Eternal Light - Welles narrates for the Shah of Iran

[mteal]

Early 1970's Documentary celebrating 2500 years of Persian heritage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SwF70xGGj8

[ToddBaesen]

Thanks for posting this Mike, I've been dying to see Welles narration for this celebration of 2,500 years of Persian history that the Shaw celebrated in 1971.

As we know now the Shaw of Iran's brother in law went on to help finance Orson Welles's final two films, F FOR FAKE and THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND.

Sadly, the Shaw was hardly a good example for democracy, but was probably far more acceptable to the West than the current regime in Iran.

Welles was a lover of Persian culture and when he agreed to narrate the documentary, I've no doubt he was not fully aware of the Shaw's record of human rights violations. Remember, at the time Richard Nixon was President and was great friends with the Shaw.

In any case, this is clearly a case for further study. Did the liberal Welles know what The Shaw really stood for?

[mteal]

It would be kind of hard to believe that Welles was not aware of the Shah's human rights record, but you're right, by many accounts, the fundamentalist regime that succeeded him was guilty of far greater human rights abuses, particularly against women.

What's interesting is that in the 1940's Welles found himself trying to work between a Brazilian dictator and Nelson Rockefeller. In the 1970's he found himself trying to work for another dictator being supported by another Rockefeller-

David Rockefeller discusses the fall of the Shah:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0S5Tm-Ck0s

Unfortunately, it appears that the end of the Persian heritage program is missing, so we don't know what Welles's narration was, but at the beginning it's rather eloquent:

Persia. A land of barren mountains and burning deserts. A harsh land in which the climate is sparing in it's bounties. An ancient land, which is the meeting point between east and west, between Russia and India, between Arabia and the Caspian Sea. Iranians call it "Iran"; their soft and musical language, "Persian". On the rim of the country's dead heart - the old enemy...sand...sand...sand - there flowered, under it's powder blue skies, a wonder in the story of mankind.

Beautiful women, in a land blessed to this day with beautiful women, inspired the miniatures painter's brushes. Women with silvery voices, and melting eyes, eyes like the eyes of the gazelle which leaps over the burnished gold of the mountainside. Over the centuries grew palaces and mosques, which still dazzle the eye. In Persian gardens scented with Jasmine, the Lotus flowers bloomed, and the nightingale serenaded lovers to their dreamlands. Persia is the inspiration of Omar Kayyam, and the thousand and one nights, In later centuries, conquerors trampled on it's heritage, but through golden ages, the spirit of Persia has always triumphed.

In this land of beauty was born, more then five centuries before Christ, the mightiest empire in the, then, history of the world. The first capitol was here in Pasaghan, In celebration 2.500 years of nationhood, the Persian people, led by their Shah, his imperial majesty Mohammed Reza, make homage at the tomb of Cyrus the Great, the first Shah of all. Cyrus, king of kings. Champion, long before Magna Carta, of human rights and liberties. Cyrus, the lord's annointed of the prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament. Cyrus, the founder of Persian culture. and the father of Iran, the land five times the size of Great Britain, which this Shah rules today.

In solemnly dedicating himself to the memory of his predecessor, the Shah was keeping a promise he had made ten years earlier. As he left the tomb to join his empress and his ten-year-old son, the crown prince, he was filled with a sense of occasion. It would fall to him, after a long twilight in his nation's history, to remind the world, and his own people, of Persian pride.

[mteal]

From Charles Higham's THE RISE AND FALL OF AN AMERICAN GENIUS:

The Backing for (The Other Side of the Wind) was complex. In order to support the luxury of his own vision and methods of work, Welles had to draw his finances from a variety of sources. One source was German television; I remember meeting the German television representative in 1976, when I was working for The New York Times, and I recall their shocked annoyance that all the investment had gone and there was nothing to show for it. Another backer was Avenel, a Swiss group, and a third was an Iranian group that included the Shah's brother-in-law, Mehdi Mouscheri. Apparently Welles was now prepared to sup with the devil to obtain money; in a seeming reversal of his lifelong liberalism, he narrated a one-hour color documentary of groveling admiration for the Iranian leader, produced in cooperation with the Tehran Ministry of Culture and Art. One hopes he did not mean it.