Merchant Ivory

Helen, Queen of the Nautch Girls, a 30-minute documentary film that looks at an aspect of Indian culture from a rather whimsical angle, has always been a popular Merchant Ivory film. The idea for the documentary came from Anthony Korner, an associate of Merchant Ivory's in the period, and now the publisher of Art Forum. It was directed and narrated by him, but the scenario was devised by Ivory. The subject of the film, which cost a modest $17,000 to make, is the most popular dancer in Bombay musical films -- so much so that since 1957 she had appeared in five hundred of them. In part the movie is a montage of scenes from her pictures and of the opening sequence in Bombay Talkie in which Helen dances with Shashi Kapoor on the keys of a giant red typewriter. Indian musical films that provided the background ofBombay Talkie now come to life before the bemused viewer. Stepping neatly around the puritanic codes governing Indian films that forbid direct sexual contact (even kissing), the musicals project sexuality fervently through innuendo -- in teasing situations and the sensuality of Helen's dancing. Extravagantly romantic fantasies are the stuff of this popular art form, of which Helen is clearly "queen."

The Perfect Murder, which premiered in New York at the Angelika Film Center in March 1990, was released under the auspices of Merchant Ivory Productions. But although Merchant is credited as its executive producer, having helped to arrange financing and distribution, he had little part in the actual shooting of the film. In the late 1980s, Merchant became interested in organizing an independent film unit in Bombay that would provide an opportunity for local film people to make modestly budgeted films for distribution in the West. The Perfect Murder, the first in a prospective series of films by this group, is a detective story with more than a small amount of humor, based on the British writer H. R. F. Keating's novel about Inspector Ghote (Go'-tay) who, with a Swedish criminologist studying Indian police methods, unravels a diamond-smuggling caper.

Ivory's second documentary, The Sword and The Flute, also dealing with schools of art, grew out of his experience in making Venice: Theme and Variations. Only here, instead of photographing works by the Italian masters, he has used superb examples of Indian miniature paintings. Ivory's intelligent script, narrated with feeling by Saeed Jaffrey, and accompanied by the music of Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan, traces the history of Indian miniature painting after the Moghul invasion as it develops into two principal schools, the Moghul (Muslim) and the Rajput (Hindu). The Moghul miniatures reflect an interest in historical events and the life of the court, while those of the Rajput emphasize otherworldly concerns, the yearning for transcendence, but both involve the viewer immediately in a world that is exotic and ravishing. Ivory is fascinated by the faces (and prominent eyes) of his figures, the garments they wear, and the sharply noted details of their surroundings: the figures seem almost to leap at the viewer. Compared to Venice, the dramas Ivory creates through the Indian scenes are tauter and give a greater sense of complexity, which comes in part from the tension in Ivory between his intellectual role as a close observer of culture and his intimate, empathetic response to the paintings' exceptional sensuousness and romantic feeling. The cameraman for the film was another USC cinema student, Mindaugis Bagdon, and his and Ivory's photography of the Indian miniatures proved so effective that Ivory would use the technique later, also with striking effect, in his film Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures.

Make the Wiseguys Weep will be Merchant Ivory’s first feature since 2009’s The City of Your Final Destination.  Based on a novel by David Evanier, and adapted for the screen by Ric Menello (The Immigrant, Two Lovers), the film traces the life and career of singer Jimmy Roselli, who is blacklisted from the music industry in the 1960’s following an altercation with Frank Sinatra.

There were two great singers from Hoboken, New Jersey: Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Roselli, whose staggering vocal range, passion and authority outstripped his world famous rival.  Despite being a beloved entertainer among Italian mobsters, and particularly their wives and mothers, Jimmy refused nonetheless to be beholden to the Mafia.  Accordingly, Jimmy was left unprotected when, ostensibly under Sinatra’s order, the music industry blackballed Roselli for three decades.   Largely guided by his own erratic integrity, the mercurial Roselli never received the worldwide fame his talent deserved, and whatever success he did achieve was owed in part to the selfless actions of those who cared for him most.  Jimmy’s aggressively supportive wife, Donna, convinces him to start his own record label, and Mafia soldier and Jimmy’s childhood friend, Matty, makes the ultimate sacrifice, all in the best interest of an unsung entertainer who by his own admission, was most happy when in the company of his hometown pals.

Make the Wiseguys Weep is a sincere tale about the influence of the Mafia in showbiz, of Italian-American culture and music heritage, and of a thrilling, unsung entertainer.