unwanted child/part seven

"At Long Last Love" had the misfortune to get caught in Peter/Cybill crossfire. There's nothing wrong with the film, except possibly its unlucky timing.



By the time it was released, the press - including film critics - had grown weary of the Peter-Cybill relationship. There was the misconception that Cybill was in every film that Bogdanovich made - that she was being overexposed by him - when the fact is, the two had made only two films prior to ALLL. And both are good and Cybill is good in them - "The Last Picture Show" and "Daisy Miller," an underrated film that, unlike ALLL, hasn't been buried.



Anyway, in that environment, the film didn't stand a chance.



But why has it been made impossible to see? And who made it impossible?



I have several theories. It would be easy to blame Fox which might have been embarrassed by the movie's failure, but Peter contends the studio loved it and, as noted in the first post here, the studio has made far more inferior films available for home entertainment.



Could it have something to do the song rights? The music licensing might be too expense to justify a home-video release. Fact is, that’s the problem behind a lot of the higher-profile MIA movies.



Or perhaps the Cole Porter estate would prefer it remain out of sight, a la the restraint that the Gershwin estate allegedly has put on Otto Preminger's film of "Porgy and Bess," which has been largely unseen since its première engagement in 1959.



And then there's Peter. According to Brian Mills' "101 Forgotten Films" (Kamera Books, 2008), "Bogdanovich owns the rights (to the film) and has stated that he does not intend to release the film on DVD."



It is not unusual for a film personality to totally disavow a movie. Faye Dunaway has deleted "Mommie Dearest" from her filmmography, for example, the suspicion being that the film hurt her career. But Dunaway has asserted that she ignores it because it simply isn't a good movie.



In her opinion.



There's no doubt that Peter's Hollywood career was seriously affected by ALLL. He made one major studio film following it - Columbia's "Nickelodeon" - and a few scattered studio titles aftewards ("Mask," "Texasville" and "Noises Off") but has largely been consigned to smaller independent and TV films.



He was no longer the golden-boy auteur.



What's telling is that just about everything he's done, even some nondescript TV stuff, is available on home entertainment.



But not "At Long Last Love."



The film is way overdue for a restoration. Perhaps with Criterion working its magic. Perhaps with Peter's involvement. Such a move could validate both the film and its maker.



Vindication, yes. At long last. But that seems unlikely.



And "At Long Last Love" is fated to remain an orphaned, unwanted child.



Tinged with an air of melancholy. .............................................The End.............................................