Fellini A Director's Notebook

Fellini revisits the weatherworn sets of his abandoned Il Viaggio di G Mastorna; scours Rome while preparing Satyricon looking for continuities (a slaughterhouse, hookers on the Appian Way) between Now and Then; auditions assorted oddballs to play gladiators, senators and whatnot. He drops in on a Mastroianni beset by fans and journalists, while Giulietta Masina introduces a deleted sequence from Notti di Cabiria. And much more. This is hardly a documentary since clearly it's all scripted and staged, down to the way Fellini covers his bald patch when the camera gets behind him. Disinterested viewers should find it all haphazardly diverting; for Fellini-philes it's ambrosia. Made for NBC, which entails Fellini having to nag everyone please to talk in English.