Ealing Studios attempted to kill Alec Guinness

From: MY NAME ESCAPES ME

by Alec Guinness

Monday 6 May (1996)

THE LAVENDER HILL MOB is being shown on TV this evening but I won't be watching it. (If only I had received 1 [pound] each time one of the Ealing comedies was shown I would be a rich man. My contract didn't cover mechanical reproduction.) It was a good film, I think; well over forty years old now and mercifully it only lasted an hour and a half. Stanley Holloway and I got on exceedingly well and became good friends. He was always genial, easy-going and meticulously professional.

Ealing Studios never succeeded in killing me in spite of some quite good tries, the first of which was during the making of LAVENDER HILL. Rehearsing a brief scene in which Stanley and I were required to escape from the top of the Eiffel Tower, the director (Charles Crichton) said, 'Alec, there is a trap door over there - where it says Workmen Only - I'd like you to run to it, open it and start running down the spiral staircase. Stanley will follow.' So I did as asked. A very dizzying sight to the ground greeted me. But I completed half a spiral before I noticed that three feet in front of me the steps suddenly ceased - broken off. I sat down promptly where I was and cautiously started to shift myself back to the top, warning Stanley to get out of the way.

'What the hell are you doing?' the director yelled. 'Down! Further down!'

'Further down is eternity,' I called back.

Stanley and I regained the panoramic view of Paris pale and shaking. No one had checked up on the staircase and no one apologized; that wasn't Ealing policy.

Showering in Almeria

From: MY NAME ESCAPES ME

by Alec Guinness

Monday 19 February (1996)

This morning Matthew telephoned, having just got back from his skiing holiday in Bulgaria. He seems to have enjoyed it but found the meals fairly grim. He said his chalet was pleasant enough but he was puzzled by the showerbath, the floor of which was slanted so that water didn't go down the plug but sloshed into the bathroom. It sounds to me as if the Bulgarians have picked up a few tips from the Spanish. Tony Quayle and I, when filming LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, rented a wretched little guncrack house in Almeria for a few weeks. The only way of making the shower work was to sit on the loo, and the only chance of flushing the loo was to turn on the hot tap in the shower. The view from the front of the house was of mangy dogs rutting on a rubbish dump. I am told Almeria has greatly improved in recent years but I'm not going back.

Alec Guinness on David Lean's Memorial Service

From: MY NAME ESCAPES ME

by Alec Guinness

The last time I was at St. Paul's was for David Lean's memorial service, which was a big production number, with a military band outside on the steps playing 'Colonel Bogey', as used in the film of THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI. Inside it was film star studded, at least under the dome. I don't think people at the back were totally aware of what was going on or why. Compromise is my middle name so I sat myself between the two groups. Melvyn Bragg gave an admirable address, beautifully spoken; he managed to get in a snide remark of David's about me which caused a few discreet titters. The titterers were sitting, of course, directly under the Whispering Gallery. 'Titter you not!' as Frankie Howard used to say. I had to balance my thoughts as best I could, pushing aside my bad recollections of David's extreme unpleasantness in latter years but remembering the enchanting, affable, exciting man he was in the days of making GREAT EXPECTATIONS and OLIVER TWIST. He could still switch on the charm even in his last years but I had grown mistrustful of it. We each did our best, I think, to repair our damaged friendship but it didn't really work out. I needed someone with whom I could laugh (not David's strongest point) and he depended so much, it seemed to me, on sycophants. But he was marvellously generous with his riches. The car left St. Paul's behind in the failing light. I wished David eternal happiness, as I have always done since the day he died.

Is the long version of GLI INTOCCABILI lost forever?

John Cassavetes brutalizes Britt Ekland in a scene missing from the U.S. version of MACHINE GUN MCCAIN.

From: Mary S. Roberts via email

William,

Since Blue Underground has released MACHINE GUN MCCAIN in a version that William Lustig claims is the official edit, and that a longer cut never existed - per director Montaldo himself - why don't you offer a detailed account of the cut you viewed all those years ago.

It was probably in 1970 that I saw GLI INTOCABILI (aka THE UNTOUCHABLES) at the Kokuwaikan movie theater on Kokusai Street in Naha, Okinawa. The soundtrack was in Italian, the print had Japanese subtitles and it was about two hours long. I didn't speak Italian and couldn't read Japanese, but the plotting of the film wasn't too complicated and it was pretty easy to figure things out. The camerawork by Erico Menczer, the staging by director Giuliano Montaldo, an attractive cast which included some Italian Western veterans and an exciting music score by Ennio Morricone combined to make this movie a favorite of mine. During its run on the off-base theatrical circuit, I saw the film five or six times.

A while later, I came across a paperback book at the Fort Buckner PX (Post Exchange; a kind of on-base department store) called CANDYLEG, which had been made into the movie MACHINE GUN MCCAIN. With artwork resembling John Cassavetes, I knew that this was the original source of GLI INTOCCABILI so I bought it. This was the first I knew that one of my favorite films had been picked up for U.S. release.

Some time after that, MACHINE GUN MCCAIN was listed to play the on-base theatrical circuit, and a while after that I rushed to the Fort Buckner Theater to see it.

From the start, I knew I was in trouble. The opening scene of a New York meeing of "The Organization" was shortened. I couldn't say precisely what was cut - because I had only seen it before in a language I didn't speak, but the fact that we didn't get Gabriele Ferzetti standing up and walking about the room was obvious. In the U.S. version, the scene opened with Ferzetti sitting, there was a cut-away to another man, and when we next saw Ferzetti he was on his feet. The original scene probably featured expository dialogue that the U.S. distributor wanted shortened inorder to get quickly to the first murder scene which followed. But if that dialogue had been kept, perhaps no one would have thought it necessary to insert the awful narration over the shot of Peter Falk arriving at the Las Vegas casino. I cringed in my seat when I first heard it, not only because it was corny, but also because it was completely unnecessary.

Even in the original version, the HIGH NOON-like "Ballad of Hank McCain" was corny, especially as it was first heard during a long hand-held shot showing our hero's POV as he walked out of his cell, down a long prison tier, and finally up to a guard who turned over his belongings. ("No man ever was nor ever will be like the man called Hank McCain.") Well, the English language version of the movie softened the corniness of the song by dropping it completely and shortening the entire "release from prison" sequence. In fact, the English language version only used the song at the end of the movie.

As the film approached the meeting of Cassavetes' and Britt Ekland's characters, I got nervous. I knew the U.S. version had been given a "GP" rating. What did they do to this sequence to avoid an "R"? In the original film, John and Britt went to Britt's apartment. They stared at each other for a moment, and then John forced himself upon her. She tried to fight him off, but he picked her up, rushed into the bedroom, threw her down on the bed and raped her, with her struggling all the while. So, in the English version, they entered her apartment and close the door. "Cut to" the "morning after" scene with John and Britt not talking over the breakfast table. "What the hell?" I thought. "How was that supposed to make sense?"

Having been raped, Britt obviously was waiting for John to leave. Instead, he took her to the bedroom again. This time she decided to not fight, but to not cooperate either. However, in the midst of the act, she was surprised to find herself responding and she eventually fell in love with John. This was a big part of the original novel with McCain's sexual prowess and its effect on Irene being the reason the book is called CANDYLEG.

Later on, when John must dispose of his son's body, the sequence was originally much longer, with the second version of "The Ballad of Hank McCain" ("No one knows better than McCain, life's a very dirty game; very, very hard to win.") playing over it. Cassavetes puts the body in his car, drives over to get Britt and the two of them drive off. I don't remember what they did with the body, but in the English version, the shot of John driving up to the Golden Gate bridge - which follows the shot of John putting the body in his car - originally came later in the film while John and Britt were on the run.

As you may have already guessed, in the original film there was no narration explaining that the Organization was out to "block every means of escape" for our fugitive heroes. That was, after all, what the film was showing us.

In the 1980s, as home video gained in popularity, it became possible to find the original European versions of movies that were released altered for U.S. audiences. The European version of HERCULES starring Steve Reeves appeared on U.S. home video seemingly by accident with Embassy not noting that what they had was different in content from the version previously put out by Magnetic Video. And as delicatessens that catered to Italian-speaking communities started carrying VHS tapes, it was only a matter of time before GLI INTOCCABILI would appear. When it did, I quickly rented it with the conviction that I would finally get to see the long version again. Imagine the sense of crushed expectations when I put on the tape and found that the picture used for the VHS was the U.S. version - with the credits in English. The Italian language soundtrack had been crudely cut to match the U.S. picture. They hadn't bothered to remix the soundtrack; they cut it so that when the first ballad came on during the hand-held POV of McCain walking in prison, you could hear every deletion from the picture. (It was something like, "No one ever Hank that a free.") I was so disappointed that I didn't make an illegal copy of the tape figuring that the recording that I made off KCOP-TV would suffice until the long version finally showed up.

I'm still waiting.

Director Sergio Sollima's CITTA VIOLENTA was another film I saw many times on the Japanese theatrical circuit and was crushed to find it shortened for its U.S. release as THE FAMILY. But when Blue Underground brought that out on DVD, they had found a longer version than the one that I originally saw in the theater. (The opening sequence of Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland on the yacht featured on the Blue Underground DVD was about two minutes longer than the Japanese theatrical.) I hoped that they would be able to do the same thing with GLI INTOCCABILI, but it didn't happen. Perhaps the long version is now gone; existing only in the memoires of those that saw it forty years ago.

Rescuing the pilot for the new Zorro TV show.

From: ZORRO UNMASKED

The Official History

by Sandra Curtis

The reworked concept attracted French partners, Ellipse Programme, the production arm of the French broadcaster Canal Plus, Germany's Beta TV, and Italy's RAI. In addition to New World Television, the Family Channel, an American cable operator, joined as a producer. A true international co-production took shape. The show was shot outside Madrid with a crew from Spain, England, and the United States. A total of eighty-eight episodes were filmed over four seasons.

The only cast member to survive the face-lift was Patrice Martinez. The rest of the cast was completely new. Martinez, who was born in New Mexico, played the female lead in Steve Martin's THREE AMIGOS and had a small role in Tim Burton's BEETLEJUICE. She was trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London on scholarship, and upon graduation she received a number of the academy's prestigious awards...

A Mexican actor named Ferdinand Allende was offered the lead as Zorro/Diego. He declined the part, however, because the shooting schedule conflicted with his wedding.

The nod was finally given to Canadian actor Duncan Regehr, who was tall, dark, and handsome. Like Guy Williams, Duncan can fence and ride. Both in Lethbridge, Alberta, and raised in Victoria, British Columbia, Duncan entered show business as a figure skater at age ten with local and regional ice shows. He began acting at the age of fourteen, hosting a talk show on cable TV in his hometown. He attended the Bastion Theater School, Vancouver's Julliard, spending two years studying voice, movement, acting, and fencing, along with his academic load. Duncan undertook several years of acting in regional theater, moving on to the Ontario Shakespeare Festival before jumping into television and films. He had trained for a spot on Canada's Olympic boxing team from 1976 to 1980 and had learned to fence at school in Ontario. While living in Los Angeles, he raised horses. At six-five and 196 pounds, Regehr cut a commanding image as the Spanish California hero.

Regehr had been considered for the pilot but was tied up with another series at the time. He was called again when Patrick James was abandoned. This time, schedules clicked. Duncan, who had played the swashbuckler Errol Flynn in MY WICKED, WICKED WAYS, was in England working on THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII when he got a call from one of the Zorro producers. Gary Goodman went to meet him. Since Duncan had already seen the script, casting was a snap, and as he explained, the producers were "very keen to get me for the role. So, that's it! I graduated to Zorro."

Leone Prepping $5,000,000 Saga

From: Variety 1968

Rome, Jan. 9.

After three straight years of absolute boxoffice leadership with "For A Fistful of Dollars," "For A Few Dollars More" and "The Good, The Ugly, The Bad," Sergio Leone missed the marquee last Dec. 25 though indirectly represented by his ex-assistant Tonino Valeri, and a Leone-like western, "Days of Anger."

Prepared to abandon the school of Italoaters he brought to life, Leone last week discussed his return to coproduce and direct a $5,000,000 saga, "Once Upon a Time In the West," and explained his long absence since "The Good, The Ugly, The Bad" as a period filled with preparation to complete the screenplay commit a big cast and set locations in Arizona and Spain.

Partnering with Euro International Film, Leone signed Charles Bronson as the male lead (though billed below the title), Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale and Jason Robards (above the title) and a supporting cast including Enrico Maria Salerno, Frank Woolf, Robert Hossein, Robert Ryan, Jack Elam and Woody Strode.

Europe International prexy Count Giuseppe Cicogna said "Once Upon a Time" would enter production April 1 near Guadix in southern Spain for a two-month location period, then move to Monument Valley for four more weeks of exteriors and wind on interiors in Rome either in Cinecitta or Dinocitta.

Budget, he said, was over 3,000,000,000 lire ($5,000,000) an investment totally financed in Italy - the biggest project of its kind backed entirely by national capital. However, the investment risk is considerably lighter since Cicoqua's recent deal with Paramount topper Charles Bluhdorn for Yank release worldwide, less Italy where Cicogna hopes Leone will climb back in the b.o. saddle with another of his shattering grosses for the Euro distrib banner.

Yarn deals with three bandits (Bronson, Fonda, Robards) and prostie Cardinale in the '60s of the last century who find the West closing out on them with advent of the chemin de fer and unity between East and West. Film will retain the violence and irony that characterized Leone's earlier trio of school-founding oaters. But the director said he hopes to incorporate a big social vista of mid-18th century America.

[Again, I've reproduced the original article with mis-spellings and factual mistakes; i.e. the film takes place during the 19th century - the 1800s, not the 18th century - the 1700s.]

The Official Foreign Zorro Films

From: ZORRO UNMASKED

by Sandra Curtis

APPENDIX C

ZORRO FILMS - FOREIGN

1952 Il Segno di Zorro (Zorro's Dream) - Italy - Mario Soldati - Walter Chiari

1958 El Zorro Escarlata - Mexico

1961 El Zorro Vengador (Zorro the Avenger) - Spain - Joaiquin Luis Romero - Luis Aguilar

1961 Zorro Nella Valle dei Fantasmi - Mexico - - Jeff Stone

1961 Espada del Zorro (retitled Zorro for American release in 1963) - Spain/France

1961 Zorro Contro Maciste (Zorro versus Maciste) (retitled Samson and the Slave Queen for American TV release in 1963) - Italy - Umberto Lenzi - Pierre Brice

1961 Zorro E I Tre Moschettiere (Zorro and the Three Musketeers) - Italy - Luigi Capuano - Gordon Scott

1962 Zorro Alla Corte di Spagna (Zorro at the Court of Spain) (American release, 1977) - Italy/Spain - Luigi Capuano - Giorgio Ardisson

1962 La Venganza del Zorro - Spain/Mexico - - Frank Latimore

1962 Il Segno di Zorro (retitled Mark of Zorro) - Franco/Italy - Mario Caiano - Sean Flynn

1963 La Tre Spade di Zorro - Italy/Spain - - Guy Stockwell

1963 L'Ombra di Zorro (Oath of Zorro) - Spain/Italy - Richard Blasco - Frank Latimore

1963 Shade of Zorro - Italy/Spain - Francesco de Masi

1964 Three Swords of Zorro - Italy - Richard Blasco

1964 Behind the Mask of Zorro - Italy - Richard Blasco

1964 Adventures of the Brothers X - Mexico - Frederic Curiel

1964 The Lone Rider - Mexico - Ralph Baledon

1964 The Valley of the Disappearing - Mexico - Ralph Baledon

1965 Il Giuramente di Zorro - Italy/Spain - - Tony Russel

1965 La Montana Sin Ley - Spain - Jose Suarez

1966 Zorro Il Ribelle (Zorro the Rebel) - Italy - Piero Pierotti - Howard Ross

1968 Nippotti di Zorro (Grandsons of Zorro) - Italy - Franco Franchi and Ciccia Ingrassia - Dean Reed

1968 Zorro il Cavaliere della Vendetta - Italy/Spain - - Charles Quiney

1968 El Zorro la Volpe - Italy - - Giorgio Ardisson

1969 Zorro il Dominatore (Zorro the Domineerer) - Italy/Spain - - Charles Quiney

1969 Zorro the Navarra Marquis (Zorro Marchese di Navarro) - Italy - Francois Monty - Nadir Moretti

1969 El Zorro - Italy - - Giorgio Ardisson

1969 Zorro alla Corte D'Inghilterra (Zorro at the English Court) - Italy - Franco Montemorro - Spyros Focas

1969 El Zorro Justiciero - Italy/Spain - - Martin Moore

1970 Zorro, the Knight of the Vengeance - Spain - Jose Louis Merion -

1970 Zorro la Maschera della Vendetta - Italy/Spain - - Charles Quiney

1972 Les Aventures Galantes de Zorro - Belgium - Jean -Michel Dhermay -

1973 El Hijo del Zorro - Italy/Spain - Gian Franco Baldanelle -

1973 El Figlio di Zorro - Italy/Spain - - Robert Widmark

1974 Zorro (American release by United Artists in 1975) - Italy/France - Duccio Tessari - Alain Delon

1974 El Zorro - Mexico - - Julio Aldama

1975 Il Sogno di Zorro - Italy - - Franco Fanchi

[I decided to copy this listing without making corrections just for the record.]