Mark Griffin by A Hundred or More Hidden Things: The Life;Films of Vincente Minnelli

Author:A Hundred or More Hidden Things: The Life;Films of Vincente Minnelli [Minnelli, A Hundred or More Hidden Things: The Life;Films of Vincente]
Language: rus
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Film & Video, Performing Arts, Minnelli, Motion Picture Producers and Directors, Entertainment & Performing Arts, General, United States, Motion Picture Producers and Directors - United States, Biography & Autobiography, Vincente, Individual Director, Biography
ISBN: 9780786720996
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Published: 2010-03-09T06:00:00+00:00

20

Cobwebs

ALONG WITH Alice in Wonderland and The Catcher in the Rye, W. H. Hudson’s 1904 fantasy Green Mansions was on the short list of great books best left unfilmed. Although it ranked alongside the Bible and the dictionary on the all-time bestseller list, Hudson’s classic was considered “too special” to be adapted for the screen. Set in “the forbidden forests beyond the Amazon,” the novel concerned a disillusioned political refugee who retreats into the jungle, where he encounters Rima, the ethereal Bird Girl who captures his heart. The revolutionary joins Rima on a trek to find the lost civilization of Riolama, but their journey ends in tragedy.

As several frustrated producers would discover, attempting to transfer Green Mansions to the screen was a daunting prospect. Even a semi-faithful adaptation would demand stunning on-location photography, a barrage of special effects, and a leading lady who could be believable speaking “bird” and flitting about in cobweb couture.

In the early ’30s, King Kong director Merian C. Cooper attempted to bring Green Mansions to the screen for RKO (which had acquired the rights to Hudson’s book in 1932). A Technicolor camera crew was dispatched to South America to shoot atmospheric location footage, and costumer Walter Plunkett was commissioned to create a smock of spider webs for exotic beauty Dolores del Rio, who was a shoo-in to play Rima. Everything seemed to have fallen into place when a regime shift at RKO spelled the end of Cooper’s Green Mansions—but that didn’t stop other filmmakers from trying. In 1945, MGM acquired the screen rights to Hudson’s allegory of eternal love. A steady stream of press releases announced everyone from Peruvian folk singer Yma Sumac to the far too earthy Elizabeth Taylor as Rimas-in-waiting, but still Green Mansions defied the cameras.

In October 1953, the Los Angeles Times reported that Metro was taking a “new whack” at the property: “MGM still thinks it can lick the Green Mansions problem—i.e., how to get a movie out of W. H. Hudson’s classic… . Present solution: To turn it over to Alan Lerner, writer; Vincente Minnelli, director; and Arthur Freed, producer—a trio endowed with comparative taste and intelligence—with permission to shoot the works.”1

Despite the participation of Minnelli, Lerner, and Freed, none of them had any intention of making Green Mansions: The Musical. It would be a drama, though music would play an important part in the production. In fact, Brazilian composer-orchestrator Heitor Villa-Lobos was engaged to create a “Bird Symphony” for the film. This would be part of what Minnelli hoped would be a “mystical score” based on authentic birdsongs.

In February 1954, Alan Jay Lerner reported that he was “cruising up the Orinoco,” with twenty-five pages of his Green Mansions screenplay completed. “I am resisting desperately the temptation to write ‘charm’ and ‘local color,’” Lerner explained to Arthur Freed. “I feel very keenly that it must never look like a fantasy… . I am also trying to write it economically, not only to preserve the mood and narrative flow, but also so that there will be adequate room for the visual.