Lady from Shanghai - Welles' Soundtrack memo

[Tim Cumming]

There's an excerpt of a nine-page memo in the This Is Orson Welles book of interviews with Peter Bogdanovich, regarding the music and 'Disney' sound effects put onto the soundtrack by the studio, much to Welles' disgust. Unlike the Touch of Evil memo, NONE of his suggested changes were incorporated.
I wonder if there anyone has a copy of the full memo, and whether there are any plans to 'do' a TofE to Lady from Shanghai - at least by removing as much of the music that Welles objected to so vehemently. Is there any record of the music Welles chose for his 'rough cut' soundtrack? - it is a restoration that would be easier to pull off than TofE's more complex re-assembly.
What do others think about this? Welles said that he couldn't have been more unhappy if the lab had scrawled their initials and dates all over the negative...

[Jeff Wilson]

I have the memo, and I don't think it would be as easy as it seems, unless further documentation exists in any Columbia archives. Welles goes through what he wanted in the film, based on the temp track, but he doesn't give specific performances of pieces mentioned. So anyone trying to make the film more closely adhere to the original intent would have to select pieces based on Welles' inexact requests. I would presume he intended to give more specific requests if his wishes were followed, or he simply was willing to have Columbia choose based on his suggestions. His complaints extended beyond music to the soundtrack itself as well, as a good deal of sound work was ignored.

More later when I have access to my files...

[jaime marzol]

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also, the studio changed more than the soundtrack. welles when talking to bogdanovich had no recollection of the mutilation. the james naremore book has good info on this, as does the bret wood book, and the frank brady book. the bret wood book is quite good. actually, all three of these books are excellent.

LADY FROM SHANGHAI was intended to be a vastly different film than it turned out. it's a shame. as always, welles was attempting to go where no film had gone before, and as always, no one understood what the hell it was all about.

wouldn't it be incredible if the cut turned up that was screened for cohn when cohn stood up and offered any one in the room $1000 to explain to him what it was all about?

welles claimed the assigned editor after the film ran into troubled waters, viola lawrence, always hated him, and she was mostly responsible for the final shape of the film. this one must have been particularly painful because they didn't throw welles off the project and hired some one else to mutilate it, they used welles himself to destroy the film.

about a week ago i rewatched my pirated vhs copy of the dvd, and had forgotten how incredible the transfer looks. well worth buying. my 5 or 6 previous copies all had some missing frames in the same places. gave you those funny jump cuts with missing dialogue.
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