It’s All True: Orson Welles’s Pan-American Odyssey

Described as a work of genius, a pretentious wreck, a crucially important film, a victim of its director’s ego, and much more, It’s All True, shot in Mexico and Brazil between 1941 and 1942, is the legendary movie that Orson Welles never got to finish. In this book, the most comprehensive and authoritative assessment of It’s All True available, Catherine Benamou synthesizes a wealth of new and little-known source material gathered on two continents, including interviews with key participants, to present a compelling original view of the film and its historical significance. Breaking with the auteur-destroyed-by-Hollywood cliche, Benamou locates the premature termination of this cross-cultural project in the complex mix of American foreign policy, Brazilian and Mexican national interests, Welles’ own desire for ethnographic authenticity, a Hollywood system looking for a conventional picture, and the political stakes of a host of players. Definitively debunking many of the myths surrounding It’s All True, this groundbreaking book will challenge much received wisdom about Orson Welles, one of the most important figures in the history of cinema, and illuminate the unique place he occupies in American culture, broadly defined.