To Kill in Silence (Extremely Rare film from 1972)
May 22, 2020 20:46:58 GMT
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Post by theCarbonFreeze on May 22, 2020 20:46:58 GMT
There's this movie I discovered recently which I thought might interest a few people here. It's not technically lost hence why I haven't made an article about it or posted this on the main board.
So lately I've been watching a lot of films which Italian composer Stelvio Cipriani lent his talents to. This eventually led me to discover a quaint little 1972 movie known as Uccidere in Silenzio (translated as To Kill in Silence.) It has perhaps the most beautiful soundtrack that I've ever heard, so I really wanted to see the whole thing. I was able to determine from the brief synopses online that this was a story about a young couple who must decide between abortion or child-rearing when the girlfriend gets pregnant. It seems to have been largely the product of director/co-writer Giuseppe Rolando who has a sparse filmography of only 4 entries each just as forgotten as this one.
That's where the rabbit hole started. So, I quickly discovered by googling the film's English and Italian titles that it was a pretty obscure oddity. There were no DVDs/VHS/Laserdisc/Streaming offered through any channels, official or illicit. On Amazon and Ebay, English and Italian, there were no hand-me-down copies of any home media either, except the soundtrack and film posters. There were no interviews by any cast and crew, no behind the scenes insight into the conception or production of the project. IMDb had only 10 ratings (among the smallest number I've seen for ANY film) no trivia section and no reviews. I couldn't find any blogs discussing the film, only one forum had broached the subject (albeit in a very cursory way) and any reviews I could find were scant and dismissive.
All of this secrecy encouraged me to dig harder. Eventually I did find just three merchants selling copies of the film. There was DVDLady.com where I received my copy in the form of a digital download. Then there's an Italian website offering copies of a seemingly limited quantities Italian-only VHS run from the 80s. Finally someone on Italian-Ebay is offering a 16mm print for $100+. Based on the condition of my personal copy, which includes some "tape static" present on old VHS tapes and a muddied color palette, I speculate that DVDLady's own master print is probably sourced from the same run of '80s Italian VHS tapes, which themselves may have been based of a damaged or faded stock of film. So, in short, even though I did eventually find a copy of the film (so it's not completely lost) it's still not in good shape and time is running out to preserve To Kill in Silence in all of its glory.
I'll admit the film itself is no masterpiece but there are some compelling shots in the movie which deserve to be seen in restored, recolored, 1080p+ resolution. The score by Cipriani, which led me to the film in the first place, is one of the most beautiful ever composed and warrants a remaster. (Or even just a wide release, from what I can gather, only 500 copies of the full soundtrack were ever released on CD in 2015. Besides that, only the song "Antla" was ever released contemporaneously with the film, as a 45rpm single.) The delicate subject of abortion is addressed in a rather hamfisted manner, but Ottavia Piccolo gives a great performance in spite of the limitations of the script. Unfortunately the subtitles I was given with my copy are poorly transcribed, so many aspects of her's and everyone else's acting are lost to English speakers.
In short, this poor little film, though not entirely lost, is going to fade into oblivion soon without the proper restoration work on what may be the only remaining 16mm print out there, and I'm unfortunately not the person to do it. It needs a new set of subtitles in English or information about an English dub (according to TCM.com it did show in the US). We need to know more about it, if any of the cast and crew ever spoke about the film in any interviews, books or websites out there I couldn't find.
So lately I've been watching a lot of films which Italian composer Stelvio Cipriani lent his talents to. This eventually led me to discover a quaint little 1972 movie known as Uccidere in Silenzio (translated as To Kill in Silence.) It has perhaps the most beautiful soundtrack that I've ever heard, so I really wanted to see the whole thing. I was able to determine from the brief synopses online that this was a story about a young couple who must decide between abortion or child-rearing when the girlfriend gets pregnant. It seems to have been largely the product of director/co-writer Giuseppe Rolando who has a sparse filmography of only 4 entries each just as forgotten as this one.
That's where the rabbit hole started. So, I quickly discovered by googling the film's English and Italian titles that it was a pretty obscure oddity. There were no DVDs/VHS/Laserdisc/Streaming offered through any channels, official or illicit. On Amazon and Ebay, English and Italian, there were no hand-me-down copies of any home media either, except the soundtrack and film posters. There were no interviews by any cast and crew, no behind the scenes insight into the conception or production of the project. IMDb had only 10 ratings (among the smallest number I've seen for ANY film) no trivia section and no reviews. I couldn't find any blogs discussing the film, only one forum had broached the subject (albeit in a very cursory way) and any reviews I could find were scant and dismissive.
All of this secrecy encouraged me to dig harder. Eventually I did find just three merchants selling copies of the film. There was DVDLady.com where I received my copy in the form of a digital download. Then there's an Italian website offering copies of a seemingly limited quantities Italian-only VHS run from the 80s. Finally someone on Italian-Ebay is offering a 16mm print for $100+. Based on the condition of my personal copy, which includes some "tape static" present on old VHS tapes and a muddied color palette, I speculate that DVDLady's own master print is probably sourced from the same run of '80s Italian VHS tapes, which themselves may have been based of a damaged or faded stock of film. So, in short, even though I did eventually find a copy of the film (so it's not completely lost) it's still not in good shape and time is running out to preserve To Kill in Silence in all of its glory.
I'll admit the film itself is no masterpiece but there are some compelling shots in the movie which deserve to be seen in restored, recolored, 1080p+ resolution. The score by Cipriani, which led me to the film in the first place, is one of the most beautiful ever composed and warrants a remaster. (Or even just a wide release, from what I can gather, only 500 copies of the full soundtrack were ever released on CD in 2015. Besides that, only the song "Antla" was ever released contemporaneously with the film, as a 45rpm single.) The delicate subject of abortion is addressed in a rather hamfisted manner, but Ottavia Piccolo gives a great performance in spite of the limitations of the script. Unfortunately the subtitles I was given with my copy are poorly transcribed, so many aspects of her's and everyone else's acting are lost to English speakers.
In short, this poor little film, though not entirely lost, is going to fade into oblivion soon without the proper restoration work on what may be the only remaining 16mm print out there, and I'm unfortunately not the person to do it. It needs a new set of subtitles in English or information about an English dub (according to TCM.com it did show in the US). We need to know more about it, if any of the cast and crew ever spoke about the film in any interviews, books or websites out there I couldn't find.