Brigitte Bardot Viva Maria VG+ 1965 RARE ORIG OST United Artists Jeanne Moreau

$

45

Vinyl:  VG+ Play Tested. Sounds Great!  Labels are Clean.  This is the Original 1965 Pressing.  Hear Brigitte Bardot sing!!! Hear Jeanne Moreau sing!!! Hear them sing together!!!  (all singing is in French--ooh-la-la!)  It's quite enjoyable listening and diverse:  burlesque music, tasteful orchestra accompanying classical guitar as well as straight chanteuse treatments.
Cover: VG+ (see photos; with sticker; includes rare original correct inner sleeve hyping United Artists' 2 Beatles films from that time;  This cover would be NM- if it weren't for some ring wear and unobtrusive pen marks on the back.  But the goods are up front (hmm...) The front cover of Brigitte and Jeanne is stunning.  Suitable for framing!!  Brigitte with a machine gun?!?  Have fun pondering that one!)
Goldmine Standards.   I play test every album that I sell on eBay as I have found you can't rate an LP accurately by just visually inspecting an album. 
See Synopsis Below!

U.S. Shipping:  $4 Media Mail for up to 2 LP's.  Additional LP's .50 (double albums count for 2LP's).  I will only ship to Italy by Registered Mail.  Rest of World, ask for cost of shipping before bidding.  I only pass on to you my cost to get it to you.  Similarly, upgrades and insurance can be added on at Buyers' expense.  Feel free to ask any questions and happy bidding!
Once you're satisfied with your purchase, please leave positive feedback and I will do the same for you.  If you're unsatisfied, please let me know so we can resolve it.  Take a look at my previous feedback and bid with confidence.  Check my other items this week, check back often & add me to favorite seller list as I will be adding more Rare items in the coming weeks!  Thanks!

Plot synopsis

In 1907 in a Central American country called San Miguel, Maria II (Brigitte Bardot), the daughter of an Irish Republican anarchist, meets Maria I (Jeanne Moreau), the singer of a circus. After her father dies, Maria II hides in the circus where she sees Maria I's partner commit suicide after a failed love affair. Both Marias agree to form a theatrical team.

In her debut as a singer Maria II accidentally invents striptease, an action that lets the circus achieve great fame. Shortly afterwards the Marias meet Florès (George Hamilton), a socialist revolutionary. He invites them to join his cause, a revolution against "El Dictador" (José Ángel Espinoza). But Florès is soon shot. On his deathbed he makes Maria I promise to carry through with his cause and she agrees. Though at first reluctant to acquiesce to Florès' and Maria I's endeavor, Maria II joins the cause when she comes to the aid of her vulnerable friend.

The rest of the film concerns the revolution. After Maria I leads her men into an ambush, and Maria II saves them, the women create a peasant army, organizing the countryside into a quasi-Socialist state. There are numerous sight gags and comic actions.

Preparing to take the capital city, the Marias are captured by Catholic churchmen who fear the disorder of a revolution and want to stop the people from treating the women like saints. After a bungled attempt to tickle torture them (the Inquisition's equipment is too old to work well) the Marias are rescued by their victorious army. Finally they move to France, where the circus is recreated as a successful musical version of the revolution. The women now wear dark wigs to look more "Spanish."

Production

Development

According to Jeff Stafford of Turner Classic Movies, "Malle's idea [was] to take a buddy movie and subvert it. For inspiration, he instructed Carrière to consider the Gary Cooper - Burt Lancaster relationship in Vera Cruz (1954), which was a favorite Western of the two collaborators. By replacing the traditional male protagonists with two strong females, Viva Maria! not only worked as an amusing gender twist on a popular formula but was seen in some quarters as a political statement.

Malle said German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder later told him that Viva Maria! fascinated him and his fellow students at Berlin University. Malle recalled, 'It was a time of those radical student movements, and they saw in the heroines the two different approaches to revolution.'"[4]

Malle conceived of the film as "a sort of burlesque boxing match—sexpot v. seductress";[5] he got the film financed on the condition that Moreau commit to the project.[6]

The male lead was George Hamilton who Malle cast on the strength of his performance in Two Weeks in Another Town. Malle said "he was a personal choice and I am happy with him... He's more interested in being in the social columns - I don't understand - when he should be one of the greatest of his generation."[7]

Shooting

Moreau and Bardot became "like two pals in the army" after 16 weeks of principal photography in Mexico,[8] including Texcoco.[5]

Filming started 18 January 1965.[9]

An extra was killed during filming when he fell off an ox cart.[10] Filming was also held up when Bardot fell ill.[11]

Dialogue is in English, French, Spanish, and Dutch, depending on the actor. The French version includes extensive English subtitles.[citation needed]

Reception

Critical

Time called it a "jaunty but slipshod farce"; "Having saddled himself with an idea that often seems too silly for words, Director Malle rides to the rescue with more anti-state, anti-church, antedated spoofery than he can gracefully handle. His rhythm is erratic, as though he were trying to make a movie in five or six different styles at the same time, none wholly his own. But even the deadly slow stretches are redeemed by cameraman Henri Decaë, whose breathtakingly sophisticated photography is a show in itself, imperceptibly shaded as the action moves from lush Rousseau tropics to the cabaret scenes that exude a smoky golden haze in which Moreau and Bardot appear like creatures of Lautrec or Degas, ineffably alluring."[12] According to Variety, the film has "B.B. in her best form since And God Created Woman, and brilliantly matched by Jeanne Moreau. They are backed by a rollicking, comic adventure opus impeccably brought off by director Louis Malle."[13]