Good Morning Babylon [VHS]

I loved this film for its artistic beauty, its romance rooted in realism, for its characters and story, and for the lovely acting and cinematography. After sculpting a perfect elephant relief in a panel of one of the colonnades of Pisa Cathedral which their family is restoring, twin brothers Andrea and Nicola, temperamental and emotional, but talented and artistic stonemasons, find themselves without jobs as the restoration project finishes, their father retires, and they fall out with their five brothers. They decide to try their luck in America and, after a descending series of menial jobs, they throw caution to the winds and join a group of Italian artists travelling to Hollywood to create scenery for the infant film industry.

Luck now favouring the brave, they end up working for D.W. Griffiths, the maestro of early Hollywood, albeit in dogsbody occupation. However, their burgeoning relationships with two likely girl film extras, Mabel and Edna, make their lives more interesting and then, hearing Griffiths wants elephants for the stage-set of his new project 'Intolerance', they create a brilliant elephant effigy. This is burnt by a jealous bureaucrat in Griffith's employ but, fortunately, they and friends had filmed the elephant and found an opportunity to show the film to Griffiths who commissions the brothers to make him 8 elephants for his film. Fortune shines on the brothers as they ascend into prime popularity with Griffiths for their marvellous elephants, marry the two lovely girls, and look set for a great future. Unfortunately, Edna dies in childbirth and Nicola, heartbroken, decides to join the Italian forces fighting the Germans in the First World War. Fortune's wheel turns full circle, as Andrea also joins the army and finds his brother dying on the battlefield. Nicola had taken up the army cameraman's job and the brothers film themselves before dying in the hope that someone will find the film and take it back to show their sons.

The film works as a fairy tale, a combination of romance, comedy, and tragedy. On one level, the deceptively simplistic story is a metaphor for the destruction of war fictionalising the making of, with actual footage from, Griffith's anti-war film 'Intolerance', and the death of the brothers at the end in a surrealistic montage of battle with an image of an Italian church, similar to Pisa Cathedral, in the background. But on a parallel level, the film is a delightful story of two imaginative and ambitious brothers who achieve an impossible dream. The vivid settings are historically interesting from the restoration of one of Italy's finest cathedrals, to the depiction of early Hollywood. Edna's death and the death of the brothers in the war add tragic grandeur to the film's Italian operatic style. The wonderful acting, especially from the two brothers, but which includes an excellent performance from Charles Dance as D.W. Griffiths and a lovely early performance by the beautiful Greta Scacchi, contribute to the 'Commedia del Arte' bravura of the whole film scheme. Metaphors abound, and the directors' attention to detail (the double wedding of Andrea and Nicola to Edna and Mabel is just one example) makes this a meticulous piece of film craftsmanship, echoing the craftsmanship of the stonemasons which the whole film is about. The final scene, the brothers filming themselves, emphasises the power of film and celebrates the art of film-making as one of the world forms of artistic expression, up there with painting, sculpture, and music.

The film is one of my favourites, and I was delighted to see the fictional story of the creation of elephants for Griffiths' famous film re-created in the giant elephant replicas in the new Mall in front of the Kodak Theatre where the Oscars ceremony is held in Hollywood. Viewers may also like to note that the backdrop for the title sequence is part of the Pisa Cathedral complex, the wall of the burial ground. One could continue to comment on the layers of metaphor, filmic reference, and artistic quality of 'Good Morning Babylon' but I will end by simply thoroughly recommending this film. It is a period piece and deserves to be remembered.