Peter Conrad on OW

[Tony]

Here's a link to a Peter Conrad piece on OW from the Guardian in 2003; reads better than the book, I think! It's got a great opener:

"In his 20s, he revolutionized cinema; in his 60s, he sold dog food".

http://film.guardian.co.uk/feature....00.html

[NoFake]

Maybe The Guardian has a more exigent editor. Actually, the article is taken directly from the book (pages 6-13). What really ticked me off about the book (aside from its high-handed Higham-ness) was the lack of footnotes. Virtually nothing is attributed.

[Tony]

I skimmed the book- made an attempt to get into it- and found it quite dull. Since the Guardian dates the article this way:

'Friday August 29, 2003
The Guardian"

I'm assuming Conrad cribbed himself for the intro; I still say it reads better than the book in general, and maybe this is why- it was written earlier; I believe the quality of the books on Welles has gone down in general as has the percentage of authors who actually met or who knew Welles: Rosenbaum is the last, I believe.