Heinz Bütler's documentary traces the career of Edward Quinn, a photographer who recorded celebrity life on the French Riviera in the 1950s. Quinn struggled as a pinup shooter until realizing that a magazine-buying public hungered for glamorous yet tastefully insightful images of stars from Hollywood and Europe. Quinn's discretion and knack for being in exactly the right spot at the right moment yielded a number of notable portraits and candid pictures. Featuring archival footage of the genial Quinn (who died in 1997) talking about his life and work, Riviera Cocktail looks at how the shutterbug established a network of contacts in service occupations (working in hotels, etc.), who helped him determine the whereabouts of Cary Grant, Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn, and other silver screen luminaries. On the minus side, the efforts to recreate a 1950s style and tone with a jazz score by Franco Ambrosetti (viewers also spend time watching Ambrosetti's band discussing—in non-subtitled Italian—Quinn's iconic subjects) is a distracting intrusion in an otherwise fascinating profile (the story of Quinn's adventures with Pablo Picasso should not be missed). Recommended, overall. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)
Riviera Cocktail
(2008) 97 min. DVD: $24.95. Janson Media. PPR. ISBN: 978-1-56839-300-8. Volume 23, Issue 6
Riviera Cocktail
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