F for Fake & Confidential R in Vancouverhttp://www

[dmolson]

Wow ~ it's been a long time since we've had a Orson W double-bill here in the village of Vancouver, but look at this ~ Restored versions of F for Fake and Confidential Report!
Back in the early 70s there was a Welles film festival here, but since then the number of theaters that show older, classic films have dwindled down to 1-1/2... You're all invited to check out Canada's most spectacular city!


http://www.cinematheque.bc.ca/mar_apr_05/recent_restorations.html

[Glenn Anders]

If the description of MR. ARKADIN/CONFIDENTIAL REPORT is accurate, the restoration may closer to any version than I've seen since 1955.

Thank you, dmolson.

Glenn

[dmolson]

I saw F for Fake and Confidential Report last night and have to alter my opinion slightly on the former. It opened the double bill and was the one I had seen before -- about 24 years ago. As it started, the intro flew through like a fun fury as OW seemed to be enjoying throwing the basis of the story to the audience in the same quick-cut, nothing up my sleeve kind of delivery that is part of a magician's storytelling method (and his quick magic tricks proved to be both a wonder and engaging delivery for this convoluted 'true story'. The pacing was fierce and I had trouble maintaining step with the quick dialogue and even quicker cuts -- obviously the art was in the editing. No problems with the print, most likely difficulties with the receptor!;) As it unfolded, the stories of grand fakers Clifford Irving and Elmyr de Hory are quite intriguing, Welles spins and reverses and clips together a magnificient yarn, throwing his own early beginnings into the fray with a wink. Okay, no need to review this film to people more expert than I, but I'm just listing the areas that I was engaged and enticed with... Having seen it before and not liked it so well, I found that it rose above my memory --- until the end, when the 60 minutes expires and OW goes on to spin the Oja and Pablo story, which really seemed to be extended and less interesting, a bit of showcasing a pretty new girl that I'd expect from Louis Malle, not OW. I wasn't drawn to the tale at all, and I again almost lost any feel for this film at that moment. Was the '60 minutes is up' bit his McGuffin, or a Rosebud that revealed even less than a child's toy? The pastiche of images throughout the movie induced my interest and enraptured me, but the 'twist ending' failed miserably, at least to me. The print was excellent, sound solid though a little thick at times.
Confidential Report, having read all about it and its seven differing edits, lived up to its billing as a magnificient failure by a Hollywood legend. Because of its more traditional story (it starts with van Stratten's long recollection to Zuk, but I didn't remember seeing any bats in this version) I was more comfortable and at ease, less struggling to decipher any tricks of the trade. Yes, it had holes that made little sense and had difficult stretches, but I had no problems with Alden, unlike most, but did find that in scenes together, Alden and Welles did not seem to be natural partners -- I don't know if it was because scenes were not shot together but I felt as though Welles was doing a moderna takeoff on a shakespear drama while Alden belonged in a nice 'B' 3rd Man tribute. The dubbing of Welles' voice over top Mischa Auer (and I think O'Brady too, not sure) didn't seem as distracting as when I saw Falstaff for the first time... What really won me over were the as usual terrific performances from such character actors like the always awesome Akim Tamiroff, Michael Redgrave and Katina Paxinou. Pat Medina was also well utilized -- sure wish I could find that poster of her, the European stripper! Picture quality was fairly strong, only a couple of skips. The music did overpower the dialogue a bit, but not the effect that I could not understand it.
If both of these items are coming out by Criterion, my interest in buying them would certainly be dependent upon Extras. It would take a pretty good boffo slice of film to get me to pay for F for Fake, while Confidential Report, I can see myself paying for if the additional items were decent, not starstudded.

[Glenn Anders]

An interesting report, dmolson.

I think the last half hour of F FOR FAKE is a summing up of Welles' attitude toward Art, and his illustration that he is as capable of trickery as anyone else. So long as we are prepared to believe in appearances and illusion, so long as we are subject to our vices and weaknesses, only works like Chartres can or should really stop us in our tracks. And as he points out, no on can say who all was responsible for Chartres.

And as you point out, the emotional heart of MR. ARKADIN is in the performance of Akim Tamiroff as Jakob Zouk.

Glenn

[Harvey Chartrand]

Yeah but...
The part I don't get is that Welles ACTUALLY THOUGHT HE HAD A HIT ON HIS HANDS WITH F FOR FAKE!!! How could he possibly have been so deluded on that score, when it was plain to see that the picture had zero box office potential.
Herbert Lom told me in an interview that John Huston let Welles direct several scenes in THE ROOTS OF HEAVEN. Huston was very bored and restless at that stage of his life and career.
I suspect that Welles not only used found footage in FAKE, but delegated direction of the sexy Picasso scenes to Oja Kodar. Either he was very lazy or very postmodern. I think Welles carried his rebellion against auteurism a bit too far, actually.
I'm guessing Oja Kodar was largely responsible for that self-consciously clever stuff at the end of F FOR FAKE, which doesn't have a Welles feel to it and didn't fool this viewer at all. I knew it was all blarney first time out.
Kodar also directed the raunchy sex scenes in THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND (which the puritanical Welles couldn't bring himself to look at through his viewfinder). For all I know, Kodar directed sex scenes in THE DREAMERS too. Maybe it would have been retitled THE WET DREAMERS...
Who built Chartres, you ask. My ancestors did! Then they left for Canada, that great white waste of time, the land of terrorist-huggers and mad cow breeders...
And the country where Welles and Huston made their career worst films: ZEN BUSINESS and PHOBIA, respectively.

[Knowles Noel Shane]

Zen Business? What's that?

We know Welles had a very poor sense of what was commercial. Thank God he did, or he would have a very forgettable ouvre.

Harv, where did you hear that Welles didn't shoot the sex scene in TOSOTW? I've never heard that, but it's possible. He did, after all, refuse a role in Caligula (probably as Tiberius or more likely Nerva.)

Postmodernism in Fake? Actually, all the stuff that Gary Graver shot looks like that. I don't know whether to blame Welles or Gary for that.

[Glenn Anders]

We have another difference of opinion here. I like to try to determine intention in a work and judge how much was accomplished. Welles had long been interested in "the personal film essay," a kind of story telling. He saw, as I make it out, two opportunities in F FOR FAKE. First, he saw the Irving/Hughes Hoax Scandal as big news, which it was, and he was practically on the spot. Second, he thought that TV would influence Movies more than the other way about, which they did in a way, and that there would develop the market for the personal documentary that we've seen in the success of Michael Moore recently.

It didn't work out, but that doesn't mean that he failed any more than the unknown men did who built Chartres, and then went to Canada. My ancestors left from the same place and went to grow strawberries in Scotland. That's where I get my real name from. And my Mom and Dad moved to Canada first before they came here. They were hard working people, and I'm proud of them.

Glenn

[Hannaford]

F For Fake is a very important film because it asks the one question every artist has to face at some point in his career. What is Art?

—Jean Renoir


According to Gary Graver, Welles also wasn't even present for the shooting of the Chartes sequence in FFF. He just told Gary what he needed and sent him out to shoot it...

However, Welles did shoot all the sex sequences in OSOTW, but they were written by Oja Kodar. However, during one sex sequence shot on the MGM back lot between Robert Random and Oja, when John Huston (Jake) is supposedly directing the two of them, Jake becames very abusive
to John Dale (Random), so he walks out on Jake. He runs stark naked down an MGM backlot street, seen from behind, but Gary Graver says he actually doubled for Robert Random in that shot!

[dmolson]

The connection that he's making regarding art and reality, or truth, was layered perfectly in the framing of charlatans/auteurs Irving and de Hory. As a 10 year old I remember vividly an enduring curiosity for Hughes, at that time he was camped out (supposedly) just a few miles away in downtown Vancouver, with the typical newsmen trying to trick their way to the top of the 2 cloistered floors. Then he and his kleenex boxes and jars of urine disappeared for points south... I'm still unconvinced about the conclusion ~ Kodar's scenes smacked of purple prose that more tripped up his overall well-glued arrangement. I just didn't see it (the Picasso story) as anything but a tall tale, Chartres or not. I appreciate that it may be beyond my reach --- it took a couple of viewings to really appreciate the Magnificient Ambersons, and a pair of sittings to be enthralled at Chimes at Midnight. Oh, and I meant Vadim, not Malle, sorry Candace!
It appears to me that FfF's ending is of the love and lust infused by Kodar, a young, beautiful and strong woman of a modern generation. Just as Hayworth and Mori influenced Welles in their light ways (though his handiwork expanded during his years with them, their fingerprints are not visible~ it might be easier to argue that he continued on despite their influences) Kodar, of a more independent generation, extended her life into his art, completely. He had no problems with strong women, noting such steely friendships and devotions with the likes of Dietrich and Kitt. Then at late 50s steps this woman of brains and ideas. Imagine being at that age, feeling spent but still vigorous with ideas and talent... Along comes a rapturous and strong-minded flower, someone who updates the oeuvre that is your life. Paste a postcard of love to her and her shapely ways at the end of the film, with a tale of another genius who would undoubtedly be unable to resist her curves...
Harvey, I can't believe that he thought it had a mass commercial future, but was more of an inventive, always shifting tribute to the loves and interests of his life (magic, theatre, the powerful, Oja) that he hoped would tame his critics (not of the film kind, but of the industry type).
Looks like a few of us Canadians remain unconvinced, but still in awe.

[Glenn Anders]

I think you have it about right concerning Oja Kodar, as does "Evil David" Thomson when he notes that the handling of Oja Kodar in F FOR FAKE is the one time on film when Welles is obviously in love, "besotted," I think Thomson writes, with a young woman. There is no edge, no irony, no hint of disillusionment, of Paradise Lost. This take of Oja Kodar is NOT fake. F FOR FAKE is, among other things, a love letter to Ms. Kodar, and either she is returning that love and admiration, or she is a very good actress, indeed.

Glenn

[Tony]

A friend and I concocted a scenario years ago about the evil ways of Oja.

We began by noting that Welles stopped production after he met her, and had trouble evermore. The first thing they were going to do together was a literary trilogy movie in 1966; they had completed the first part when the funds dissappeared. That part was "The Immortal Story". Another part was going to feature Oja (who was still 'Olga Palinkas' at this point).

Welles began writing scripts with her, but the projects always fell through. Then in 1967, they began "The Deep"; the legend is that Morreau and Palinkas didn't get along well at all, and the picture was finally left incomplete in 1969.

Next of course was "The Other side of the Wind", in production from 1970-1976, co-written by and starring Oja; it was the the same story, over and over: financing falling through, etc. etc. Welles had a part written for Morreau, but she declined. Hmmmm.... She had been in his last 4 pictures: The Trial, Chimes, Immortal and Deep; suddenly she's not available???

Then "F For Fake", in production from 1972-1974, which starred Oja, which they did get out, which Welles DID think was going to be a great success, which starred Oja, but which was a financial disaster.

Then "The Dreamers", begun in Welles's house around 1978, which was going to star Oja, but which they could never get the financing for...

Then came Big Brass Ring, written around 1982, which was going to star Oja, but which they couldn't get the financing for.

Then came King Lear, which was going to star Oja, which Welles tried to get financed around 1982-1984, and which they couldn't get the financing for....

It seems Welles had a lot more success in Europe in the sixties getting financing than he did when he returned to America; so why did he return to the States? Well, the Italian newspapers discovered his affair with Oja, and they exposed the whole story to the public; Welles got angry and moved to America, where he forever more had financing problems.

Actually, I can see why Beatrice hated Oja: Oja screwed up Bea's parent's marriage, upset her Mom, and her Dad never finished another feature picture after he started his affair with Oja. And when Paola was going to meet Oja (the evil one) for an appointment to settle the will, she died in a car accident.

Coincidence? I think not.

Of course, I'm not entirely serious here; but it is interesting to see Welles's life BO and AO: before and after Oja.

[Glenn Anders]

Well, Tony, at the risk of being gauche, to paraphrase Thompson at the end of CITIZEN KANE: "George Orson Welles was a man who got everything he wanted and then lost it. Maybe Oja was something he couldn't get or he lost. No, I don't think it explains anything. I don't think any name explains a man's life. No, I suppose Oja is just a piece of a jig-saw puzzle -- a missing piece."

But I'll grant all you say.

[Except that last about Oja being somehow responsibe for Paola Mori's death, which I understand is a jest.]

Welles would not be the first artist who sought some missing aspect of his life, and when he found it, lost his drive to complete things at whatever the cost.

All I'm saying is that they obviously conveyed a frisson together. And for posterity, in F FOR FAKE.

Your scenario, however, has real merit. Possibly, we'll get dueling story frames for THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND: Oja's and Beatrice's.

I suggest, Tony, old man, you take the first plane for Las Vegas!

All the best.

Glenn

[Harvey Chartrand]

Oh no!
Oja Ono!
She brought the great bull elephant Welles down once and for all.

[Oscar Christie]

And when Paola was going to meet Oja (the evil one) for an appointment to settle the will, she died in a car accident.

have read somewhere that this 'legend' is false. Is it true?

[Wilson]

Oja claimed it never happened, as there was nothing to settle, according to her.