Bruce Loeb on Piano The Cinémathèque Française restoration of this lavish, lighthearted and witty superproduction-a reconstruction from parts of negatives found in archives around the world that took some two years to complete-had its world premiere at UCLA Film Archives last year. It was the first time in over fifty years that the film was seen in its original splendor. And splendid it is, much of it shot on location in Venice, with sets and costumes comparable to a Diaghilev ballet and stunning color-tinting effects in the final, climactic sequences. "The decadence of Venice and the political intrigues at Catherine the Great's court in St. Petersburg, the two major settings of the film, are merely the magnificent backdrops for a breathless choreography of color and movement. In it are stylishly blended high comedy and farce, grandiose spectacle and intimate trysts, picaresque pursuits and nostalgic dallyings" (Variety). Casanova stars the exuberant Russian-emigré French film star Ivan Mosjoukine in a role seemingly made for him, based on the memoirs of another hedonist whose high spirits and sexual magnetism were legend. Richard Abel writes, "The character of Casanova...allowed (Mosjoukine) to exploit his penchant for multiple personalities through disguises and play-acting, and he gave perhaps the best performance of his career.... (He) plays Casanova like a Douglas Fairbanks adventurer, with more sophistication, irony, and cool sexual presence." Ultimately the film is a spectacular showcase for the talents of the group of Russian emigré artists calling themselves Films Albatros (see Le Brasier ardent, February 6), in painstakingly constructed sets (maquette plastique miniatures) by Lochakoff, and internationally honored costume designs by Bilinsky. It was more commercial, certainly, than the poetic artistry of Le Brasier ardent; still in many ways director Volkoff and cinematographers Bourgassoff, Toporkoff and Burel made Casanova an avant-garde film writ large, with unusual use of close-ups, rapid cutting, superimpositions and other effects to create the subjective experience of the protagonist.