LONDON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - A new film "Callas - Paris, 1958" is about to transport audiences back to the night 65 years ago when opera legend Maria Callas for the first time dazzled a Paris audience.
Celebrities including Charlie Chaplin, Brigitte Bardot and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, as well as then French president René Coty attended the three-hour performance at the Paris Opera.
It was also broadcast live on television to more than 30 million people, but until film-maker Tom Volf and his team meticulously restored film reels that had lain forgotten, it had only been seen in black and white.
He said the work of his team made the film "as vivid as if it was shot last month".
It will be released in cinemas in some 40 countries between November and December in celebration of the centenary of Callas' birth.
Persons:
Callas, Maria Callas, Charlie Chaplin, Brigitte Bardot, Duke, Duchess of, René Coty, Tom Volf, Volf, Norma, Hanna Rantala, Barbara Lewis
Organizations:
Paris, Thomson
Locations:
Paris, Duchess of Windsor, New York