] It took six years to prepare for the film shoot, and over a half year of on-location work in Italy, with thousands of extras.The poetic verse is taken fromMiss Kilmansegg: Her Moralby early 19th century writer Thomas Hood.The film opens with an iris-in long shot of the tree-covered mountains of California""s gold country (Placer County), filmed in documentary style.A quacking, kazoo-sound played as the voice of the Mayor (Henry Bergman), imitating the rhythm and intonation of a typical political speech hat had little intelligible content.Both of them drink from their Coke bottles in the next shot - emphasizing their growing intimacy and affinity for each other.