University of Wisconsin closes out Orson Welles centennial series

September 29, 2015
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Joseph McBride at the Universiyt of Wisconsin on Sept. 25. 2015. (Photo courtesy of David Bordwell).
Joseph McBride strikes a Kane-like pose during a talk at the University of Wisconsin on Sept. 25. 2015. (Photo by  David Bordwell).

By RAY KELLY

Film historian Joseph McBride returned to his alma mater of the University of Wisconsin on September 25-26 to close its months-long centennial tribute to Orson Welles.

The first night in Madison featured a two-and-half-hour presentation of Wellesiana – rare footage compiled by McBride in collaboration with Bruce Goldstein and William Hohauser of the New York Film Forum.

The following afternoon, McBride hosted a screening of a 35mm print of The Magnificent Ambersons followed by a look at Welles’ original vision for the studio-edited 1942 film utilizing rare visual materials compiled by noted Ambersons expert Roger Ryan.

The homecoming was especially meaningful for the Wisconsin native, who wrote his first book on Welles, Orson Welles, and co-authored John Ford with Michael Wilmington at the University of Wisconsin.

“It’s where I got hooked on Welles when seeing Citizen Kane  in Professor Richard Byrne’s film class on September 22, 1966,” McBride said. “So, it’s always a thrill to go back home there and be asked to speak to audiences at the UW in Madison.”

Joseph McBride  outside the UW Cinematheque with fellow film scholars Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell (top shot) and fellow scholars Ben Brewster, Kristin Thompson, David Bordwell, and Lea Jacobs   (Photo courtesy of David Bordwell | UW Cinematheque).
Joseph McBride  outside the UW Cinematheque with fellow film scholars Ben Brewster, Kristin Thompson, David Bordwell, and Lea Jacobs   (Photo by David Bordwell | UW Cinematheque).

A professor in the Cinema Department at San Francisco State University, McBride in the late 1960s uncovered (on a tip from another film professor at Madison, Russell Merritt) The Hearts of Age, Welles and co-director William Vance’s teenage venture into filmmaking. He  also co-starred in Welles’ still-unreleased The Other Side of the Wind.

McBride is the author of 18 books, including three on Welles.

In attendance for McBride’s presentation were University of Wisconsin emeritus professor David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, who wrote many of the main textbooks used in film studies classes in universities, including Film Art: An Introduction and Film History: An Introduction;  Ben Brewster, former editor for Screen magazine; and University of Wisconsin professor Lea Jacobs, author of Film Rhythm After Sound: Tehnology, Music and Performance.

In addition to Wellesiana and the Ambersons talks, McBride fielded questions from the audience, discussed the still-unfinished The Other Side of the Wind and history and future of film studies, which are imperiled.

Welles was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin on May 6, 1915. He died nearly 30 years ago on October 10, 1985 in Hollywood.

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