the potent composition of even the most simple scenes, reveal the touch of the master. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Review of Orson Welles "It's All True".
A treasure for all Welles' fans. A 32 minute documentary on the failure to complete "It's All True" leads into a full presentation of the beautiful 46 minute B&W SILENT drama documentary titled "Four Men On A Raft". An excellent modern ( Stereo ) score made up of renditions of the Brazilian music Welles was investigating is dubbed on together with appropriate sound effects ( wind & waves etc ). Despite being on Nitrate film stock stashed in a studio basement for over 40 years its presented in almost perfect condition. A thrill to see what's left and truly sad to think of what might have emerged. Included amongst the snippets of incomplete material is just 3 minutes B&W and 3 minutes colour Rio Carnival footage and a complete 3 minute segment from "My Friend Burrito".

Extraordinary
A little known documentary that is both entertaining and informative. Touching first hand accounts and rare footage that give an extraordinary look at both Mr. Welles and the Brazilian culture. If there is one reason to own this tape it would be to see over and over again the last part of the film. A piece called "Four Men on a Raft" It is the most beautiful black and white short film I have ever seen. The love Mr. Welles had for these poor fishermen is so wonderfully apparent.

Well.....
Orson Welles is, was and will always be one of the greatest of all filmakers. You can't really argue with that.

The chance to see lost footage from any of his unfinished projects is always welcome, but this is something of a missed opportunity I'm afraid.

Richly illustrated with interviews and unique footage, the effort and research cannot be faulted, but frequently beautiful images flick by without any explanation whilst pointless facts are dealt in detail.

The cardinal sin here are the "recuts" of the virtually complete sections of It's All True. The "new" musical scores are obstrusive and syrupy - very "hollywood". They sit uncomfortably with the footage, and are NOT Welles style.

It's not the actual scores but the orchestration which seems so out of place. Instead of drawing you into the sequences it dilutes the impact.

It's a real shame, as you can see the influence such sequences had on later Welles pictures, "The Lady From Shanghai" - one of my favourite films - for example. After such a well researched build up it's real let down to see the work damaged in this way. Why the filmakers couldn't have used original recordings from the time film was made - and by the artists featured - is a mystery.

It's still well worth seeing - but, as I've already said, is a missed opportunity.