Which of Welles' Films are 100% his?

[Swithun]

I was just wondering which films can we ascribe 100% Welles considering all the interference he had to put up with? Which ones would Welles say I had control over every aspect of this film?

[Glenn Anders]

I think, aside from "The Immortal Story" and his BBC TV series, minor documentaries, etc., CITIZEN KANE, THE TRIAL, CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT and F FOR FAKE are the films finished to his satisfaction, or very close to his satisfaction, during his lifetime.

Glenn

[Roger Ryan]

I think it would be safe to add both cuts of "Othello" to that list and also the long cut of "Macbeth" (not available for much of Welles' life, but rediscovered and shown before his death). If the list is to include only the films Welles felt that he had all the resources and money to do his way, then "Kane" remains the sole example.

[Tony]

Final cut:

Kane 41
Macbeth 48/49 (both English and Scottish accent versions)
Othello (52 Cannes and 55 British)
Sketchbook 55
Around the World 56
Fountain of Youth 57
Viva Italia 57
Dumas 58
In the Land of Don Quixote 62
Trial 63
Chimes 66
Immortal 68
Orson's Bag 69 (including Swinging London and Merchant of Venice),
The Deep 68/69
The Heroine 69
Don Quixote 57-70
Moby Dick 70s
Fake 73
The Other Side of the Wind 70-76
Filming Othello 77
Filming The Trial 78
Magic Show, 70s-80s
Orson Welles talk show, late 70s
The Dreamers 79

No final cut:

The Magnificent Ambersons 42
The Stranger 46
The Lady From Shanghai 48
Mr. Arkadin 55
Touch of Evil 57


Interestingly, he had total control from 1959 on; after that second Hollywood debacle in 58, he never gave up final cut again.

[Kevin Loy]

Yes, he did have final cut on his films from 1959 onward (or, at least, the various producers were content enough with the final film that they didn't hack it to shreds), but it seems that he was a bit more limited in the projects that he did from "Touch of Evil" onward (Evil, of course, did not originate with Welles). The Trial came from a list of public domain properties from the Salkinds (I seem to remember reading that Welles was much more interested in doing Kafka's "The Castle", but it wasn't in the public domain at the time). F For Fake was based out of Francois Reichenbach's documentary footage.

Out of all of Welles' final projects, it seems to me that Chimes was the only (released) film that originated with him (well, okay, Shakespeare wrote it, but Welles' adaptation came from several years earlier), whereas most of the earlier films, diced to pieces or not, did originate with him. That's not to slag the other films, but I wonder what Welles would have done if he hadn't made The Trial, The Immortal Story, or F For Fake...I wonder if he would have made them at all (but, nonetheless, I'm glad he did).

[Tony]

Kevin: I must disagree with you on this one: most of the post-58 projects originated with Welles:

1. Chimes
2. Immortal Story (Dinesen- one of his his favourite authors)
3. Merchant of Venice
4. Heroine (Dinesen)
5. Don Quixote (work continuing until 1970)
6. The Deep
7. Moby Dick
8. F for Fake
9. The Other Side of the Wind
10. Filming Othello (he was asked to do this, but he enjoyed it, and then decided to do another)
11. Filming The Trial
12. The Magic Show
13. The Orson Welles (talk) Show
14. The Dreamers (Dinesen)

In fact, as far as I know, everything but The Trial, the tv program "In the Land of Don Quixote" (which I believe was commisioned), and "Filming Othello" (which was also commisioned) was a project orginating with Welles. And "Filming Othello" was a project which he was in sympathy with, and liked so much that he planned a series of "Filming..." films. Also, "Orson's Bag" may have been commisioned, but certainly he would have suggested the Merchant of Venice portion, which was the biggest part of the program. Certainly this list is different from projects such as Touch of Evil and The Trial which he never would have done on his own.

My general point is that Welles established final edit after 1958 and the mutilation of Touch of Evil, and never gave it up again, even if the project originated with others, such as The Trial. But of course this meant necessarily working outside Hollywood, where executives and accountants don't trust the artist to deliver a commercial picture, and so have the option of editing the picture to their satisfaction. Even as recently as King Kong, Peter Jackson was ordered to replace the music of the original composer (Howard Shore, who did all the music for the Rings) with something less dark, which reminds one that George Schaeffer said the same thing about Bernard Herrmann's music for the Amberson's 64 years ago, and had some of it replaced.

[Kevin Loy]

Tony,

My mistake. I thought that "The Immortal Story" and "The Merchant of Venice" were television commissions...(and, admittedly, I was also thinking more of his finished, released films than his unreleased ones). And I can't agree about F For Fake originating with Welles: as I recall, Francois Reichenbach originally shot quite a bit of the documentary footage and then asked Welles to edit it for him, and it was only after this that Welles decided to tackle the film.

It seems that even the relatively few directors who are lucky (or smart) enough to get the final cut on their films in Hollywood do not necessarily have the studios playing along with them. For example, John Cassavetes had final cut on two films that were released by Hollywood studios: Husbands, Minnie & Moskowitz and Love Streams. In each case, the respective studios waited until a few months after the film's release to hack out sections, despite blatantly violating their contract. Given that sort of intentional corporate backstabbing, I could hardly blame people like Welles and Cassavetes for working outside of the Hollywood system.

[Tony]

Kevin: I have heard a slightly different story, that Welles saw Reichenbach's footage and asked to buy it, because he was so interested in refashioning it. But I think we're in agreement on the essential point about Welle's freedom after "TOE"..