Did you happen to record Monty Python’s Flying Circus
when it was shown on PBS back in the 1970s?
Do you still have the tapes?
Is there a TIME LIFE logo at the end?
If so, please write to me. Thank you!

Click here to learn the story.

THE WORKS OF TINTO BRASS


EuroTrash

(21 July 2000)



In the conservative land of Great Britain, where seemingly nothing can get by the censors, Channel 4 somehow manages to broadcast this half-hour titillation program(me) every Friday night, apparently without incident. On tonight’s episode, five minutes are devoted to an absurd interview with Tinto Brass, who offers a disquisition on why bottoms are more expressive than faces, and who illustrates the difference between a “physical ass” and a “metaphysical ass.” If a program like this were to be broadcast on American television, there would be another civil war, but the Brits take all this nudity and sex in their stride. Or maybe they like Antoine De Caunes’s work as master of ceremonies so much that they forgive all else.

Once upon a time I recommended that people check out http://www.planetrapido.com/peep/index.html, but it’s gone now. I archived it, but then I lost the disc. If anyone else out there archived the page, please write to me! Thanks! Fortunately, I did archive the free movie, which had been deleted from the broadcast episode. Unfortunately, I don’t have the rights and dare not make that available on this site, as much as I would love to. Still, though, you can check out the new press-release site at http://www.rapidotv.net/shows/shw.10.php. There were also more clips, which one had to pay for, and which I never paid for, which were once available at http://shop.planetrapido.com/cgi-bin/shop1.storefront/EN/catalog/1001 — but that site is gone as well. Fiddlesticks! If you downloaded these and still have copies, please write to me! Thanks!

It occurs to me that this brief insight into Tinto’s “hands-on” working methods can be upsetting for some people. I hadn’t noticed that before, because I was seeing it from a different point of view and with a knowledge that most people won’t have. First of all, the multiple audition shown here was not real, but staged. Is this an accurate representation of how Tinto casts? Yes, to a degree. This is how he casts the minor actresses who would be required to have some carnal contact on screen. He needs to see how willing they are and how comfortable they are working with him. They know what they’re in for, and just to be sure, Tinto explains to them what he is about to do. Everything is consensual, there is no element of surprise, and there is certainly no “casting couch.” There. I hope that settles matters.

Click here to continue to Così come sono