| · La Bohème (1926): "Probably because of the historical context. I read up on the history and found out that the score was supposed to be Puccini, which is what you could see when you’re watching this movie. But (the producers) ran into a problem – they forgot to ask Puccini. Puccini’s children and wife were still around, and they owned the copyright on the Puccini La Bohème music.
"They made the entire movie and then went to get the rights – so they had to come up with a score, which they did very quickly. And, I’m telling you, today the thing would be in court – because they did all the things so that you still hear Puccini, but they’re not playing ‘the notes.’ And it’s funny, too – it’s witty….
"In the 1970s, I called Lillian Gish (star of La Bohème), who was 78, and I asked her if I put the Puccini music into the movie the way she wanted it – because the music was now public domain – would she come to the show and hear it? And she said yes, so I got the Chicago Lyric Opera House… and got them to put an entire Puccini set-up with the garret set and the screen in the middle. I put this thing together… and Lillian came, and we did it.
"Now, that’s my favourite. It was the score she intended and she was the filmmaker. The credited director was King Vidor, and I called him, because he was still alive, and I asked him to come to the show.
"He said, ‘No, no, I’m not coming.’
"I said, ‘Why?’
"He said, ‘That’s Lillian’s film – I didn’t direct it.’" |
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