FADE TO BLACK

UK, 2007, 90 minutes, Colour.
Danny Houston, Paz Vega, Christopher Walken, Diego Luna, Anna Galiena, Nathanial Parker.
Directed by Oliver Parker.

A what if…? thriller, with an actual movie setting linked with politics, sounds like interesting entertainment and a boon for movie buffs. This is what Fade to Black achieves.

At the centre of this film is Orson Welles (played with a blend of arrogance, smarminess and self-deprecation by Danny Huston). It is 1948. He has just been divorced from Rita Hayworth (with posters for her Gilda all over Rome). He has come to Italy to play the magician Cagliostro in Gregory Ratoff’s Black Magic. Is his promising career almost dead?

Welles believes in himself and gives free advice to Ratoff as to how to make his film. Approached by an extra, he is shocked when the man is soon murdered on the set, whispering (‘Rosebud’-like) a final word in his ear. Is it just a murder? Is it political because this is the time of the 1948 election with vigorous anti-Communist campaigns, remnants of the defeated Fascists trying to make a comeback and the Christian Democrats poised for victory? Are there conspiracies in the background? The possibilities of armed coups? Black market in-fighting? And, of course, there is the American presence (personified by Christopher Walken) backing the Christian Democrats, opposing any show of Communism and throwing around their political weight and financial backing.

Welles is interrogated by the police but decides to pursue the mystery himself, along with a young assistant who was in the resistance (Diego Luna). He also encounters the Italian star, Lea Padovani (Paz Vega) and her silent screen star mother (Anna Galiena). From here on, it becomes even more complicated, with American GI deserters, arms caches, drug deals, bashings and threats, political rallies where Welles is asked to perform his magic tricks for the public. And, as well, Welles has decided he would like to make Othello in Italy and powers that be offer him financing in return for support.

It might not be the greatest murder mystery but there are sufficient twists, sinister motivations and behaviour and an unexpected solution to satisfy fans of this kind of thriller.

It was written and directed by Oliver Parker (Othello, An Ideal Husband) whose recent films have been the awful Importance of Being Earnest and the remake of St Trinians (with another in the pipeline).

1.An entertaining thriller? The cinema background? For film buffs? The political background? The combination with a murder mystery?

2.The Roman settings (so much filmed in Serbia)? The atmosphere of 1948, the introduction with the newsreels of the aftermath of the war? Post-war situation, the wealthy, the poor, the ruins? The studios, homes? The ruins of Tombola? The political rallies? Authentic feel? Musical score?

3.Orson Welles' voice-over, confiding in the audience, Welles and his self-analysis, arrogance, the truth?

4.Orson Welles and his reputation, thirty-three at the time, his career, the break-up of his marriage to Rita Hayworth (and all the posters for Gilda around Rome)? His going to make the film Black Magic? Arrival at the airport, his comments on himself and his celebrity, his slimming pills, their being taken, the paparazzi and the other celebrity, the interviews with him? Going to the set, costumes, his behaviour? His magic tricks? His discussions with the director, telling him how to make the film? Tomasso assigned as his assistant? Sandro, his approach, the discussion, the pills, his promises? His dying, on the set, the final whispering of words (like Citizen Kane and 'Rosebud') of 'Nero'?

5.Tomasso and his background, young, in the Resistance, leaving the police, accompanying Welles, driving, saving him, making the contacts, infatuated with Leah Padovani? The fascists, Tombola, the dangers, his being bashed? His anger with Welles? His being with Leah Padovani, accosted by the fascists, his device of setting the fascist alight, his own burns, in hospital?

6.Leah Padovani and her reputation at the time, making the film, Welles taking the cameras, her reaction, hostile? Inviting him to her home, his meeting her mother? The possibility of making Othello? Watching the silent film, Aida wearing the mask? Welles' compliments? The likeness to her daughter? The later revelation about the mask and the murder?

7.Pete Brewster, American, knowing Welles from the past, Brazil, in Rome, American foreign policy, supporting the Christian Democrats in the election, anticommunist? The promises, to send Joe Black home, having him killed? The request for Welles to do his magic tricks at the rally? His warning of Welles? His reaction to the performance, with the fascists picking up Welles, his not being on the list, not worthwhile? The sour comments on American foreign policy?

8.Welles, the death, the police and the interrogations, the word 'Nero', finding the prostitute, her guiding them to Tombola, going to Tombola, meeting Joe Black, his story about desertion in the war, the black market, wanting to get home, the promises? Finding of the ammunition? The chase and their hiding in Tombola, the escape? Welles and the list of people threatened, his reaction? The fascists taking photos of Welles with the Communist Party flags in the background and threatening to send them to America for the House of UnAmerican? Activities and ruining his career? The role of the fascists, blaming the uprising on the communists?

9.The warnings, Welles' fear, the magic trick, the screening of his interview, the implications of his critique of politics and American policy?

10.Going to the library, watching the footage, seeing the syringe, the masked woman, talking with Aida? Admitting her guilt? Leah Padovani saying it could have been her? The irony that the murder had nothing to do with the political situation?

11.Tomasso, his love for Leah, the fascists, the confrontation, the burning?

12.Film-making, the discussions about financing Othello, the Christian Democrats, the mutual help?

13.The rally, the earlier footage of Mussolini and his death? The Christian Democrats' rally, the people?

14.An informative film, the background of Italy at the time, the background of Orson Welles and his career - all in the context of a murder mystery?