Michal Waszynski

[alan smithee]

When Bronston's epics are coming out in sumptuous dvd editions (thanks to the Weinsteins and the Miriam Collection), I have decided to remove the dust from a book i've bought one year ago in Paris: "L'homme qui voulait être prince : Les vies imaginaires de Michal Waszynski" (The Man Who Would Be Prince: the imaginary lives of M.W.).
As welles fan, i must say that unfortunately much more attention is reserved by the author Samuel Blumenfeld to the events of Waszynski's life before (his polish years, the WW2 odyssey etc.) and after (the Bronston studios megalomania) his strong relationship with O.W.: a period that is only outlined in the book (it seems incidentally that Waszynski, attempting don't be too modest, used to say later that he codirected Othello).
In my opinion, the author doesn't succeed really to understand and to reveal who truly was this strange man in perpetual escape from his past, his life, his jewish roots, his country (the Volhynia, that no longer exists on maps). The Waszynski mistery remains unsolved.
Many lacks (the frequent misspelling of italian names, the reproduction of old errors - Mr. "Mandatori Scalera" instead of "commendator Scalera", i.e. commander, an honour of Italian Republic -, the scarcely investigated period of his reapproach to cinema in Italy side by side with Vittorio Cottafavi) but a lot of in-depht informations: I confess my ignorance, but before reading the book I would never have suspected that the author of Dybbuk and the assistant director of Othello was the most prolific and most successfull movie director in polish box office history (and that most of his films, in v.o. without subtitles, are on emule).
In conclusion, a pleasant book, even if a little bit faint (as Waszynski himself really was, perhaps).

[ToddBaesen]

Very interesting report Alan... if you can provide any more details re: Welles and Waszynski from the biography, please do.

Given that most of the Bronston epics, like EL CID and FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE are now out on DVD, it's quite interesting to realize that they were being shot while Welles was living in Spain and only a few years later, Welles would be shooting his masterpiece, FALSTAFF in Spain - shortly after the Bronston empire collapased!

What's funny is, if somehow Bronston had ever asked Welles to direct a movie in 1964 in Spain (for arguement's sake let's say it might have been DON QUIXOTE, but there would probably have been many more commercial scripts Welles could have interested Bronston in, such as THE BIBLE... ) If Welles agreed and a few months later Bronston went bankrupt (as he did), Welles would be blamed for yet again not finishing another movie!

Strangely, this is the same kind of story Welles told about Alexander Korda and Alexander Salkind. They both were "important" producers who ran out of money when it came to Welles. But at least Salkind managed to produce THE TRIAL before he ran out of money. Korda didn't even get Welles to direct one of the many projects Welles proposed to him, with CYRANO being the one that seemed closest to actually coming to fruition.

[alan smithee]

Todd, the informations in the Blumenfeld's book about relationship between Welles and Waszynski are very poor and, as the author itself says on notes, mainly coming from Barbara Leaming, Peter Bogdanovich and MacLiammoir books (plus an original interview by phone with Betsy Blair in 2005).
Anyway, Blumenfeld says that the lives of the two men, in the years following "Othello", directly or indirectly, will cross at least three times: in 1960, when Waszynski asks Welles to give his voice for the introduction of Ray's "King of Kings"; in 1962, when Charlton Heston invited Welles on the set of "55 days in Peking" asking him to direct a noir (a new noir after "Touch of Evil", I suppose); and in august 1985, when Welles, recording the commentary for "Almonds and raisins", a documentary about the yiddish cinema aired by american channel PBS, says about "Dibbouk": "The most fascinating film in the history of yiddish cinema", without remembering (Blumenfeld dixit) that the director was his long time companion Waszynski.
PS. I think that if Bronston had ever asked him to direct a movie, Welles would be blamed not for his umpteenth unfinished film but straight for the Bronston bankruptcy