Don Quijote

[Alan Brody]

I think it may have been Video Watchdog that reviewed a DVD set of Jess Franco medieval epics from the 1960's, and referred to a couple of battle sequences from them that the magazine said left little doubt as to who directed the battle scene from Chimes at Midnight.

[Tony]

I think it's been established Franco shot it, what's argued is whether or not he edited it; if he did, it would be kind of a scandal in the same sense it was a scandal when it was revealed several years ago that Hitchcock neither shot or edited the Psycho shower scene. I recall a franco interview about it, but canot remmember what he said!

It seems appparent that Oja hired Franco to do the Don Quixote edit because of this Chimes connection, and his being Spanish. I guess Franco was too freewheeling to give everyone the kind of DQ they wanted.

[robertdavidmonell]

Franco helped Welles shoot the complex scene, which Welles also appears in. He was one of several Spanish assistants Welles utilized. I doubt if he edited the scene, though. He was a second unit director. According to the Franco chapter in the book IMMORAL TALES, Welles later became enraged with Franco and physically attacked him, banishing him from his life and not crediting him on the final print of CHIMES.

[ToddBaesen]

"I think it's been established Franco shot it, what's argued is whether or not he edited it."

_____


Tony:

I'm afraid your above comments are quite beyond the pale of Welles scholarship! In fact, I think that comment of yours might finally bring both Christopher and Beatrice Welles into agreement about something!

Anyway, let us deal only in facts:

I very much doubt if any Welles scholar could possibly agree with your bizarre statement. On what evidence do you even base such a wild claim?

Obviously, even if Franco said that he directed the sequence, it would directly refute Welles own comments about how he shot and edited the sequence. So where do you come up with the idea that Jess Franco could have directed or edited anything in regards to FALSTAFF?

And if you believe Saul Bass directed any of the shower sequence in PSYCHO, I'm afraid you are quite mistaken. The one person who would know who directed her was the actress involved, and that was Janet Leigh. She quite clearly indicated Saul Bass never directed her in any scenes during the making of PSYCHO!

But my own feelings regarding such a ridiculous claim as you put forth regarding FALSTAFF is this: Anyone with the slightest knowledge of Orson Welles and Jess Franco's work would find such a statement simply beyond belief!

Even as assistant director on FALSTAFF, Jess Franco may have shot some inserts, or things Welles sketched out for him. But where on earth could you possibly get the idea that Franco also may have edited the battle scenes?

Now, perhaps I'm overreacting, and you have evidence I've not seen. If so, please post it here so everyone can know what it is.

[Alan Brody]

Welles later became enraged with Franco and physically attacked him, banishing him from his life and not crediting him on the final print of CHIMES.

I think I read somewhere - it may have even been here - that Welles was angry at Franco for cutting a deal with James Bond producer Harry Saltzman that would provide end money for Chimes in exchange for Saltzmann's name going above the title. But if Welles physically attacked Franco and banished him from his life for this, why would Oja choose him to finish DQ?

[Alan Brody]

deleted

[Tony]

Here's some comments I quickly got from various sites on the internet:

Here's a comment from Christopher Lee who worked with Franco:

"But Jess Franco, or Jesus Franco as he is in Spain, is under-rated in my opinion as a director, mainly because, I think, of these other films that people say he's done. As I said, I didn't know. And just because somebody has been involved in the making of what I gather were pornographic films, doesn't mean to say they can't direct, and it doesn't make much difference to me, because that's not the movie we're making. He has a great deal of experience under his belt as a director. After all, I think I'm right in saying he did the battle scenes in Chimes of Midnight for Orson Welles. Welles doesn't choose somebody who doesn't know what they're doing. That's a feather in his cap.

"He's done some very worthwhile things. He's a most amusing man with a great knowledge of the cinema. He's good with actors, he knows what he wants. But he has been so constricted over the years by the budgets: we haven't got time to turn the camera round and put the wall in again, so zoom - instead of close-up, instead of cutting. Everything is zoom to close-up. I remember the first time I met him, it was in the days of Franco, I said with two names like that - Jesus and Franco - you shouldn't have too much trouble in Spain! But he has a great sense of humour. I haven't seen him for years. I think he's under-rated, I've always said so, because he's not just a hack director. It's always a question of material; the same thing applies to actors."

Here are some other comments:

"The exterior scenes and the battles, are spectacular, and deserve a place in history next to Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and other such perfect movie battle scenes. (According to Psychotronic Video magazine, Welles' second unit director, the Spanish gore/porno filmmaker Jesus Franco, shot these scenes. It's difficult to tell; there's nothing nearly as powerful as these scenes in neither Welles' repertoire, nor in Franco's.)"

"Franco's technical expertise is also often overlooked (his 'mastery' of the zoom is sometimes mentioned), but when a little time is taken to appreciate it, his use of cinematography and colour is often breathtaking. A little know fact is that he was called in as second unit director for Orson Welles' 1965 film Falstaff, aka Chimes at Midnight – orchestrating the critically acclaimed battle sequences."

" Jess Franco: The production of Chimes at Midnight was a total mess, not because the film was too expensive, but because Orson lied with the budget and the film was ten times more expensive. You can imagine...what a disaster. "

" Jess Franco was second unit director on Welles' CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT (1965), and helped stage the famous battle sequence, often praised as one of the best ever filmed."

"It was probably Franco's maverick stance which prompted Orson Welles to hire him as second unit director for his Shakespearean masterpiece, FALSTAFF (aka CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT, 1966) to which Franco contributed the film's critically acclaimed battle scenes."

__________________________________________________________

An interesting thing I read when looking this up on the internet: more than one person noted how Welles had never done anything like the battle sequence in Chimes when he did it; this could imply an influence from Franco, though it's never been contested that Welles designed it.

Also, I don't think we should disregard Franco just because he directed lots of B soft-core porno; on that basis, we'd have to write off Gary Graver too!

PS: As regarding the Psycho shower scene, I think it's been well established Hitch designed it but wasn't on the set when it was being shot. My point is that the two situations may be more similar than we know. Bizarre is not I word I would use to describe what I have typed, but you are welcome to use it, Todd, if you feel you must.

[Jeff Wilson]

Two minor points to respond to Tony; people may say Welles never did anything like the battle scene in CHIMES, and it's true, because he never directed another battle scene of similar scope, did he? So there's really little to compare it to. Also, if one looks at the recent WELLES AT WORK book, Thomas and Berthome note repeatedly how Welles gave specific, detailed instructions to everyone involved in CHIMES for any task he delegated. With that in mind, we're now supposed to believe he gave Franco latitude to do whatever he wanted? And that Franco should be credited as co-director?

Second, using Gary Graver as an example of why not to write off Franco is off the mark--no one is trying to build up Graver as some maligned auteur. Graver made pornos, presumably to make a living. I suppose Video Watchdog could to go back and examine his oeuvre, and anoint him a lost genius (maybe he is, I haven't sought out any of his work), but until then, I will assume he was a simple working director and harbored no greater aspirations for his work.

Lest I be accused of trying to slam Franco, that really isn't my aim. I couldn't care less about Franco or his films. As noted above, Oja Kodar is the villain here, at fault for ever allowing anyone to work on the QUIXOTE footage. QUIXOTE should have been the subject of a documentary if anything, allowing us to see how the project evolved and presenting the best of the footage to us in whatever form it had been completed. Welles never finished it, and no one else should have done so either.

[Tony]

Jeff: I never said Franco was the co-director, and I don't believe anyone else did either. And I did mention I believed Welles designed the battle scene. But the possibility remains, I believe, that Franco did more than he has been credited with (It wouldn't be the first tiime that Welles wanted all the glory) and that there is a general prejudice against him on this site because he is a "hack who only does porno". Well, I think this is a hypocritical basis on which to attack anyone, and Gary Graver has often been attacked on other sites in precisley the same way. Even Willy Kurant wrote off Graver when he described himself as the last cinematographer who worked on a professional Welles picture. Actually, I believe both Graver and Franco are "maligned auteurs", but it's middle-brow values which prevent us from seeing them as such. Let's open our minds...

Should DQ be finished? Yes, I think so: but let's respect Franco for his unique, oddball vision. It's part of the ouvre now. And I like his windmills.

[mido505]

Wow, this is getting very fun and interesting. This time, however, I'm going to back ToddBaesen up 150%. Here are a few tidbits:

In a his (very negative) review of Franco's The Bloody Judge, starring Christopher Lee, Glenn Erickson at DVD Savant wrote the following:

"Even less understandable is the championing of Jess Franco's direction, which is only slightly better than his sloppy work on the Fu Manchu series. The liner notes make the laughable assertion that the battle scene herein proves that Franco was clearly the auteur behind the much-applauded knight's battle in Campanandas a medianoche (Chimes at Midnight), the great Orson Welles film on which Franco assisted. The generic and lackadaisical fight in the woods here looks like random coverage. We have no idea who is fighting who or which side our rebel heroes are on. If the color, costumes and location weren't such a good match, we might think it was stock footage from another show. Franco may very well have done the excellent, unique battle scene in the Welles film, but I doubt it, and wouldn't trust Franco's word on the matter. The Bloody Judge would be the last film to suggest a connection."

I suspect this review is what Alan Brody was referring to in his May 18 post.

When I wrote my own (very positive) review of The Bloody Judge for IMDB, I wrote the following:

"There are a few people, including the otherwise estimable Glenn Erickson, of the hugely insightful and informative DVD Savant site, who have claimed, based on the evidence of this film, that Jess Franco could not have "directed" the legendary Battle of Shrewsbury in Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight. First, lets get a few facts straight. It is well documented that Franco shot the second unit on Chimes at Midnight, which included much of the battle scene. This means that Franco shot a lot of coverage of the battle, working from a general outline given by Welles. Later, Welles took the miles of footage into the editing room and, many months later, emerged with the shattering sequence that appears in his picture. Franco, obviously, had nothing to do with this editing process, and, as far as I can tell, has never claimed otherwise. To compare the battle scene in The Bloody Judge with Welles' magnificent achievement is grotesquely unfair, as I am sure that Franco was allowed minutes rather than months to assemble The Bloody Judge for exhibition. Given the strictures under which he was working, Franco, his cast, and his collaborators should be commended for having produced a film with such a high level of professionalism. Welles, that most populist of auteurs, who once stated that he would rather watch paint dry than sit through an Antonioni film, and who responded to energy, verve, iconoclasm, and enthusiasm, had seen and appreciated those qualities an early Franco effort, which eventually led to the offer to work on Chimes."

Franco was second unit director on Chimes at Midnight. Wikipedia has a good definition of second unit director here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_unit

Franco would have set up the shots and organized the action according to Welles' blueprint. To save time and money, Franco would have been doing this while Welles shot his own part and worked with the main actors. He would have had precisely the same relationship with Welles (albeit on a smaller scale) that Yakima Canutt had with William Wyler during the shooting of Ben Hur. Yakima Canutt staged the chariot race in Ben Hur, but William Wyler directed it; it's a difference of scale and function. Moreover, given the scope of the Battle of Shrewsbury, Welles would have used several assistants, or directed in a hierarchical fashion, with Welles relaying information to Franco, who then relayed information to those below him. robertdavidmonell's post from May 19 has it exactly right, as does the first paragraph of Jeff's post from the same date.

There are three credited editors on Chimes, only one of whom, Fritz Muller, had worked with Welles before (on The Trial). We know from several interviews with Welles' editors that he rarely handled the footage or made splices himself, but gave his editors explicit, minute, detailed instructions. He was always open to suggestions, and, if he grew to trust an editor's judgement, would leave things to him or her to assemble on their own, always subject to his approval or censure. We also know that Welles was somewhat lackadaisical about the importance of the editing process until the production of Othello, when he became obsessive and almost fanatical about it ("For me editing is not an aspect of cinema, it is the aspect"). Based on this evidence, there is no way in hell Jess Franco would have had anything to do with the editing of any part of Chimes at Midnight.

Regarding Saul Bass and the shower scene in Psycho - I would say that any one of the many stills I have seen showing Hitch directing Janet Leigh on the set would refute Saul Bass's ridiculous claims to the contrary. Everyone and their uncle tries to take credit for Psycho. If you listen to Joseph Stefano in interviews, you'd think he spent the entire shoot whispering in Hitch's ear. Sorry, no dice. Hitchcock was a legendary control freak. He planned down to the millimeter, and storyboarded everything, so that there was very little left to chance when it came time to shoot. I am sure Mr. Bass had a great deal of input into the shower scene. We know he storyboarded the sequence, and may safely say that he "designed it". He may have even "directed" the shots of the shower head and the water swirling down the drain. Other than that, it was Hitch's show all the way, with Bernard Herrmann waiting in the wings (Hitch generously said that Herrmann was responsible for 25% of Psycho's effectiveness).

My opinion of Jess Franco and his work pretty much coincides with Christopher Lee's. He is a talented genre filmmaker who has made many entertaining and interesting films, some of which have an important place in the history books. He broke taboo's when it meant something to do so, took risks when it meant something to take them, remained stubbornly independent and iconoclastic, and has worked almost continuously from the 1950's until now. He is no genius, and no Orson Welles, and did a bad job on Don Quixote. But it is not his fault that we do not have a decent assembly on DQ. It's Orson's fault, for not finishing and releasing it while he was alive, although that was his choice; and Oja's, for mishandling Orson's legacy. Let's leave it at that.

[Tony]

Mido:

Thanks for that very entertaining and well-written post! I'm so glad Robert David Monell has shown up to support Franco!

[mido505]

Thanks, Tony. I am very much looking forward to Robert David Monell's upcoming book!

[robertdavidmonell]

Todd: I just want to say I totally respect your Welles scholarship and your opinion. I agree that Franco's DQ is a mess. It looks TERRIBLE. I find it almost unwatchable. It should never, ever have been done the way it was done. And Oja Kodar should have been there as an active consultant since it was done. I can understand you fury and frustration with Franco and I can understand how people hate his work and what he did to Welles' footage. It is nonetheless a very instructive disaster for a number of reasons and a DVD and especially the upcoming showing at the CINEMATHEQUE FRANCAISE will only spur interest in the financing of a proper version. I think it could be done in Germany by the people who did the wonderful ARKADIAN versions. But there has to be some interest shown and a DVD and the upcoming showing in Paris will stir up interest.

Welles sought out Jess Franco after screening his 1962 noir DEATH WHISTLES THE BLUES, an atmospheric b&w hommage to TOUCH OF EVIL without any zoom shots but many tilted smoke filled set-ups. He hired him as a director for 2nd unit on CHIMES and to be the actual director of TREASURE ISLAND which was also to be shot in Spain. He has said that Welles was very dominant and controlling of every thing he did from a distance and that even when he was just standing there being filmed by Franco Welles was in full directorial control at ALL times. Welles never let him within miles of an editing room and wouldn't have let him edit even a Franco-directed TREASURE ISLAND. There was planning and brief test shooting for TREASURE ISLAND. Franco asked Welles that if just acting (in TREASURE...) was going to be any different than if he (Welles) were directing himself. Welles answered, "It's the same..." and went on to tell Franco that he would be the creative force and do as he was told. But the film never happened and Franco overstepped his boundries during that meeting with Saltzman's reps where Welles exploded and walked out.

He never spoke with Jess Franco again and never mentioned his name to anyone. Oja has said, I think, that he never talked about Franco to her. Welles wiped Jess Franco from his memory and I don't doubt that his ashes are burning over what Franco has done with DQ.

Welles is one of the greatest filmmakers of all time and innovated the art form and was a great actor, theater director and many more things. Jess Franco is a humble maker of grade Z comic book like horror films with some sexy elements added. He makes them for fun and to delight some fans and undiscriminating audiences. Coming down hard on Jess Franco is like attacking one ant with atomic weapons. CHIMES is Welles' greatest film in my view and the greatest Shakespeare film BECAUSE it takes liberties and mixes in several works. But it has VISION, and it has Welles' greatest performance, his most moving performance. It's a disgrace that there can't be a superior R1 DVD version at least. Interesting, the Shakespeare scholars I have spoken with don't like CHIMES....

Thanks for you kind words Tony and Mido. I have talked with Jess about Orson and he has regrets, I think, about DQ and the other films they had planned together. The late Henri Langlois said it best about Franco when noting that his weaknesses were perhaps his strengths and would have approved on the upcoming CINEMATHEQUE RETRO...

[Tony]

Robert David Monell:

Thanks for the informative post. I was wondering if you have ever asked Jess Franco how he felt about his edit of Welles's Don Quixote?

[halfaorson]

the idea of Welles using a second unit director really makes me laugh...