2005 - Year of Welles?

[colwood]

It seems (to me anyway) that several books about Welles have come out recently, Criterion is finally getting into the act, seems Munich is going to be showing some of their stuff again. Now, it appears with the Sun article, there could be news again on TOSOTW. It also occurred to me that here in 2005, not only has it been 20 years since Welles passed away, but it's also the 90th anniversary of his birth. Could 2005 finally be the year of Orson Welles?

just a thought....

[Lucy]

There's some serious Wellesapoppin' so far this year. 2015 will probably be even bigger.

[Glenn Anders]

In recent weeks, Martin Scorsese has been protesting comparisons that are being made between his THE AVIATOR and CITIZEN KANE. Actually, despite its eleven Academy Award Nominations, I think Scorsese's picture needs all the help it can get.

In fact, as some of you will remember, Welles made the half humorous point in F FOR FAKE, the second most accomplished film he completed himself, that Howard Robard Hughes was the original model for Charles Foster Kane.

You might want to look at this Macresarf1 review of THE AVIATOR, which makes the link:

http://www.epinions.com/content_173092212356

In what colwood hopes to be "The Year of Welles," it may add something to your viewing of the free-for-all on Sunday evening.

Glenn Anders.

[Anton]

That's an entertaining review of "The Aviator", Glenn Anders. But you should persuade the people at epinions.com to install a function to make the articles printer-friendly, for people with bad eyesight, like myself, who don't like reading so much off of a computer screen. Fine work, though.

[Glenn Anders]

Anton: At one time, Epinions did have a "Send it to a friend" device, but that was dropped when they adopted their "beta server." I understand that they are on the verge of bringing it back.

Meanwhile you would have to cut and paste. My experience has been that cutting and pasting on my AOL browser improves the readablity somewhat. Using mozilla (such as Netscape uses) changes the type face to bold, which makes pieces much easier to read.

I'm glad you enjoyed the content. It is interesting that Scorsese, perhaps to shore up his Best Director hopes, has been protesting the comparisons (distant, perhaps self-serving, it seems to me) between THE AVIATOR and CITIZEN KANE. Anyone who thinks there is more than a superficial resemlance between the two pictures is suffering from Delusions of Cinema. Still, Welles did see the possibilities, if only in witty retrospect, when he made F FOR FAKE.

Glenn

[Orson&Jazz]

I was thinking that if there was to be a comparison to Scorcese's Aviator to Orson's Kane, I think it would have to be because of John Logan.


As you may already know, Logan wrote the screenplay to RKO 281, and I found this little bit interesting about Logan...

A huge fan of Citizen Kane and Orson Welles, Logan lobbied hard for the job of writing "RKO 281," doing six months' worth of research before meeting with Ridley Scott to ask for the job.

So, if there is any resemblance, be it intentional or not, I think I would be Logans doing. I'm sure if Logan was a huge fan of Orson's, he probably had already seen F For Fake, before he did the screenplay for Aviator.

But, who knows. I think Glenn was right, Scorsese's picture needed all the help it could get. It didn't work though. It still lost.



Oh, by the way, I hope 2005 is the year for Welles.

[Roger Ryan]

Certainly Scorsese would have known he was making a film that was wading in similar waters as "Kane". The fact that the only credit at the film's beginning is the title (in silence) immediately draws parallels with Welles' first film. There are subtle similarities throughout (mostly in the cutting and camera angles), but fortunately no obvious allusions like those attempted in "The Big Brass Ring". As far as Scorsese "needing all the help he could get", I would say he did a commendable job. The script's historical inaccuracies notwithstanding, I would still call "The Aviator" a better film than "Million Dollar Baby", "Ray" and "Finding Neverland".

[Glenn Anders]

I only point out that Scorsese was at pains to deny any similarity, Roger.

It's all a matter of taste, and we may legitimately disagree, but in my mind, both MILLION DOLLAR BABY and RAY were better pictures, simply because they were more coherent. They both paid off emotionally in a way that THE AVIATOR did not.

In my opinion, the German film, DOWNFALL (Der Untergang) was better than any of the other films nominated.

Glenn

[Wilson]

2005 may be a year of Welles in some respects, but DVD releases of AMBERSONS and JOURNEY INTO FEAR don't appear to be on the horizon; I asked the reps from Warner Bros at the Home Theater Forum chat just now about the status of these films, and they responded that they are still looking for better film elements to work with. Who knows when these will get a release, the way things are going.

[Knowles Noel Shane]

Hopefully there still ARE better film elements to work from, and they haven't faded and decayed after spending too many years in a suitcase under Orson's motel-room bed!

[Hannaford]

Don't know about 2005 being a Wellsian year, but May will certainly be an ORSON WELLES month

Check out this schedule at TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES:


May 4 Wednesday - Hollywood's greatest director


8:00 PM Citizen Kane (1941) The investigation of a publishing tycoon's dying words reveals conflicting stories about his scandalous life. Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead. D: Orson Welles. 120m. CC DVS

10:15 PM The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) A possessive son's efforts to keep his mother from remarrying threaten to destroy his family. Tim Holt, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead. D: Orson Welles. 88m. CC DVS

12:00 AM The Lady From Shanghai (1948) A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife. Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Everett Sloane. D: Orson Welles. 87m.

1:30 AM Touch Of Evil (1958) An Interpol agent risks his wife's life to investigate a crooked sheriff. Orson Welles, Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh. D: Orson Welles. 111m. LBX CC


May 11 Wednesday - Acting to finance his directing


8:00 PM Tomorrow Is Forever (1946) A scarred veteran presumed dead returns home to find his wife remarried. Orson Welles, Claudette Colbert, George Brent. D: Irving Pichel. 104m.

10:00 PM Man in the Shadow (1957) A modern sheriff investigates the town boss's efforts to cover up a brutal crime. Jeff Chandler, Orson Welles, Colleen Miller. D: Jack Arnold. 80m. LBX

11:30 PM The Tartars (1961) A barbarian army attacks Viking settlements along the Russian steppes. Orson Welles, Victor Mature, Folco Lulli. D: Richard Thorpe. C 83m. LBX CC

1:00 AM Is Paris Burning? (1966) Resistance fighters and secret agents struggle to keep the Nazis from destroying Paris before their retreat. Jean-Paul Belmondo, Charles Boyer, Leslie Caron, Orson Welles. D: Rene Clement. 173m. LBX

4:00 AM Shadowing the Third Man (2004) Documentary about the Carol Reed’s classic Cold War thriller The Third Man, starring Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten (1949). 60m. LBX CC


May 18 Wednesday - The Vagabond / Directing in Europe


8:00 PM Othello (1952) The legendary Moor of Venice battles his growing suspicions that his wife is unfaithful. Orson Welles, Michael MacLiammoir, Suzanne Cloutier. D: Orson Welles. 90m.

9:45 PM Mr. Arkadin (1955) A private eye investigates a millionaire's mysterious past before a murderer can get to the witnesses. Orson Welles, Robert Arden, Michael Redgrave. D: Orson Welles. 99m.

11:30 PM The Immortal Story (1968) A sailor bets he can seduce a wealthy man's wife, not knowing the man has hired a woman to play the role. Orson Welles, Jeanne Moreau, Roger Coggio. D: Orson Welles. 58m.

12:45 AM F for Fake (1976) Director Orson Welles examines the career of a notorious art forger. Orson Welles, Oja Kodar, Joseph Cotten. D: Orson Welles. 85m.

2:15 AM The Trial (1963) In this adaptation of Kafka's classic, a man in a nameless country stands trial for an unnamed crime. Orson Welles, Jeanne Moreau, Anthony Perkins. D: Orson Welles. 120m. LBX


May 25 Wednesday - As a commercial director / actor


8:00 PM Journey Into Fear (1942) A munitions expert gets mixed up with gunrunners in Turkey. Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles, Dolores del Rio. D: Norman Foster. 68m. CC

9:15 PM The Stranger (1946) A small-town schoolteacher suspects her new husband may be an escaped Nazi war criminal. Edward G. Robinson, Orson Welles, Loretta Young. D: Orson Welles. 95m.

11:00 PM Casino Royale (1967) A retired James Bond goes back into action to infiltrate a nest of enemy spies. Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, Deborah Kerr, Orson Welles. D: John Huston, Ken Hughes, Robert Parrish, Joseph McGrath, Val Guest. C 131m. LBX

1:15 AM The V.I.P.S (1963) Wealthy passengers fogged in at London's Heathrow Airport fight to survive a variety of personal trials. Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Orson Welles, Margaret Rutherford. D: Anthony Asquith. C 119m. LBX CC

3:30 AM Duel In The Sun (1946) A fiery half-breed comes between a rancher's good and evil sons. Jennifer Jones, Gregory Peck, Joseph Cotten, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish. Narrated by Orson Welles. D: King Vidor. C 144m. CC
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ORSON WELLES

It's ironic that Orson Welles was so ignored, even dismissed, in his lifetime when he's so revered today. Even at those junctures when he received accolades for his work - the Academy presented him a special honorary Oscar® in 1970, the AFI gave Welles a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1975 - but no one in Hollywood would give him a job. At least they wouldn't give him financial backing to do what he did better than most: make movies. And even his peers, who should have known better, often gave him short shrift. Now, with the passage of time, Welles is revered as something of a cinematic god, not only for that "one movie" Citizen Kane but also for so many others, many of which we'll be showing in our Star of the Month salute to him.

We start with a bang on May 4 with a fabulous foursome: Kane, which stirred up so much controversy it was suggested by some that the negative be burned; also The Magnificent Ambersons, nominated for Oscar®'s Best Picture prize and a magnificent film although a box-office fizzle in 1942; The Lady from Shanghai (1948) and Touch of Evil (1958), both considered complete disasters by their studios at the time, but now ranked among the best film noir movies ever made.

The goodies continue throughout the month, too, including some of his least-seen films (1942's Journey Into Fear, 1957's Man in the Shadow, 1973's F for Fake), some in which only that rich, melodious Welles voice is heard (1946's Duel in the Sun) and others in which he shares the screen with the likes of Woody Allen, Claudette Colbert, a pint-sized Natalie Wood, Edward G. Robinson, Leslie Caron, Elizabeth Taylor, even Victor Mature, a man who was once Welles' rival in real life for the affection of the movies' "love goddess" Rita Hayworth.

[Glenn Anders]

A full month of Welles, indeed, Hannaford.

It's ironic to me that the negative of CITIZEN KANE, in time, was burned!

Can't keep a great film down!

At least, looking at all the restoration projects rumored, we may hope so.

Glenn