Magnum Photos

[jbrooks]

My apologies if this has already been mentioned here somewhere, but the Magnum Photos website has many of their great Welles-related photos on their website, including a bunch of really interesting color photos from the set of "Chimes at Midnight" that I had never seen before. Of course, it's the black and white photos from the Chimes set that are truly outstanding.

http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/C.a ... T&DT=Image

Just run a search for "Orson Welles" ...

[Glenn Anders]

Wonderful, jbrooks: The Magnum collection certainly has a greater variety of unknown Welles' photos than I've seen before. A credit to John Huston's old pal, Robert Capa, a founder of Magnum.

You have probably come across it before, but here is a link to the homages of Carletto di San Giovanni. [At least, I assume that's the webmaster's name.] :

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... =145764819

Welles' homage is an impressive compilation of stills, advertising, candid photos, videos, theme music, etc, creating a tough love filmography for much of Welles' official career. The videos include generous chunks of THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI, some of them more accessible than others. There is a particularly clever montage/slide show of photos which goes on for several minutes.

You may also find among San Giovanni's pages a quite beautiful tribute to Bernard Herrmann:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... =105981666

Speaking of John Huston, he is included in the list of homages. An example of his wit and wisdom recorded there impressed me:

"I prefer to believe God is not dead, just drunk."

I often say that to Todd Baesen when we have not seen Larry French for a while.

Enjoy.

Glenn

[nextren]

Wonderful, inspiring, moving photos. Thank God these exist!

I found this photo particularly interesting in view of the "debate" over whether Welles had anything to do with the "Chimes" battle sequence.

http://tinyurl.com/qsfex5

[Glenn Anders]

Actually, nextren, I've recently seen a good many photos like this one, showing Welles directing the knights and "empty horses."

Possibly, in fact likely, Welles employed "second units" or at least "second cameramen" to record the carnage of Shrewsbury.

Still, well done, sir.

Glenn

[Harvey Chartrand]

I must commend Lawrence French on the magnificent job he is doing as editor of Wellesnet. The more frequent postings on the home page are much appreciated. Nicolas Tikhomiroff's colour shots of Welles directing FALSTAFF are mind-blowing. I think Mr. French is single-handedly reviving interest in this criminally overlooked film with his regular postings of testimonials to FALSTAFF'S greatness by such luminaries of the theatre world as Simon Callow and the late John Gielgud. I predict that the end result of Mr. French's sustained promotional effort will be a resolution of the legal entanglements and an eventual Criterion release of FALSTAFF, with the inclusion of dozens of extra features (i.e. Welles transforming himself into Falstaff while carrying on a lengthy monologue about Shakespeare's "good, pure man" on The Dean Martin Show). If I'm not mistaken, FALSTAFF/CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT is one of those rare cases where only one authorized cut of a Welles film exists. It would indeed be a tragedy if Welles's last completed full-length feature film [using no found or re-edited footage] remained unknown to the viewing public and almost unobtainable.

[ToddBaesen]

While a Criterion DVD of FALSTAFF would be nice, they apparently have no interest in releasing one. However, perhaps Bruce Goldstein of Rialto Films would be interested in obtaining the rights to FALSTAFF and giving it a second release in the USA.

What is strange is why somebody was working on a so called "improved" soundtrack for the film, when the rights issues are so tangled and confused. One also has to wonder what kind of unrealistic money they think they are going to get. Clearly FALSTAFF is never going to be a huge moneymaker and ironically, by the time the issues are resolved, everybody who really wants to see the film will probably have already brought foreign or bootleg DVD copies.

In any case, it certainly appears there is plenty of great material that could go into making DVD extras for a Criterion-style disc. Keith Baxter and Simon Callow could do a full-length audio commentary, and even Jeanne Moreau might be willing to join in. Maybe the people at THE MASTERS OF CINEMA label in the UK would be interested.

One obvious suggestion, if there every is a "restored" DVD is to include the original soundtrack and the new and "improved" one. In fact, one wonders why that simply wasn't done with the OTHELLO DVD. Beatrice Welles could probably still make quite a bit of money if she authorized a re-issue DVD for OTHELLO with both the original film and her so-called "improved" version.

[Harvey Chartrand]

My game leg is telling me Criterion will reconsider its decision not to release FALSTAFF once all the legal hassles are resolved. I don't think I'm talkin' out of the back of my neck, because F FOR FAKE and MR. ARKADIN 3-pack were big sellers for Criterion.

[ToddBaesen]

Hank:

While I'd like to believe your game leg, based on how you ended up in the notorious Mexican border wars of the late fifties, I'd have to say at best, there is only a 50/50 chance of Criterion doing a release of FALSTAFF.

My own instincts tell me the best bet would be for some UK company to step forward to meet what is probably totally outrageous demands from the heirs of the dueling estates who own the rights to the film.

Of course, what is truly sad about this, is that everybody who worked on FALSTAFF clearly did it as a labor of love. Welles himself, John Gielgud, Jeanne Moreau, Keith Baxter, Margaret Rutherford, Ralph Richardson, Francesco Lavagnino, Edmond Richard, etc, etc.

Result: Orson Welles final masterpiece is being blocked from release because of the money-grubbing demands by the greedy daughters of the original producers.

Rather sickening, isn't it?

[bactor]

From everything I can tell Welles' THE IMMORTAL STORY is the next slated for a Criterion treatment.

http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23


And should all fans of Welles purchase a copy or two, perhaps Criterion will look into other Welles films, such as CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT/FALSTAFF.

[The Night Man]

While a Criterion edition of Immortal Story would surely be welcome, frankly, bactor, I don't see much to suggest that such a release is likely. Janus/Criterion could certainly put it out it if they wanted to (they do own the rights), but apart from the fact that it's been lumped together with about fifty other titles deemed "Distinct Possibilities" in this Criterion Forum thread there's no indication that they have any actual plans to do so.

On the other hand if you have inside info that something's going to happen, do share! I wouldn't mind being proven wrong. (Although I'd much prefer to have a Criterion edition of Chimes at Midnight... and I'd kill for a Criterion box set of Welles' Shakespeare films.)

[Harvey Chartrand]

It is a tragedy of truly Shakespearean proportions that FALSTAFF has joined the long list of Welles-directed films that are somehow jinxed, kept under wraps, tied up in litigation, disintegrating in vaults, misplaced in studio archives... never to be seen again by the ever-diminishing coterie of Wellesnetters.
How could the greatest film director of the 20th century have endured so much hard luck?
I am reminded of the story Welles told on British television in the fifties, the one about how he was cursed during the making (or unmaking) of IT'S ALL TRUE. Welles angered a shaman who laid a curse on him. Well, folks, this is the curse that keeps on giving, because here we are 67 years later and the curse still hasn't been lifted.
I came across a short article at Cinematical entitled "Was Orson Welles cursed by a Brazilian witch doctor?" which you'll find at
http://www.cinematical.com/2005/09/19/w ... ch-doctor/
The Cinematical item leads to a related story. The curse placed on Welles is explored more fully in an article from The Independent on Sunday headlined and subheaded "Orson Welles: Cinema's lost genius – A screening of fragments of his unreleased last film highlights the neglect of an icon, writes Geoffrey MacNab" – http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 06952.html
Both articles were published in 2005, but the situation hasn't changed one iota since then.
I count myself fortunate to have seen FALSTAFF twice back in the seventies, because I doubt I will live long enough to ever see it again.
Let's face it. With few exceptions (Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe, The Twilight Zone, The Prisoner), the culture we boomers knew in our formative years is being forgotten. We're like our older relatives who used to talk about Fatty Arbuckle and Charley Chase. And FALSTAFF barely got noticed when it was first released way back in 1965.
I suppose I'll just have to settle for Lawrence French's regular (and most welcome) installments of articles exploring various aspects of Welles' films, rather than the films themselves.