I know Zeffirelli was sued for plagiarism on this movie. The original script belonged to a Brazilian writer who sued him and was able to get the movie off distribution. That particular writer has been dead for several years but as of yet this movie never appeared in any format.
Does anyone know if it is going to be available?
I hope every day! I saw this at a screening in New York, and I own a poor quality dubbed-into-Italian version on VHS. It's not a great movie (surprise!) but Liz looks glorious in her second comeback mode (first "Little Foxes" onstage, then this era and then the "White Diamonds"/Larry Fortensky period, during which she was supernaturally gorgeous.)
She has nice "Liz" moments, but it's mostly about her beauty. C Thomas Howell is a zero onscreen.
I bought an Italian language DVD, with Italian-only subtitles. Just do a search for "Il Giovane Toscanini"DVD. You must have an all-region DVD player ( I do), or you may watch it on your computer.
shareMaybe now that Elizabeth Taylor has died will someone finally find the need (the market) to release this on DVD.
shareI always felt this film got a bad rap. I too saw it at a NY screening and think it was most certainly releaseable.
shareI don't believe this film has had any sort of release in America - not theatrically, never on VHS, never aired on television, not on DVD. Even if it's not a particularly good movie (have no idea as I've never seen it) that shouldn't stop it from being seen. I mean this film stars Elizabeth Taylor and is from a famous and highly regarded director Franco Zeffirelli, surely there's a market for it and it should be made available!!
shareYeah I've read it was never released in the States. Thats strange. It had a theatrical run in Europe and it was shown in the Venice film festival when it premiered. Funnily Taylor avoided the premiere because she saw it was gonna tank so she left Zeffirelli to face the critics. The copy I've got is an Australian genuine tape. Not sure if it was ever shown in theaters here, but at least it was released on VHS. Since then it's come out on dvd in Italy(country of the film) and Korea. I wanted to buy the Italian one but I am not sure if it comes in English or just Italian audio. True, the movie is not that great, it's a bit strange, it's more for opera buffs. I can see why it would fail. It was Elizabeth's last leading role. Her role is not that big though, but I liked seeing her as an opera singer. She didn't look her best, but it's worth if you're a fan of hers. Look on ebay. Sometimes the Korean dvd pops up.
shareI think Taylor's people referred to it as "that dog of a film." She likely had the clout to prevent it from coming ashore in America.
If it's that bad, then I can't blame her. But too bad if it was -- Taylor needed a legit film about this time, and it's a shame she didn't get one.
Zeffirelli was quoted as saying this was to be Taylor's "great comeback" and it clearly wasn't.
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Taylor's people might have said such a thing, but ET never would have publicly. She adored Franco. The non-release of the film had nothing to do with her "clout." She had no clout to stop a film. NO star does and she didn't at the peak of her career. That is the business of studios and financiers.
Had it been released it would have come and gone in the manner of "A Little Night Music." Except that Taylor looks slim and gorgeous in "Young Toscanini." (She gives a better performance in "Night Music"--one of her more subtle and poignant offerings of that era.)
In any case, "YT" needs a good DVD release.