Welles conference

[Tony]

Here's a page I had translated from German: hilarious translation: "Jonathan rose tree" must be Rosenbaum; and what's this about Charles Lindbergh in 1984? (I've cleaned it up quite a bit).

Mannheimer film symposium (3 until 6 October 2002)

"Orson Welles Revisited - cinema, theatre, radio, TV"


During his life the American director, author and actor Orson Welles (1915-1985) was considered an "enfant terrible" in Hollywood. After his death in October 1985, new legends constantly formed around this person, based on half truths and rumors. He was wasteful, egomaniacal and selfish. Too simply afterwards the Biography of Orson Welles reads itself: In the 30's as a celebrated miracle child of the radio and theatre, he did not follow, after the critical triumph of his film debut "Citizen Kane" (USA 1941), into artistic success. This extremely smoothed version of his history does not correspond to the facts of his course. Welles created after "Citizen Kane" important films, among other things the film Noir "Touch Of Evil" (the USA 1957) and the Shakespeare adaptation "Othello" (F/I 1952), and had with them at least artistic success. Up to his death Welles worked on the realization of different projects, only a few of which he could however complete. Financing problems forced him again and again to prematurely give up. Therefore the call of the fragmentary one, incomplete one adhered to the second phase of his work. This had already begun in 1955 in Spain with the beginning of the filming of "Don Quixote". Even after the death of the leading actor, Welles continued to film, until his death.

This year's Mannheimer film symposium focussed on Orson Welles and his complete work again. Several incompleted films were shown,as well as rarely seen seen films and different television work, which were hardly noticed by the public so far. Connoisseurs were present like the American film critic Jonathan rose tree (co-editor of the interview book "This is Orson Welles"), the Spanish lecturer in film history Esteve Riambau, the franzoesiche Filmrezensent Francois Thomas, the German journalists Daniel Kothenschulte and Gerhard Midding, the broadcast editor Tungsten Wessels and the Cutterin Ursula Hoef. As principal witnesses Welles last life companion, the actress Oja Kodar, and the two camera men Willy Kurant and Gary Graver appeared. Stefan Droessler, director of the film museum Munich, and thus responsible for the restoration of the late work of Welles, brought some "treasures" from its collection also, among other things unfinished Thriller "The Deep" (GB 1968/69).

For Four days the continuous film symposium created a completely different view of the artist Welles and presented much unknown material. Forgotten projects like the television film "The Fountain OF Youth" (the USA 1956), stylistic an eye pasture, emerged as small beads. Welles was so abgedroschen it to sound likes, an ingenious possessing,as he constantly had new ideas and with which one regret may that only a fraction of his genius was really put into practice. Already the 4 minute Trailer to "Citizen Kane" (the USA 1941) proved, how innovative Welles was with his work. The Trailer is a work of art in itself, in which Welles as a speaker (one never sees him) presents individual actors such as Joseph Cotten and Agnes Moorehead to the public. Besides he introduces the mysterious film figure Charles Foster Kane and raises questions, which are occupied with the personality of Kane. Who was the real Kane? Contradictory statements of friends and acquaintance Kanes are lined up. The framework action of the Trailer shows a microphone, which from above down moves, until the words "My name is Orson Welles". At the end the microphone drives again upward. Welles relies on his popularity as a radio speaker, nor its voice of trusted friend is as his face. The motive for microphone Welles again uses at the end of his second film "the Magnificent Ambersons" (the USA 1942) again.

The documentary film "The One one volume" (F/D 1996), likewise shown on the symposium, describes the Tragedy of Orson Welles. When he arrives 1975 in Los Angeles, in order to receive the AFI for his life's work, he tells the audience in his thank you speech of his current project," The OTHER Side Of the Wind (1970-76). But Welles remains for many the man who created "Citizen Kane". Already during his lifetime he had become a monument of film history. Only a few are interested in his late work. In "The One one volume" excerpts from several films are to be seen also for the first time, which were restored for the point of time of origin of the documentation particularly for it. In the meantime the complete films were worked over again by residents of the Munich film museum and together-tied to a short film program ("the unknown Orson Welles"), which is being shown now on around the country widely in the local cinemas. There was the prelude of the tour on the film symposium. In the film "London" (1968-71) Welles demonstrates his amusing talent, and proves his courage to be ugly. Disfigured by the make-up teilsweise up to the indiscernibility, he slips into several roles, among other things a woman, a policeman and a city caper. In another scene Welles plays a noble one, Lord Plumfield, which is interviewed on his country estate by an importunate reporter (likewise Welles). The production history of this scene is remarkable. Welles filmed first the Plumfield Monolog, in order to then add some years later the suitable reporter questions. Well observed and in detail worked out the Winston Churchill Parody, a further episode from "London" is. One sees only the silhouette of Welles, but language rhythm and body language meet the original very exactly. In "Moby Dick" (1971) he reads out from Herman Melville's famous novel. With simplest means, the nuances of its voice, Welles pulls the spectator into his spell and one forgets that no setting (the sea, the boat) is present. One sees Welles in a very spartan window blind, before a light blue background. "Vienna" (1969) shows the Flaneur Orson Welles, which by the roads of Vienna sauntered and famous Viennese Koestlichkeiten anpreist. Welles produces himself here: a vain, geheimnisumwobener stranger, which presents the just as mysterious city Vienna. The city Vienna and the Schaupieler Welles are connected to Welles since Carol Reed's "the third man" (GB 1949), played with one another at that time the criminal Harry Lime, which is hunted by his former friend by the Katakomben Vienna. Anton Karas' famous film music inserted Welles also use its later television reports gladly.

The "Magic Show" (1976-85) presents different material for the secret passion of the Orson Welles, the Zauberei. "The Spirit OF Charles Lindbergh" (1984) is a dedication for a friend. Welles quotes some passages from the diary of the pilot Lindbergh, written during his famous transatlantic flight.

The absolute high point of the film symposium was the world premiere of "The Deep". Welles had nearly completed filming the thriller in the years 1968 and 1969, when the leading actor Laurence Harvey suddenly died. In a mysterious way a short time later the film negatives disappeared,and only two work copies, a black-and-white and a colored, remained, which supplied now the basis for the present raw version of the film. In some scenes there is missing clay-purely, in others is the originalton and the Rattern of the camera to be heard. Some passages were already after-toned by Welles, so that the actors Laurence Harvey and Michael Bryant had at one time another voice. Stefan Droessler described the odyssey after the demonstration with the "reconstruction" of the work, which more will probably never see the canvas in the form intended by Welles. Droessler well-known the fact that one would at the moment not know how with the existing material was to be proceeded. There would be two possibilities: the film a little shorten, in some places sub-titles, in order to make it somewhat more consumable thus for the spectators. This would mean however to depart still for more from Welles original project because one will e.g. never experience, how Welles would have edited the material and/or whether and which film music he would have used. The other possibility suggested by Droessler is surely the better: a documentation on the production of the film, into which one embeds the material. It surprises one however, how "The Deep" functions in some scenes also in the raw version. Oja Kodar said that Welles intended at that time, to give which Thriller an amusing untertone and that it she is pleased that the Mannheimer public laughed in the correct places.

Another unfinished project was presented on the last day of the symposium: scenes from "The Other Side OF the wind": about 30 minutes, in which the directors John Huston and Peter Bogdanovich participate among other things.

The large quality of the symposium of this year lay in the fact that films and Referate were not only combined skillfully, but the advisers the entire range of Orson Welles work and Biographie took off. The broadcast historian Tungsten Wessels concentrated on the radio activity of Welles and gave information about how the radio experience was passed to the later film work. The editor Ursula Hoef analyzed the television film "The Fountain OF Youth" already mentioned, the film critic Gerhard Midding gave an excellent paper on the TV projects of Orson Welles, which did not represent by any means a backward step in the development of Welles. Jonathan rose tree regarded Orson Welles ' view of America in the mirror of his films and Esteve Riambau presented his documentary film "Orson Welles into the country OF Don Quixote", which emphasizes the special relationship from Welles to Spain.

After the symposium one became again curious about Orson Welles.

Further information under www.cinema quadrat.de


Pure hard Hucke wrote this article to 04.11.2002.