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<font size="2"><p>DVD Review
<font size="4"><br>Michelangelo's <i>L'Avventura</i></font>
<br>by Gary Morris</font>
<p>Michelangelo Antonioni’s <i>L’Avventura</i> has been canonized as a key work of cinematic modernism, but it almost didn’t get made. The production was fraught with problems. The rocky Aeolian island on which much of the first half of the film was shot (Lisca Bianca) had neither electricity nor water and was subject to such violent weather, including a tornado, that arrivals and departures were always problematic and at one point the crew was stranded entirely. Actress Lea Massari had a heart attack that put her in a coma for two days. The company financing the film went bankrupt during production, forcing a strike by the unpaid crew. Even the boat that figures prominently in this "adventure" was not safe from the film’s curse: it was seized by the owner, forcing Antonioni to use a noticeably larger replacement.
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