Rapimento

This film has been showing up lately on Fox Movie Channel. Catch it if you can or have a friend tape it for you. You'll never see another film like it. Delerue's music is probably the one element that makes the film unforgettable, but there's also the screenplay which could almost be a modern day greek tragedy about the torments of adolescence before and after sexual awakening; the central performances by 15 year old Patricia Gozzi, Hollywood veteran Melvyn Douglas, former child actor Dean Stockwell and Swedish Bergman star Gunnel Lindblom that keep the whole thing believable in spite of the overheated plot; the incredible cinematography whose fluidity and composition enhance every word and emotion; the sound design which, although almost entirely post synchronized, is done brilliantly and never feels canned or artificial.

There is so much that's puzzling about the movie, one wonders if we'll ever know how it came to be made. The original treatment that it's based on is by Ennio Flaiano, Fellini's most frequent writing collaborator, but it's written by an Englishman, Stanley Mann. The director never made anything before or after that indicated he had the imagination or sensitivity to create something like it (yes this is the same John Guillerman that made Shaft in Africa and The Towering Inferno). It's shot on location and yet has the look of an A-list film shot on a sound stage. The cast includes two Americans, a Frenchwoman and a Swede, so it was probably dubbed into many languages for international distribution. Produced by 20th Century Fox, it couldn't be less American.

Most puzzling of all: why has it never received the recognition it deserves?

If anyone reading this has background information about its production, please contact me.