Hardly among the worst, this short interview subject for the DVD release of WHO SAW HER DIE? permits director Aldo Lado to fill in some blanks about the film, and deliver the usual self-serving commentary.
The biggest problem I had with this one is the filmmaker's "me, me, me" digressions, which like other material he spouts is factually incorrect. He goes on & on about his role in the pre-production of Bertolucci's classic LAST TANGO IN Paris, but it not only doesn't ring true, it is irrelevant. He talks of dealing with originally cast Brando in 1970 and necessary delays caused by Marlon' schedule (due to his filming THE GODFATHER first), but contradicting his statement is the fact that Bertolucci originally cast Trintignant & Sanda for the film as a followup to their success in his THE CONFORMIST before going with Brando and finding the relatively unknown Maria Schneider, and that Lado's dates don't jibe. In any event, his contribution was minuscule and not worth mentioning.
More serious is his weird contention that George Lazenby retired (!) after making this film with him. Director Gary Hertz does the usual "DVD interview" technique of visually contradicting Lado as he speaks, showing on screen posters for several of Lazenby's later films. This cutesy technique is annoying, and strictly an invention of the decadent video era.
Last straw is Lado's analysis of the success and content of the so-called "giallo" genre. His emphasis on emotion in the films and other attempts at insight are fatuous and fail to deal with the sad truth -latterday fans are obsessed with sensationalism, blood & guts; the subtle or classic (c.f., Wertmuller's hits) films of the same era have been sidelined in favor of the once-lowly regarded violent movies. I gave at the office: I greatly enjoyed the best of these films in first run back in the early 1970s, but never put them on a pedestal or watched them to the exclusion of the great Italian cinema of that day. Rewriting history doesn't make it true.
The biggest problem I had with this one is the filmmaker's "me, me, me" digressions, which like other material he spouts is factually incorrect. He goes on & on about his role in the pre-production of Bertolucci's classic LAST TANGO IN Paris, but it not only doesn't ring true, it is irrelevant. He talks of dealing with originally cast Brando in 1970 and necessary delays caused by Marlon' schedule (due to his filming THE GODFATHER first), but contradicting his statement is the fact that Bertolucci originally cast Trintignant & Sanda for the film as a followup to their success in his THE CONFORMIST before going with Brando and finding the relatively unknown Maria Schneider, and that Lado's dates don't jibe. In any event, his contribution was minuscule and not worth mentioning.
More serious is his weird contention that George Lazenby retired (!) after making this film with him. Director Gary Hertz does the usual "DVD interview" technique of visually contradicting Lado as he speaks, showing on screen posters for several of Lazenby's later films. This cutesy technique is annoying, and strictly an invention of the decadent video era.
Last straw is Lado's analysis of the success and content of the so-called "giallo" genre. His emphasis on emotion in the films and other attempts at insight are fatuous and fail to deal with the sad truth -latterday fans are obsessed with sensationalism, blood & guts; the subtle or classic (c.f., Wertmuller's hits) films of the same era have been sidelined in favor of the once-lowly regarded violent movies. I gave at the office: I greatly enjoyed the best of these films in first run back in the early 1970s, but never put them on a pedestal or watched them to the exclusion of the great Italian cinema of that day. Rewriting history doesn't make it true.
