Film Forum, Paley Center in NYC screenings - Jan./Feb. 2015

[RayKelly]

http://www.wellesnet.com/?p=10676

The Film Forum in New York City screening are set for January 1 to February 3, 2015. The Paley Center for Media in New York showings are slated for February 7-8 and February 14-15, 2015.

[Wellesnet]

Chris Welles Feder will introduce "Macbeth", with Joseph McBride:
http://filmforum.org/events/event/chris ... n-17-event

William Friedkin will introduce "Citizen Kane", "The Magnificent Ambersons", and "The Stranger":
http://filmforum.org/events/event/direc ... jan-7-9-11

Joseph McBride will introduce three films, including "Touch of Evil":
http://filmforum.org/events/event/welle ... 6-17-event

Home page for the Film Forum event:
http://filmforum.org/series/orson-welles-series-page

Lineup for the Paley Center Welles TV Fest:
http://www.wellesnet.com/paley-center-i ... uary-2015/

NYT on "Saluting Orson Welles":
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/28/movie ... .html?_r=0

[Wellesnet]

WSJ on "Welles at 100":
http://www.wsj.com/articles/orson-welle ... 1419896911

Good line in the comments section: "Welles had a voice that could make Paul Masson wine drinkable."

Joseph McBride, serving as a consultant on the Film Forum series, has done a Q&A with Wellesnet on his participation in the fest:
http://www.wellesnet.com/joseph-mcbride ... um-series/

[RayKelly]

Nice piece by Danny Peary on Joseph McBride and the Film Forum series in the Sag Harbor Express.

http://sagharboronline.com/sagharborexpress/danny-peary-on-film/joseph-mcbride-to-appear-at-the-fabulous-orson-welles-tribute-at-the-film-forum-35347

[Le Chiffre]

That's a nice interview by Joseph McBride. I’ve got all three of Mr. Peary's “Cult Movies” books, so I'm pretty familiar with him too. I especially like McBride's statement about David Thomson having some responsibility for the results of the last Sight and Sound poll. I’ve suspected as much myself, and even stated here on the Wellesnet message board that he was probably jumping for joy at Kane’s dethroning. In his recent article on Vertigo, Thomson snidely wrote:

“ …in 2012, the poll of critics organized by Sight & Sound determined that at long last Citizen Kane should step aside. Vertigo was the greatest film ever made.”

It'll be interesting to see if Thomson shows up at any Welles celebrations this year.

[Wellesnet]

William Friedkin's introduction and afterward Q&A for Citizen Kane last week can be heard in a podcast at the bottom of the Film Forum's homepage:
http://filmforum.org/series/orson-welles-series-page

Welles cocktails are being served too, including:

The Radio Wave
($9, Fords Gin, St. Germain, Creme de Violette, Lemon Juice)

The Shanghai Midnight
($9, Old Overholt, Laird’s Applejack, Peychaud’s Bitters, Pernod Absinthe Rinse):

[jbrooks]

I attended Wellesiana -- last night's presentation by Joseph McBride at Film Forum in New York. McBride had lots of interesting stuff to say and lots of interesting stuff to show -- some of which was familiar to me (as a Welles diehard) but some of which I had never seen before. Over all, a great presentation and a great evening at the cinema. My thanks goes out to Professor McBride.

I didn't take notes. But from memory, the program consisted of the following --

1. An audio clip of Welles playing to a series of stock Welles photos and stills. Welles discusses how he loves movies too much and would have been better off leaving cinema but didn't because he was hooked. McBride said the presentation had been done for the DGA Memorial to Welles shortly after his death. McBride said the audio clip itself had come from a Welles tribute/presentation in the 1970s. (I'm forgetting which one - but I had not heard the exact recording before -- though Welles said similar things in the BBC Arena show and elsewhere).

2. A clip from a long interview Welles did with Roger "Skipper" Hill c. 1970s. (We see only Hill as Welles failed to shoot his reaction shots). The clip focused on Welles' first impressions of Todd and how Welles went into dramatic acting to impress Hill because Welles knew that he would be hopeless at acrobatics (which was all the rage at Todd when Welles arrived).

3. Hearts of Age -- in a 16mm version taken directly from the AFI's archive master. McBride said he himself had never watched the print and the only person who ever had before was Francois Truffaut, to whom McBride once lent it. It was somewhat sharper than previous versions I have seen -- but not remarkably so. McBride told the great story of how he "discovered" this film -- the only copy of which was in a collection at the Greenwich CT public library -- and talked about how Welles was annoyed by its discovery, as it undercut the notion that Kane was his first foray into film.

4. A screen test Welles did for a Hollywood studio (Warner?) in 1937. Short, but fascinating. Welles -- looking significantly younger than I've ever seen him on film (He's heavily made up in Hearts of Age) -- does one short line reading. He's boyish but the screen presence we all know is certainly there.

5. The newsreel-type footage of the performance of Welles' Voodoo MacBeth -- from "We Work Again."

6. Raw footage from the War of the Worlds press conference on October 31, 1938. There was much here that I had never seen before. Very interesting. Welles keeps a sad and concerned look on his face the entire time -- but some of his answers hint at some contempt for the gullible folks who took his program at face value as well as contempt for some of the questions asked.

7. The trailer for Citizen Kane.

8. Raw behind-the-scenes footage from the "It's All True" documentary -- showing Welles directing a few sequences, including filming an elevating raft on the beach (simulating the sea voyage and allowing low-angle shots). Interesting stuff, but poor quality, silent, and short.

9. The Welles-Dietrich sequence from "Follow the Boys."

10. Some comedic clips including a bit from Welles' cameo on "I Love Lucy" and Welles' English Manor bit from "One Man Band."

11. The cinema sequence from Don Quixote (silent, and in the same TV-dub we've seen on the Youtube).

12. Clips from the "Portrait of Gina," and "Around the World with Orson Welles."

13. A short clip of outtakes from "Mr. Arkadin" in which Welles' gives Paolo line readings. (I can't recall whether this is also an extra on the Criterion DVD -- it might be).

14. Short clips from "Filming Othello" and "Filming the Trial."

15. Two sequences from "The Other Side of the Wind." I don't think I had seen either in quite this form before. Both were work print material -- similar in picture quality to the other clips we've seen. The first was the scene where McBride and others are crowded into the back of the car, with Jake driving and Bogdanovich in the passenger seat. They ask Jake various questions. Then they are advised by someone on a motor cycle that their car is over-crowded so they leave McBride on the side of the road with his tape recorder. McBride then gets picked up by the school bus with the dummies. He climbs in and takes a seat in the back, fumbling with his big reel-to-reel tape deck. The second clip was a seven minute version of the car sex scene -- which included a longer set up than I've seen before, including cut-aways to the projectionist at Jake's party who sets up and shows the film at the party.

16. A clip from the Merv Griffin show Welles filmed the day he died. I had seen the clip, but McBride offered some details on Welles' death that I had not heard, including that Welles had laid down with a pillow on his bathroom floor. And that that was where he was found.

I may have forgotten a clip or two. If so, my apologies. It was certainly a great night at the cinema. McBride is running it all again Saturday afternoon. Go see it!

[Wellesnet]

Thanks for the rundown, JBrooks. Sounds like a fascinating program; we envy you. Some of those things are online, but to see them on the big screen would be a rare treat.

Here's an article on Joseph McBride's introduction this past Wednesday night of the "preview" version of "Touch of Evil":
https://willmckinley.wordpress.com/2015 ... ars-later/

[Wellesnet]

Beatrice Welles will introduce "Chimes at Midnight" via Skype this Sunday:
http://www.wellesnet.com/beatrice-welle ... -midnight/

[tonyw]

Beatrice on Skype? I thought she might want to make a live appearance so she could meet all her fans.

[Le Chiffre]

Looks like she is doing several live appearances at the Sedona Film Fest next month, including one with Ray Kelly for Chimes. And she won't be going up against the Super Bowl, which may put a damper on the number of fans tomorrow.

[Le Chiffre]

Apparently it didn't. A second showing of Chimes is being added for this Saturday, due to yesterday's being sold out:
http://www.wellesnet.com/film-forum-fur ... -midnight/

[Wellesnet]

Shadowplay on the DCP Chimes showing at the New York Fest:
https://dcairns.wordpress.com/2015/02/1 ... /#comments