Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa... (1965)

Director:

Luchino Visconti

Writers:

Suso Cecchi d'Amico (story) &
Enrico Medioli (story) ...

Release Date:

16 January 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Sandra is excitement! What Sandra does... is astonishing!

Plot:

Sandra comes back to Volterra, in Tuscany, the little town where she spent her childhood. She is with her American husband...

Plot Keywords:

Italy | Husband Wife Relationship | Incest | Mother Daughter Conflict | Mother Daughter Relationship

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Claudia Cardinale	...	Sandra Dawson
Jean Sorel	...	Gianni Wald-Luzzati
Michael Craig	...	Andrew Dawson
Renzo Ricci	...	Antonio Gilardini
Fred Williams	...	Pietro Formari
Amalia Troiani	...	Fosca - maid
Marie Bell	...	Sandra's mother
Vittorio Manfrino
Renato Moretti
Giovanni Rovini
Paola Piscini
Isacco Politi
Ferdinando Scarfiotti

Also Known As:

Sandra (France)
Sandra of a Thousand Delights (USA) (dubbed version)
Vagues étoiles de la grande ourse (France) (literal title)

Runtime:

105 min | Argentina:100 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

Italian | Hebrew | French | English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:18

Company:

Vides Cinematografica

Soundtrack:

Prelude, chorale and fugue

"Burned" edge of subtitles

About the very beautiful and sensational subtitles, including the car drive through the landscape - with dialogue! - and made without back projection, the burned film material in the right side of the screen might be a malfunction in the technical process, but is still maintained in the copy to stress the holocaust theme of Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa... (the original Italian title of "Sandra" spells a line from the 19th century poet Giacomo Leopardi, quoted later in the film). The burned or overexposed film material is by so far foreshadowing the burning of the plot's MacGuffin-like novel named "Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa" (literary "bright stars of the Bear"). Wonder, what the non-existing contents of the Thorah-like manuscript, who in a sense remind of film reels, really is, since it makes the blackmailed sister so upset? The burned film strip during the subtitles inspired the Swedish director, the newly departed Swedish director Ingmar Bergman to burn the celloid in a scene of his film Persona.

The burned edge can only be observed in the DVD version issued from the Japanese market, not in the American, cropped versions on VHS tape.