The Unknown Orson Welles in NY - rare Welles footage shown at Film Forum

[Christopher]

Last night, I saw the first two programs in THE UNKNOWN ORSON WELLES series which just opened at the Film Forum in New York -- "It's All Magic" and "The Wide World of Orson Welles." Both films are delightful, very moving in some parts and hilarious in others. I felt Stefan Droessler did an excellent job of assembling the individual pieces of films in a seamless way that holds the viewer's interest from start to finish and also shows Welles in all his complexity and at various ages and stages of his career. Personally, I was most captivated by the segments from "The Orson Welles Sketchbooks" as these reveal what a great storyteller Orson was, how utterly charming he was in person and what great charisma he had. I'll be interested to hear the reactions of any other Wellesnet members who got to the Fillm Forum last night. And needless to say, I'll be there again tonight!

[Jaime N. Christley]

My favorite film/segment last night was THE SPIRIT OF CHARLES LINDBERGH, which I suppose we should count as Welles' final completed film (the footage from THE MAGIC SHOW and DON QUIXOTE, and others, qualify as "constructions," which Droessler emphasized). It could not be simpler in form: an unadorned CU of Welles sending a message of love to his friend, in the form of an entry in Lindbergh's diary, written before he landed in Paris. Before and after the reading, he says, "This is for you, Bill." Droessler said who he was referring to, prior to the screening, but I've forgotten. (Easy enough to find out. Anyone know?)

As the slate appears, Welles is telling someone to his left, off-screen, "Don't cry, baby." I'm assuming that's Oja.

Three minutes in length. It's a beatiful film, Welles' least elaborate, and very touching. Graver photographed.

[L French]

Chris & Jaime:

How were the crowds at the Film Forum? Were the shows near sell-outs, or were they sparsely attended?

Re: The Lindbergh short.

Welles sent this filmed letter to his longtime London manager Bill Cronshaw in 1984, who was dying of aids at the time. Cronshaw was also married to Welles longtime London secretary, Mrs. Rogers.

In LA, Stefan revealed that Orson's line "Don't Cry Baby" was directed at his cat, apparently sitting beside him, just off screen.

A very sad piece, not only because Welles was sending it to his dying friend, but also because Welles himself looks very frail and is obviously not in the best of health.

Below is the prologue, which I think, quite appropriately, can also be applied to Welles:

OW: There are never many, never enough of them, but there are men born into the world with a gaze fixed on the widest possible horizon. Men who can see without strain beyond the most distant horizon into that unconquered country we call the future. Here are some words by one such man, which I'd like to dedicate to another such man.

This is for you, Bill...

[Sir Bygber Brown]

Touching. He could be a sweet man, by the sounds of it. I'm constantly touched by the love Oja seems to have for him, when i watch One Man Band, and feel happy from it.

[Jaime N. Christley]

The crowds are excellent. I've been buying tickets online, for each day's first show, for fear of not getting a seat. Since I have an hour's commute, this is a serious issue.

I spoke with Stefan briefly, at the concessions. He mentioned that one of the big stumbling blocks in getting films like TOSOTW to completion is, ironically, Oja's love. Because she's irrationally convinced that the film will be some kind of blockbuster...let me see if I remember this right (we spoke quickly, and his German accent is very thick, and there's my poor memory), she's demanding that no expense should be spared in the reconstruction, i.e. rather than just enough to get the film finished and released.

He also confided in me that it's difficult to be totally open about these matters when he's at a talk with Oja.

It's not a Beatrice-type situation, with Oja. It's precisely the opposite, but possibly equally obstructive. And there are other pests in the whole situation that require go-away money: there's a lot of people at cross-purposes with the Welles films, with very different ideas about their role in getting his films to the public.

[colwood]

The crowds are great but I think that has to do with the theater. I remember somebody writing that the Egyptian in LA where it played had something like 400 people in a 900-seat theater. Well here in NY the theater is packed but only because the average theater at Film Forum holds 250 (if that).

I attended the "unfinished works" program. Excellent stuff. The Deep was very interesting. DQ was good though I wish they had included the "movie theater" scene that was talked about in another thread. They included an episode of OW Sketchbook that I thought was great. And last but no least they inlcuded OSOTW. The clips were great and I can only hope that the film is finished and released soon.

Stefan Droessler was there and had planned to take a few questions. Unfortunately the program ran long and he only touched on two questions and their answers. One of them (I think) was about the release of either the OSOTW or the rareties from Munich being released on DVD and he said he hoped it could happen but was suffering because of the rights issues.

(To anyone who might catch him Monday, 3/1, while he is at FF, if you could ask the chances of the rariites from Munich ever being sold commercially the public, ie DVD, I'd appreciate it.)

Overall, I had a great time, except for the patron with the gigantic head who sat in front of me. I wish I could have stayed and attended other shows. But I also live an hour away and I can't get into the city as easily as I used to.

[Jaime N. Christley]

Those who've attended all six installments of Welles rarities may notice one peculiar event: all six Sketchbook episodes are now accounted for.

I wish I'd recorded the episode for Jeff to transcribe, but it hadn't occurred to me to do so and if it had, I wouldn't have known which day to bring an audio recorder, since they were shown somewhat out of order.

In the missing episode (the first) he talks about his first experiences at the Gate, and stage fright, and what it meant to perform before the crowds that attended the Gate. The biggest laugh: he's in a play where he says, "You know, Solomon had over twenty wives," and in the audience a man stated simply, "Thot's a dirty black Protestant loy."

[Jaime N. Christley]

What show is the Falstaff monologue from? He performed Shylock for the "Dean Martin Show," but the other one, I'm not sure.

[Jeff Wilson]

Thanks for the thought about taping the Sketchbook episode, but I have actually had it in audio format for a while, but I've been dreading the thought of sitting down with the tape player and actually transcribing it. But maybe writing this will make me actually sit down and do that once and for all.

[colwood]

It's great to know that all six episodes of the Sketchbook are accounted for. I was always under the impression that they had been. The episode I saw was funny. It included the tale of the witch doctor from the beginning of It's All True. It included the death of the theater critic from the time of the Voodoo Macbeth (I think Welles touched on that story in the BBC interview). And it included the story of Welles' nose and how it related to his first performance in Dublin.

I was hoping to see all six programs. Because of work schedules and personal commitments, I was only able to see the Unfinished one, though I'm glad I did. Stefan said that in NY and LA that the Unfinished program was the most popular but he thought the one with Filming the Trial was the best.

I was hoping that the boards might have a deeper discussion with the public viewing of this rare material, but then I remembered that it only ran in NY and LA. (Surprised it didn't run in Chicago, at least not yet.)

My quick thoughts:
I enjoyed the clips from DQ but as Stefan and others have said, it's hard to put them in perspective since the premise of the film kept changing. It was also hard to follow since majority of them had no sound.

The Deep seemed interesting though the print was in bad shape. The new scenes I saw revolved around Jeanne Moreau asking Lawrence Harvey if Oja would be able to take control of the boat and another scene with Oja aiming a rifle but not being able to bring herself to shoot the stranger.

TOSOTW was what I was most looking forward to and it didn't disappoint. It was GREAT being able to see new scenes other than the three that have been released over the years. The first was of Huston, Bogdanovich, a interviewer and crew driving in Hannaford's car to the party. Funniest part was at the end, one of the crew asks Hannaford if he can slow down as the camera shows one of the crew literally hanging on to the back of the car. There was a short scene of Hannaford blowing out his candles. There was a scene of Dennis Hopper and someone discussing cinema. Listening to Hopper reminded me of his monologue in Apacalypse Now. And finally there was the scene of Hannaford directing Oja and John Dale having sex on a bed. You can hear him shouting his (almost comical) directions at the two before Dale gets fed up and runs away to which Hannaford responds with somthing like, that's it keep the cameras rolling, I want to get this on record.

Anyway great stuff. The one other program I wanted to see was the one featuring Filming the Trial. And if anyone who saw it could comment, I'd appreciate it.

[Jaime N. Christley]

FILMING 'THE TRIAL' was as expected: Welles fielding questions from an audience of USC cinema students. He's in top form. The students are even more eccentric than he, sometimes. On more than one occasion he's taken aback by some enormously elaborate and profound question on space or something, but he proceeds to speak eloquently, in his humble, slightly high-art-phobic way.

Most surprising tidbits included: he was asked, if he were to make THE TRIAL "today" (i.e. in 1981), who would he cast as Joseph K., and instead of deflecting the question, he thought for a moment and said "Pacino," and admitted that he was a big fan of his. (At the time - I don't know if Welles had seen it, but Pacino had just starred in the critically reviled but pretty underrated CRUISING, and was about to embark on a career slump known as "the '80s.")

He was asked to say a few words about Abel Gance, who'd just died. (The student recalled how Welles had a few years back wrote eloquently about Jean Renoir, on the occason of that director's passing.) Welles politely declined, stating somewhat apologetically that, although the cinema owed Gance a great deal as far as his innovations were concerned, he didn't think much of his movies. "I like movies about people and.....I don't think he made any. I'm sorry." (Paraphrasing.) Both the Film Forum and the USC audience - both of which were somewhat indistinguishable by this point - moaned audibly in surprise.

[Jaime N. Christley]

I enjoyed the TOSOTW footage a great deal, I think it's apparent that, upon completion, this should rank as one of Welles' greatest films. The fragments should be ranked among them already.

As for DON QUIXOTE and THE DEEP, I'm not so sure about. DQ is particularly hard to get a feeling for.

MERCHANT OF VENICE: I feel I should withhold my comments until more work is done. But I don't think it will be one of my favorite Welles films - his first attempts at color aren't very pleasurable for me, not until F FOR FAKE (which has more going for it than the color) and OTHER SIDE OFTHE WIND (ditto).

[Christopher]

I would like to recommend to all of you the book being sold at the Film Forum in conjunction with the Orson Welles Festival, titled "The Unknown Orson Welles." It's edited by Stefan Drossler and published by the Munich Filmmuseum. The book contains fascinating articles about and interviews with Welles as well as a lengthy and illuminating interview with Oja Kodar. If you're not in the New York area, you can order the book from:

Stefan Drossler, Director
Filmmuseum im Munchner Stadtmuseum
St. Jakobs-Platz 1
80331 Munich
Germany

It's selling for $25 at the Film Forum.

[jbrooks]

I second Christopher's endorsement of the Unseen Orson Welles book. From my limited skimming of it so far, I have found it well worth the $25. (Well, okay, that's a bit expensive -- but it is well worth $15, and I was happy to pay $25 since it might be hard to obtain in the future).

Okay, now for my (somewhat belated) thoughts on the Unseen Orson Welles program in New York last weekend. I saw the "Unfinished Works" and "Filming the Trial" programs. Stefan Drossler introduced both programs and answered questions for a good amount of time after the second.

Scenes from Don Quixote. I have never seen the 1992 Jess Franco version, so I cannot compare these scenes to that.
Drossler said this material was taken from a workprint held by an archive in Paris. He described the Franco version as a disaster and he mentioned that Oja hates it and tries to stop any showing of it when she can. Drossler said that Welles only recorded a portion of the dialogue (dubbing all the voices himself), and he described how bits of the film are held by different individuals and archives around the world. He suggested that there was some effort underway to roundup all the pieces, but it didn't sound as though he expects any progress soon. Drossler lamented that Welles himself had cut-out the Patty McCormick framing device -- and he noted that this material was quite good.

The material we saw was wonderful -- though it was failry formless -- just random scenes -- about 20 minutes worth -- some with dialogue (all by Welles) and some without any sound at all. But the photography and the performances (including Welles' dubbing) were great.

Next up were the Deep and The Other Side of the Wind ... I'll post my thoughts on those later.

Cheers.

[Christopher]

Although some of TOSOTW footage is brilliant -- Hannaford arriving at his birthday celebration and the sex scene in the car which has got to be the most erotic scene ever put on film -- I had difficulty with seeing the various segments out of context and not knowing much about Welles' intentions other than his determination not to repeat himself. Certainly, he is striking out into new territory and especially in the movie within a movie, experimenting with a style most of us would not associate with him...but perhaps that was my problem. I couldn't see Welles's hallmark on this footage whereas even in the fragments of DON QUIXOTE, disjointed and soundless as they are, every moment is unmistably Welles. I would be interested to know why many on this board are so enthusiastic about TOSOTW and what it is that I may be missing.