It's All True

• Directors: Richard Wilson; Myron Meisel; Bill Krohn
• AMG Rating:
• Genre: Film, TV & Radio
• Movie Type: Biography, Film & Television History
• Release Year: 1993
• Country: US/FR
• Run Time: 85 minutes

Plot

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, All Movie Guide

Review

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, All Movie Guide

Cast

Miguel Ferrer - Narrator; Joseph Biroc; Orson Welles; Richard Wilson; Edmar Morel; Elizabeth Wilson; Grande Othelo; Pery Ribeiro; Joachim Olimpio Meira; Maria do Carlo de Souza; Francisca Moreira da Silva

Credit

Richard Wilson - Director, Myron Meisel - Director, Bill Krohn - Director, Ed Marx - Editor, Jennifer Hooper - Editor, Jorge Arriagada - Composer (Music Score), Gary Graver - Cinematographer, Georges Fanto - Cinematographer, Jean-Luc Ormieres - Producer, Richard Wilson - Producer, Myron Meisel - Producer, Bill Krohn - Producer, Regine Konckier - Producer, Jean-Pierre Ruh - Sound/Sound Designer, Richard Wilson - Screenwriter, Myron Meisel - Screenwriter, Bill Krohn - Screenwriter, Andrew Patterson - Additional Editing, Lillie Thom - Assistant Editor

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