The lost continent
| documentary | |
|---|---|
| title | The lost continent |
| Original title | Continente perduto |
| Country of production | Italy |
| original language | Italian |
| Publishing year | 1955 |
| length | 120 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director |
Leonardo Bonzi , Mario Graveri |
| script |
Enrico Gras , Giorgio Moser |
| production | Leonardo Bonzi |
| music | Angelo Francesco Lavagnino |
| camera |
Giovanni Raffaldi , Franco Bernetti |
| cut | Mario Serandrei |
The Lost Continent is an Italian documentary from 1955 set on Asia's coasts and in the Indonesian islands. The film crew was on a sailing ship in the regions mentioned for months, starting in Hong Kong and ending on the island of Borneo. Original customs, religious festivals and rituals are impressively brought closer to the viewer in this first Italian CinemaScope film in color and in 4-channel stereo sound, which has earned the film a number of awards. Synchronized versions of the Italian version may be available. a. in German, English, French and Japanese.
content
Film of an expedition from Hong Kong to the islands of Indonesia, Java, Bali and Borneo with fascinating nature shots. At the same time there is an ethnographic report that shows in detail the customs and religious rites of the people living there.
Film music
“Lavagnino, who spent six months with the film team in Indonesia to study the folklore of the country there, composed one of his most outstanding works for the film: an extraordinarily fascinating, varied and sensually exotic music that, with its brilliant themes, is hers rousing rhythm and its colorful palette of sounds inspire. Ethnic local color is integrated into an occidental symphonic tonal language, whereby Lavagnino was the first Italian film composer to experiment with all kinds of innovative sound and recording techniques. "
Alhambra released a CD in 2010 with the score for Lavagnino.
The film itself is not available as a video or DVD.
Reviews
The Italian film critic Luigi Chiarini stated that the beauty of Craveri's images, Serandrei's subtle film editing, and Lavagnino's soundtrack give the film an undeniable suggestive power that explains its success. The romantic and mythological backdrop of this documentary by the directors Gras and Moser, with which the commentary written and spoken by Vergani, corresponds exactly to this, certainly contribute equally to this.
The French writer Jean de Baroncelli said: “ Done with great resources and accompanied by a rich soundtrack, it is less an ethnographic investigation than a 'visual poem' in which 'the picturesque, the unexpected, the strange attain a kind of epic grandeur '. "
The French philosopher Roland Barthes dedicated an essay to the film in his semiological work "Mythologies". He criticized the filmmakers for using a European feeling of Far Eastern exoticism and for upholding their own Christian values against the Buddhist and Hindu traditions of the region.
Awards
He has received the following awards:
- Cannes Film Festival 1955: Special Jury Prize
- 5th Berlin International Film Festival 1955: Large silver medal (documentary and cultural films)
- Nastro d'argento of the SNGCI for the best film music 1955
literature
- L. Bonzi: Continente perduto. Cronaca illustrata della spedizione italiana nelle isole della Sonda e del Borneo. Ulrico Hoepli, Milan 1955.
- L. Bonzi: Continent perdu. Hachette, 1956.
Web links
- The lost continent in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Continente perduto . In: R. Chiti, R. Poppi (eds.): Dizionario del cinema italiano. I film, dal 1945 al 1959 . tape 2 . Gremese, Rome 1991, p. 104 (Italian, limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ Alhambra publishes Lavagnino's CONTINENTE PERDUTO. May 3, 2010, accessed February 15, 2020 .
- ↑ Francesco Lavagnino - The Lost Continent at Discogs
- ↑ L. Chiarini: Panorama del cinema - contemporaneo 1954–1957 . Bianco e Nero, Rome 1957 (Italian).
- ^ Jean de Baroncelli: Le continent perdu . In: Le Monde . Paris December 26, 1955 (French).
- ↑ Roland Barthes, A. Lavers: The lost continent . In: Mythologies . Hill and Wang, New York 1972, p. 94-96 .
- ↑ Berlinale Prize Winner 1955. 1955, accessed on February 15, 2020 .