ELIZABETH TAYLOR IN LONDON | SOPHIA LOREN IN ROME [1963 / 1964 / 2022] [Blu-ray] [UK Release] Two Screen Icons, Two magnificent Cities, Two Lost Documentaries!
Unseen anywhere for decades and highly sought after, these early 1960’s TV specials showcase two Hollywood icons travelling through and reflecting upon the cities they love. Newly-remastered in High Definition from original film elements, both shows feature sweeping, evocative scores from world-famous composer John Barry.
Elizabeth Taylor, who was born in London and lived there as a child, returns to the city that will forever be in her blood and gives her impressions of and reactions to the mosaic of London and Londoners Elizabeth Taylor encounters during her visit.
In a show never seen in the UK, Sophia Loren follows Elizabeth Taylor's lead, but this time in Rome Sophia Loren meets Marcello Mastroianni as she visits the sights, affectionately commenting on the grandeur of the Eternal City and the irrepressible nature of its people.
FILM FACT: ‘ELIZABETH TAYLOR IN LONDON’ is a CBS-TV television special broadcast on the 6th October 1963. The music was composed by John Barry, who was nominated for a 1964 Grammy Award for Outstanding Original Music. The original album has been re-released on CD with many of the tracks available in the public domain on various John Barry collections. The tune “Greensleeves” occurs throughout the score. Unusually, it was not Barry but Johnnie Spence who conducted the score for the film and album release. Like Barry, Spence was signed to Ember Records: as Matt Monro's musical director, he had conducted the version of John Barry's “From Russia with Love” song used in the film earlier in 1963. In addition to showcasing Elizabeth Taylor at the height of her popularity, the show informed Americans of English history and London locations. Her lover Richard Burton (who would soon become her fifth husband) coached Taylor on her delivery of the speeches. Elizabeth Taylor was paid US $250,000 (equivalent to approximately $2,389,674 in today's funds – at the time the highest price ever paid for a person to be on television. The BBC paid US$28,000 for broadcast rights and it was shown on Christmas Eve that year. Reviewing the programme in The Listener, however, Anthony Burgess was scathing about Elizabeth Taylor in general and John Barry's composed music score in particular.
ELIZABETH TAYLOR IN LONDON [1963]
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor
Director: Sid Smith
Producers: Norman Baer, Philip D’Antoni and Sid Smith
Screenplay: Louis Solomon and S.J. Perelman
Composer: John Barry
Wardrobe Designer: Yves St, Laurent
Hair Styles: Alexandre of Paris
Cinematography: Otto Heller, B.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 480i / 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 52 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: A TeleVision Production of America. Inc. Presentation / Network
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SOPHIA LOREN IN ROME [1964]
Cast: Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni and Vittorio De Sica
Director: Sheldon Reynolds
Producers: Norman Baer and Philip D’Antoni
Screenplay: Basilio Franchina and Sheldon Reynolds
Composer: John Barry
Cinematography: Roberto Gerardi, A.I.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 51 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: A TeleVision Production of America. Inc. Presentation / Network
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘ELIZABETH TAYLOR IN LONDON’ [1963] Here the Hollywood actress Elizabeth Taylor starts her documentary with the words of Wordsworth, with his thoughts on her home, London. The sprawling city is home to over eight million inhabitants, from the coal men that deliver the heating to the homes, to the draymen that supply the millions of gallons of ale to the public houses dotted all over the city, to the cabbies that still have to abide by laws created in the 1830’s.
From the sounds of the bell of Bow, and the Cockney rhyming slang, to the inspiring tale of Dick Whittington, and the writings of the Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning (“Sonnets From the Portuguese”). We also find out about the launch site of the pilgrims ship bound for the Americas’ the Mayflower. All delivered in the precise meter of a English rose at the top of her profession.
‘ELIZABETH TAYLOR IN LONDON’ has a script provided for her by two New York writers – Lou Solomon and top humourist S.J. Perelman – Elizabeth Taylor tells us of her background born in the posh and leafy London suburb of Hampstead though of wealthy American parentage (she lived in Hollywood from a very early age and has a very Americanised accent e.g., “Canturberrry” and not “Canterbury”).
It is interesting to see clips of London of that time (heaven knows what she'd make of the city now) and her own observations and reflections are interspersed with clips depicting London street life and its inhabitants who come from all walks of life. The film begins with Elizabeth Taylor in her luxurious Dorchester Hotel suite where she recites from Wordsworth's “Upon Westminster Bridge;” though later on and posing in front of various London landmarks she also quotes Shakespeare, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and here Elizabeth Taylor attempts a little more passion – perhaps she got advice from Richard Burton, and Winston Churchill among others.
Perhaps we could have seen a few more important landmarks. Arguably the most interesting segments are the various Londoners themselves talking briefly about their respective jobs...ma drayman, a riverboat policeman (soon these 'old' London accents will be a thing of the past), a Bermondsey Vicar on the Mayflower departure site by the old church... Here Miss Elizabeth Taylor recites from the famous William Pitt speech. For all this Elizabeth Taylor got paid a staggering near US $250,000 and of course the actress never came cheap, and yet Elizabeth Taylor fails to convince on any level – far from it she comes over as emotionally cold and far too studied and controlled. A pity as one gets the impression that the film, although a good idea, could have turned out less pretentious: how about Elizabeth Taylor in one of her favourite London pubs “The Salisbury” for example, having a chat with the locals?
Hard to believe it was also released on a Long Playing Album and if that isn't bad enough, the extravagant costumes for this demanding diva were designed by Yves Saint Laurent and I’m afraid to say are either rather awful or verging on the ridiculous – is that a flower vase attached to her hat? This also extends to the music composed by the great John Barry – which is used to embarrassingly schmaltzy effect in the “How Shall I Love Thee?” segment with Elizabeth Taylor down by the Palace and the Queen Victoria monument.
Well despite with lots of criticisms for ‘ELIZABETH TAYLOR IN LONDON’ I personally found it a very emotional journey and on top of all that, we get to view and hear a plethora of native Londoners who give you a good flavour and in-depth insight into the character of the good old capital of London town.
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Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘SOPHIA LOREN IN ROME’ [1964] Sophia Loren, who was born in Rome and lived there as a child, returns to the city that will forever be in her blood and gives her impressions of and reactions to the mosaic of Rome and the people she encounters there during her visit. With the Italian actress Sophia Loren we are treated to a less formal tour of the city she loves, with its ancient Roman history to its influence in the Middle Ages through to the bustling streets of the 1960s. She welcomes us to her house where she overlooks the city. She takes to the streets with a hidden camera and microphone, she walks around talking to us, but she has a member of the crew around so that she doesn’t look like she is gibbering to herself.
With this fly-on-the-wall approach, we visit the sights and sounds of this ancient city, as we visit the café culture, and the many fountains in this hot city. Taking our time to watch the traffic police controlling the flow through the veins of ancient roads.
If you want to see Rome, all you need to do is search for the Statues, Uniforms or the Monuments. Rome by night is a totally different city, as the Romans come out to dine and do nothing but watch the city go by them.
‘SOPHIA LOREN IN ROME’ is, however, an altogether different kettle of fish (or bowl of pasta). It was actually produced by the same people but here we have a script provided for Sophia Loren by Sheldon Reynolds (written in collaboration with Basilio Franchina) who also directed. The result is altogether more palatable and down to earth and La Loren comes over very well – exuding warmth and passion (well, she is Italian after all). Sophia Loren is both affable and likeable and does not give the impression of being in anyway self-conscious. The film starts with her looking out of the window of her luxuriously furnished apartment (ah...the rewards of success) overlooking a famous Italian square telling us something of its history. Of course there is a splendid fountain in the square – one of many. The eternal city far, far older than 'olde' London and can boast a number of Rococo-style fountains (who can possibly compete?) as well as magnificent ruins dating back to around 1900 AD – yes, we are talking about The Colosseum (the place where Christians were fed to the lions). Sophia Loren walks in elegant repose (and in high heels which must have been a pain to wear) around the City's many landmarks, on every occasion informing us about their histories.
Sophia Loren even pays her friend Marcello Mastroianni a visit and refers to him as one of the greatest actors, and this impromptu get-together provides us with a delightful comic interlude. A vain actor may have said something Iike “Well, I don't wish to be disagreeable…” but Marcello refuses to speak English in jest and we get some subtitles instead. He later reminds Sophia Loren that she is actually from Naples to which she points out that so is he. Sophia Loren then continues wandering through various parts of Rome including old cobblestoned alleys and explains how every day the city comes to a standstill during Siesta time and that Italians prefer to eat their spaghetti as a starter (with wine), followed by a usually meat-based main dish (with wine), followed by desert (with wine again) – they must all be sozzled by afternoon! The film crew even stages a fake traffic accident just so Sophia Loren and Co. can amuse themselves over the different reactions from passers-by.
You may also recognize the Trevi Fountain as it is now forever identified with a famous scene in Fellini’s ‘LA DOLCE VITA,’ namely when statuesque Anita Ekberg takes a late night dip in it. Here John Barry's music is more appropriate and like the Elizabeth Taylor set piece it was also released as a Long Playing Album and the script has nothing pretentious about it. Director Sheldon Reynolds and perhaps refers to him as one of the greatest actors best known for the 1950's Sherlock Holmes series, does a pretty good job all round. Sophia Loren’s outfits (no designer given) are also easier on the eye.
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Blu-ray Image Quality – A TeleVision Production of America. Inc. Presentation and Network presents us this wonderful ‘ELIZABETH TAYLOR IN LONDON’ | ‘SOPHIA LOREN IN ROME’ with an overall pristine colourful clean 1080p image throughout ‘ELIZABETH TAYLOR IN LONDON’ | ‘SOPHIA LOREN IN ROME’ and is shown in the 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The image presentation is very accurate and detailed. Contrast is good, and is spot-on and colours are rendered really well, but with this TeleVision Production of America. Inc. Presentation and Network release, it tends to gravitate towards the yellow and cyan prominence. Overall, ‘ELIZABETH TAYLOR IN LONDON’ | ‘SOPHIA LOREN IN ROME’ gives you a very modern, clean look, with only moderate signs of film grain. The detail generates good depth and accurate textures in clothes, hair and skin. So overall it is a very good image presentation.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – A TeleVision Production of America. Inc. Presentation and Network brings us ‘ELIZABETH TAYLOR IN LONDON’ with a wonderful and clear 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio experience. With ‘SOPHIA LOREN IN ROME’ we get an equally wonderful clear 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio experience which is smooth and crisp, and with the vocals is delivered with good detail and clarity with both ‘ELIZABETH TAYLOR IN LONDON’ and ‘SOPHIA LOREN IN ROME.’ The composed film score for both films is by John Barry and again there had been a lot of criticisms of his composed film scores for both films and to me was very well presented and each composed film scores was very atmospheric and was very well composed and suited both ‘ELIZABETH TAYLOR IN LONDON’ and ‘SOPHIA LOREN IN ROME’ and again I did not find both of John Barry’s composed film scores at all negative and gives a good and excellent atmosphere to both films and the right balance.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: ‘ELIZABETH TAYLOR IN LONDON’ – Original US broadcast presentation [1963] [480i / 1080p] [1.33:1] [58:42] With this featurette, we again get to view the CBS-TV television special broadcast and this one is more aimed at the America viewing public, and of course Elizabeth Taylor gives her very first British television appearance and was born in London and lived there as a child, returns to the city that will forever be in her blood and gives her impressions of and reactions to the mosaic of London and Londoners she encounters during her visit. Again this is basically the same as the original 1963 broadcast, but there has been extra footage added in to reflect more historic London landmarks that might be of interest to Americans who really love the long history of London.
Special Feature: Elizabeth Taylor in London Rushes [1963] [480i / 1080p] [1.33:1] [2:40] With this featurette, we basically get to see the guys who use the clapperboard, also known as a dumb slate, clapboard, film clapper, film slate, movie slate, or production slate, is a device used in filmmaking and video production to assist in synchronizing of picture and sound, and to designate and mark the various scenes and takes as they are filmed and audio-recorded. It is operated by the clapper loader. It is said to have been invented by Australian filmmaker F. W. Thring. Again for what we view with the clapperboard to register the scene they are about to shoot the scenes of different parts of London and we also get some rough bits in between each short scene they shoot. We mainly get short images of different London buildings and not any of Elizabeth Taylor. But for some mysterious reason, it is all completely silent.
Special Feature: Image Gallery: With this featurette, we get to view some wonderful and glamorous 1080p black-and-white images of publicity photographs of the actress Elizabeth Taylor for ‘ELIZABETH TAYLOR IN LONDON.’ But we also get to view some wonderful 1080p black-and-white images of publicity photographs of the actress Sophia Loren for ‘SOPHIA LOREN IN ROME.’
BONUS: Limited edition 20-page booklet entitled TALE OF TWO CITIES by John Barry and experts Geoff Leonard and Pete Walker March 2022. It has some wonderful colour and black-and-white photographs of Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren in their locations.
Finally, ‘ELIZABETH TAYLOR IN LONDON | SOPHIA LOREN IN ROME’ is a great way to look back on a tale of two cities, from the passion of our two hostesses to the passions of their inhabitants, a rare look into the 1960’s and two hours just fly by. These two documentaries were shown over consecutive years and produced by the same men (Philip D'Antoni and Norman Baer) - featuring the two mega movie stars who were then considered by many to be 'the world's most beautiful women’ – both then very much in their prime. Taylor (born in 1932) had just finished appearing in CLEOPATRA (hailed at the most expensive film ever made at that time) and Loren (born 1934) featured in MARRIAGE ITALIAN STYLE with co-star Marcello Mastroianni. An enterprising idea then to have Taylor and La Loren talk us through the history and customs of their respective towns and according to some sources Sophia Loren was actually born in Naples. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
