BSKIMDB

I fully agree with reviewer nathanbron. Just to add a couple of points of interest.

If you know some about her life, not much will be added by this very badly sountracked and too long documentary, made in a flashy style more suitable to a Kardashian (who happens to be one of the producers) or to Bollywood than to the high standards of the BBC. It just rushes over her film roles, barely mentioning a few, and does not detain on important details in her personal life, as her second marriage to Richard Burton or her stage appearences.

Yet, the family having accepted to talk about her (son Christopher Wilding and ex-wife, granddaughter, etc.) and people who knew her directly, create the main point of interest (instead of the usual group of people talking about someone they did not know in most documentaries on classic stars).

MUCH better : Elizabeth The Lost Tapes. Purely in her own words.

Also interesting : Elizabeth Taylor : Facets by Kevin Burns, in the Biography series, 2003. Better coverage of her film career as well as her private life, plus she herself being interviewed.

Alta costura is a 50s Spanish drama detective story, more a drama than a typical noir. It is not specially well acted, nor a bad film either. Its main interest is seeing fashion models by famed couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga. The film shows plenty of them, as it mainly happens in a fashion house during the afternoon the new collection is shown to prospective clients.

The modeling show is interspersed with the stories of the designer, who is focused on selling his creations, and with those of his mannequins, which represent different types : the newcomer raised to fame who is marrying for money and tries to clear out her past (Lyla Rocco), a reconverted tell-it-like-it-is gypsy dancer (Laura Valenzuela), the experienced world-wise Kiki, top model of the moment, who takes advantage of her position to get from life what she wants (María Martín), the practical and disillusioned one (Dina Sten), and the one who is marrying for love (Mónica Pastrana), whose only concern is her boyfriend´s position. When an ex-boyfriend is killed, the police appears at the business, and the girl´s troubles are told while the policeman waits for the fashion show to finish.

María Martín, who plays Kiki, has a typical Spanish type that offers a funny realistic contrast with those of her costars (Lyla Rocco had been Italy´s beauty queen), in this not outstanding movie that could have been better if the detective´s part had been enhanced, the murderer being disclosed during the last minutes and contributing only the excuse for the story. Thus, its main interest is seeing the fashions.

This is the story of the making of "The Lumberjack", a 1914 short feature that itinerant Filmmakers from Paragon company shot in Wausau, a small town in Wisconsin, with the inhabitants as nonprofessional actors. The director interviews those still alive who were in it or who are in some ways connected to it. We are shown the locations, views featured in the film, old and new buildings. The director interviews a man who recovers old timber floating in the river, since the lumber mills were long gone in 1983.

Pianist Louise Elster, with an excellent timing and sense for silents, supplies both background music and some of the nicest moments in the documentary, with her lively interpretations and remembrances of an era long gone. It is great to watch how she enjoys her playing and easily adapts it to each moment´s mood in the picture.

Interviewing a woman who was featured in the wedding scene is somewhat shocking, as she is seen in 1910s fashions and hairdo, which makes a sharp contrast with seeing her in color in 1983. Watching a silent "talk" after all those years is an interesting experience, that helps fill a gap in our conscience about movie making.

It is of interest to those who like silents, though a bit slow paced, and helps connect us with a black-and-white (albeit tinted !) past, when songs were made about people wearing tulips and big red roses on their Sunday clothes.

"The Lumberkack"(1914) has survived. Those interested look at the film´s IMDB entry.