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Redundant and unnecessary.

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Absolutely brilliant

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

i only gave this nine stars because i didn't know what to make of this. it is basically a film of a unfinished film. and as much as i applaud the effort by the (documentary? was this a doc? dunno.)filmmakers, it's really sad that these stunning looking films were never completed. what a tragedy for cinema.still, if this is the only way to see this footage, than by all means don't hesitate to check this out if you are a film fan. the existing footage is beautiful and stunning to look at and beautifully restored by the film makers. i mean these films looked so great it was frustrating not to see the whole movies.i especially liked, and wanted to see more of, the 'Little Bonito' film. i liked the fact that it was about a ritual in Mexico with the church blessing all the animals of the little children and villagers. it was so adorable you just wanted to eat it up. i didn't know Orson Welles had a cuddly side. it was the cutest, sweetest stuff i've ever seen in my whole life. it sickens me to think of a world where little babies won't get a chance to view this darling film. it looked even better than 'The Yearling' it looked so damn cute.babies and gooey stuff aside, the rest of the film was just lovely, and even though it's just a bunch of uncompleted footage, i could watch this film again and again. it really is a masterpiece about a masterpiece(or pieces).um. did anyone believe that story Welles told about the witch doctor's curse? i dunno. something cursed these projects. but i'm not sure i believe that story. look, this is the same prankster that scared everybody with that wicked Martian invasion hoax. i'm not sure i'd believe a word he says. it's all true. yeah sure. watta liar!

From "This Is Orson Welles" by Bogdanovich On the film: "I've never seen any of what we shot, not a foot. Nobody ever saw the rushes." On filming in South America: "I didn't even like it particularly. I liked samba, but I didn't want to go down and live in South America--it's my least favorite part of the world." On filming: "I had this enormous crew sent down--I didn't want them, but they gave me two camera crews. So I'd sent a crew out there and said, 'Shoot 'em marching up and down.' I had to keep them busy; they were always saying, 'We want to get home--we're trapped here.'...So there must have been an awful lot of junk shot, because I wasn't even there."

This is certainly not the movie Welles would have made. Welles would have made something far more interesting; even his worst films have a certain fascinating quality but this is really pretty dull. They've taken his footage, strung it together in order attached a bland score that adds nothing to it and put a dull little documentary in front so you would understand what you were seeing. It's an interesting curio for film buffs, and there are some striking images, but don't kid yourself; this isn't even remotely what Welles would have created. This is a workmanlike construct using some tools created by Welles, that's all. This is not like rediscovering a Bach concerto, it's more like a piece of music written based on a description of a Bach concerto by someone who doesn't quite remember how it goes.

The title of Orson Welles' film referred to the telling of some true stories that took place in Brazil. The title of the film about the film is also true, telling the story of one of history's legendary lost films which was re-discovered in 1985 and in still in the process of being restored. Of course, it can't all be restored because it was never finished, and in the movie Welles himself admits that he had a bad habit of pursuing projects in a way that was not profitable to him.The film Welles went to Brazil to make was part of the allied good-will efforts in World War II. Funding for the film was cut off when the head of RKO was removed and, according to Welles, as a result of this abrupt stoppage of money, the movie was cursed by a voodoo witch doctor. The curse may have worked because not only was this film never completed, but also THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, which Welles was trying to edit at the same time that he was filming in Brazil, was ruined by RKO, a member of the Brazilian cast of IT'S ALL TRUE drowned, and Welles was fired from RKO.What we see of IT'S ALL TRUE shows Welles' artistry, improvisation, and ability to capture atmosphere by means of imagery, camera angles, and characters. We see various elements of the unfinished film including the Rio carnival and the story of four heroic fishermen.Welles improvized the film as he went along, giving RKO the impression that he was really doing nothing at all. But his theme was the brotherhood of all people. RKO didn't "get it" and thus, perhaps, the voodoo curse extended itself to the studio itself because it eventually was sold to Lucy Ball and Desi Arnaz to become Desilu Studios and later was absorbed into Paramount Pictures. Studio "suits" need to be more careful before cutting off the work of artists -- a fact that Welles would certainly affirm.