Universal Studios is readying “Touch of Evil” for domestic release on Blu-ray. Wellesnet veteran Roger Ryan alerted us to a remark made by Michael Daruty, head of Universal’s Technical Operations, in TIME. While the article focused on the restoration and home video release of “Schindler’s List,” Daruty revealed that Welles’ 1958 thriller is undergoing its […]
By KYP HARNESS Finally released last month on DVD to little fanfare, having been unavailable for 20 years in its country of origin, Orson Welles’s The Magnificent Ambersons is surrounded by a mythology
By ROGER L. RYAN On September 13th The Magnificent Ambersons made its very belated DVD debut in North America as an Amazon.com exclusive “add-on” for customers who buy the Ultimate Collector’s Edition Blu-ray of Citizen Kane. Even though fans had been very vocal about wanting Ambersons released on DVD for a decade or more, the […]
When Welles didn’t work, he drank, bragged, ran through women, ate like a beast and hated himself. He’d eat supper at his dressing table–two steaks, each with a baked potato; an entire pineapple; triple pistachio ice cream; and a bottle of Scotch. Appetite drove him. Applause wasn’t enough. He wanted amazement, the gasp of a […]
Warner Bros. has released the official press release for their 70th Anniversary edition of Citizen Kane, due out on September 13, 2011. It will come in three editions: a DVD 3-disc set, priced at $49.99; a Blu ray 3-disc set priced at $64.99, and the Amazon exclusive edition which will include a fourth disc […]
Given that “The Greatest Film Ever Made” certainly deserves a Deluxe release on it’s 70th anniversary, which also happens to be how many years Orson Welles lived on the planet Earth, I would like to propose my own wish list of extras and improvements that Warner Bros Home Video can make to their upcoming Blu […]
By LAWRENCE FRENCH I have recently been talking with Michael Dawson, the producer of the 1992 restored version of Othello, who explained some of the many problems he encountered while working on the restoration of the film. The interview will be published shortly on Wellesnet’s main page, and hopefully may led to a three-DVD reissue […]
Ciro Giorgini has written to let us know that his fine documentary Rosabella is now available on DVD, with new interviews with Elsa Martinelli and Suzanne Cloutier as extras. It can be ordered from Minimum Fax in Italy For 19. Euros, and comes with the book Orson Welles: Interviews on the art of the Cinema […]
The Archive of American Television in partnership with E1 Entertainment has just released Orson Welles 1953 Television debut as King Lear in a deluxe DVD package. It is highly recommended, since although this historic TV show is still mastered from a kinescope copy, it looks far better than the blurry VHS copies that have long […]
Christian McKay and Richard Linklater spent one-and-a-half days in San Francisco to talk about their new film Me and Orson Welles and dazzled the preview audience at the Embarcadero Center Cinemas. Having arrived in SF from the Austin premiere the night before, the San Francisco event was a much more low-key affair, since teen heart-throb […]
It’s hard to complain too loudly when Warner Home Video finally brings out one of their many movies people have been waiting to see on Blue Ray and DVD. Yet, the way Warners has been carelessly dropping film gems on the marketplace without any advance publicity, is rather disheartening, to say the least. Such classics […]
Orson Welles had a perception of everything in the film, including the music. He knew. He truly understood film scoring. …Touch of Evil was one of the best things I’ve ever done. —Henry Mancini ************************* While Orson Welles often had trouble in his dealings with producers and studio executives, he usually attracted the highest calibre […]