Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes

Elizabeth-Taylor:-The-Lost-Tapes
Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes

If you had to choose a historical moment marking the beginning of the 1960s which is pronounced as the decade of counterculture revolution, most historians will cite two events as the most significant of that era. One of them was John F. Kennedy’s assassination. The other (the real spark to the tinderbox) was the very first time the Beatles were seen on ‘Ed Sullivan’, a mere eleven weeks later, and they almost replied to the killing by providing these words; “Here is joy. Here is hope. Here is an alternative.”

But there was another, more gradual, but just as important global media trend that defined the new zeitgeist of the era. That was the scandalous romance of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Today, such a story seems to be the peak, if you will, of absurdity in gossip. But as this film unfolds, Nanette Burstein’s attractive and absorbing documentary demonstrates that this was more than just a romance, it was a larger-than-life romance. A fight for the love of the world itself, for it was truly mythological.

Why? For many years, movie star love affairs have been scandalous and controversial. The first scandalous relationship in history was between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. This was the genesis of media around the whole idea of ‘paparazzi.’ This exposes a perspective that Taylor Burton epitomized glamour but the world had never before witnessed their romance which was made possible by mass communication. In fact, the times of their romance were when divorce rates were increasing and their bet was ahead of the time. She became a star in the early 1940s as she was beautiful like Vivien Leigh and Marilyn Monroe. She was that extravagant and that is also why she was the first actor to be paid one million dollars for a role in Cleopatra.

It was published by the Vatican that she ex-husband Eddie Fisher and divorced him for her co-star in Cleopatra, Burton, which was a hot scandal the worst of sins (Eddie, of course, has turned into a spiteful polemicist and playboy since then). But also the violence that had initiated it played out in a different, liberated way than it had earlier. As the documentary recounts, she got married eight times not because she would run around from one man to another like a loose woman, but precisely because she was serious about her relationships. But what Mz. Taylor’s scandal with Mz. Burton ended the constant need to find satisfaction in other partners her satisfaction no longer depended on her marriage. So the 1960s would be, and she literally turned into a pleasant example of infamy in that up until now adored the ‘freedom’ concept of yours a diva who lives for pleasures.

Now, there is an entire sub-genre of celebrity biographical documentary that revolves around listening to old tapes made for interviews. One such tape has taped the sound of ‘Capotes Tapes ’. ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’ would not have been there had it not been for that gripping documentary. Or one like ‘Kubrick on Kubrick’. ‘The Lost Tapes of Elizabeth Taylor is based on the recordings of Elizabeth Taylor made by journalist Richard Meryman in 1964 when he was doing research for her book. On these tapes, Elizabeth\’s voice appears somewhat unique. She sounds arrogant, sad, sultry, enraged, jaded, and brutally honest, even a bit nonchalant. Even the test offers something new and seems peculiar to her.

I began to appreciate the fullness of her beauty whenever she uttered those words. The documentary contains remarkable clips about Elizabeth Taylor at home and in public and even though she had always had amazing features those mesmerizing eyes (once, on the set of ‘National Velvet,’ she was ordered to take off her mascara; naturally, it wasn’t needed), an exquisite mouth typical of a Greek statue at rest, a smile that is modern, incredibly flexible and exquisitely cut she managed to appear drastically different every time, with a surprisingly wide range of emotions. She was born in London to American parents and she has lived all her life with a very British accent; it is the one thing which allows her fury to be so delightfully cutting.

This personal touch is subtle, yet every scholar can appreciate the fact that Burstein blends the story with the work of the Canadian historian Yvonne M. Paul. For the audience, it becomes another kind of paradox. We perceive Taylor thinking about how during the work on “Giant” she was having secret and intimate dialogues with James Dean. She feels that her entitled upbringing to some of the gay icons of the time (Dean, Hudson, Montgomery Clift, or her childhood co-star Roddy McDowall) offered her a sense of security away from Hollywood or on the attack’s side, rather than being its target. People might be surprised to learn about her ‘nasty’ ex-husband the rich hotelier Nicky Hilton, who used to stomp her nasty in order to ‘eliminate’ the child. She guts the ’50s movies that the studio so contemptibly made her to make as, “pieces of dog shit you could choke on.”

A day after the end of her second divorce, her son Michael Wilding took her to the office and to the legendary producer Mike Todd, who ordered her to come to him right away. As soon as he saw her, he professed his love to her and they were eventually going to be married, and by the time he ended his presentation, she was already in disbelief. It is at this point that she confirms, “He could steal the gold out of your mouth.”

In addition, there is the constant recognition of how in truth she never felt remorse over having been disloyal as a wife in the first place. ‘She never bothered me,’ she grins, ‘because I know how bad I can be, and I never cared about how bad I could be.’

While married to Todd, she developed a touch of his bluster. His demise in an air crash sent her berserk, making a complete shift in the course of her life impossible. The marriage to Eddie Fisher was a case of a quick fix (she mentions having liked him only), which was drowned under the tidal waves of love for Burton. “The Lost Tapes” does not make a greater fuss than what is necessary over the personal drama of the subjects rather than the Kunst. But the film, like Liz herself, does not play down the relative sobekayoatsy of her career as an actress. Yes, she was an angelic child actress and correctly cast in ‘A Place In The Sun’ and ‘Giant’, but in many of them, she became a tragic victim of the 50s candy-colored studio spy fare much as ever Brando did.

Despite herself, she does not spare any harsh comments on “Butterfield 8”, an exciting story that brought her an Oscar prize after she practically died of pneumonia when filming “Cleopatra.” This is how straight she is: “I got the award because I cut my throat “Sorry, but I think winning it was some kind of sympathy thing because the film was so bad”. However if Taylor had satisfied herself with the observation that “Butterfield 8” was poorly executed and had morals that were trashy at best (the entire portrayal of her tragic prostitute character addressed a discord between sentimentality and some hints of Hays Code residual prudishness), she does argue that she played it all on the first place because she was furious when one watches “Butterfield 8”, her performance does have a sense of catharsis. That is the link to her amazing performance in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.”

Her account of meeting Burton is a laugh. He came on the set of “Cleopatra” and, “I have never seen such a gentleman who was so hungover in my life. He was quite literally tittering from one end to the other. ” He is unable to even grip the coffee cup he ordered for himself, and so Liz had to do it.

“I gave him coffee, and he was shaking all the time and nervous and sweet which provoked tenderness in me for him.” He had only seen her in certain movies that featured her as a young child and assumed that she was just a star who had no capabilities in acting at all, but as time went by his opinion changed. Elizabeth’s talent is also a mystery to her, as Burton states, “It’s the unreachability of Elizabeth what makes her interesting.”

Essentially, they were always within reach of saving each other while simultaneously having the capacity to cause irreversible harm due to alcohol-related issues, and it was noted that over time, they were reminiscent of George and Martha. Just as the media put them in a particular light, the media was also responsible for their downward spiral. In this case, George Hamilton reminds the audience about how they were “not going for glamour anymore, they were going for the destruction of glamour.” What we observe in the final stage of Liz Taylor’s life and, in some sense, career, The Lost Tapes incorporates that destruction, for it is also how Taylor was able to harness her strength by advocating for people suffering from Aids.

This role has to be observed in the real world and that was the world’s bashing consistently without let up: She has to be Madona’s approbation fully. And if you catch her at that age, you understand that Taylor, after what she has been through, has not changed but a single quality and that is God’s purity which she has transformed into an even higher quality.

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