Tag Archives: Orson Welles

Movies

The Other Side of the Wind…finally released?!

In the history of film, there is perhaps no more triumphant/tragic figure than Orson Welles.  Despite a troubled and tragic youth, Mr. Welles would rise to prominence in the New York theater circuit and radio (including notoriety for his War of the Worlds broadcast) before releasing his first film, the critically acclaimed -and the film many consider the best ever made- Citizen Kane.

But despite critical acclaim, Citizen Kane was not a huge financial hit at the time of its release and its reputation grew over the years and at a time when the studios couldn’t make much money off the film, either through video release or TV presentation.

Mr. Welles’ career following the release of Citizen Kane was up and down.  Mr. Welles’ followup film, The Magnificent Ambersons, was ultimately taken from his hands and as he assembled a rough cut and at least an hour of footage was cut and a “happier” ending tacked on.  Mr. Welles’ notes on the movie and his views of what he wanted to make with it are available but, unfortunately, the footage cut is lost forever.  Still, the film as it stands is considered another classic despite the fact that it clearly did not represent Mr. Welles’ vision.

After this, Mr. Welles took on acting jobs and, when he found the funds, directing work.  Many consider Touch of Evil (1958) his last great directorial film but even this work was taken from his hands by the studios and reworked before its theatrical release.  For many years that version was the only version of the film available.  Mr. Welles would pass away in 1985 but years later his notes on how he envisioned the film were rediscovered and, in 1998 a version closer to Mr. Welles’ was released to home video and proved a far better cut (certainly IMHO) than the theatrical version.

Mr. Welles’ last directed film, The Other Side of the Wind, was filmed in the early 1970’s and starred John Huston and Dennis Hopper, among others, but was never completed.  Unlike Touch of Evil, a rough cut of the film was never made and due to financial and legal issues, Mr. Welles never was able to finish it.

Now, in an article by Elyse Wanshel for Huffington Post, it appears the film will eventually be released after all:

Netflix will complete and release Orson Welles’ unfinished film

Though Mr. Welles never created a rough cut of the film as he did with Touch of Evil, his notes were available and, after Netflix cleared the legal/financial issues surrounding this movie, they now have the right to complete and release The Other Side of the Wind.

I’m a fan of Mr. Welles’ work and am curious to see the assembled product.  Because Mr. Welles passed away so many years ago, it is obvious what will eventually be available, by necessity, has to be assembled by other hands.  Nonetheless, given the great results for Touch of Evil, a film which I thought was only “ok” in its theatrical cut and nothing short of a revelation in the new, closer to Welles’ vision cut, I’m curious to see what the people working on The Other Side of the Wind do with that film.

General

More on the War of the Worlds Broadcast…

Yesterday I linked to an article from Slate magazine that explored the reality of the “panic” created by Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds radio broadcast of 1938 (you can read about that here).

Here’s another interesting article by Michael Roffman for Time magazine concerning the broadcast and its effects on culture.  As with the Salon article, I agree with many of the points Mr. Roffman makes.  Even if the so-called “panic” that supposedly resulted from the broadcast was probably more myth than reality, this does not negate the huge impact the broadcast had on the media, both then and -yes- up to and including today, even if many may not realize this.

Just goes to show, that Orson Welles fellow was pretty damn clever and anticipated many  of the things to come…

http://entertainment.time.com/2013/10/31/the-real-legacy-of-orson-welles-war-of-the-worlds-broadcast/

General

The Myth of the “War of the Worlds” Panic…

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I’ve always had this nagging suspicion that the stories of the panic that followed the broadcast of The War of the Worlds for radio by a young, pre-movie stardom Orson Welles and based on the equally famous science fiction novel by H. G. Wells (no relation) were exaggerated.

Granted, all this happened a long time ago -1938 to be exact- and mass media wasn’t quite as overwhelming as today so most of the stories I read furthered the idea that the broadcast did create a panic.  Yet I couldn’t help but think for this to have happened, we had to believe people back then were, bluntly, rubes.  Easily swayed.  Easily fooled.

But let me back up a moment.  The story of the radio broadcast of The War of the World goes like this:  The radio-play was presented as a “newscast” and it was the nature of the serious “reporting” within the play itself that fooled many people into thinking the events unfolding were actually real, that Earth/New Jersey was being invaded by Martians at this very moment.  Naturally, this was what supposedly caused the panic that followed.

Again, the question I (and others of course) asked was exactly how much of this panic was true?

In honor of 75 Anniversary of the transmission, Jefferson Pooley and Michael Socolow offer a fascinating article for Slate.com exploring the myth and reality of what actually happened when Orson Welles and company staged their infamous radio play, and the reality of the “panic” that followed:

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/history/2013/10/orson_welles_war_of_the_worlds-panic_myth_the_infamous_radio_broadcast_did.html

At the risk of ruining a big chunk of the article, the authors state there is scant evidence there was any “massive” panic at all (the article goes as far as saying almost no one was “fooled” into thinking there was a genuine invasion and what panic there was was so minimal as to be “immeasurable”).

Which brings up the more intriguing question: Where did this panic story come from and why?

I found the answer to that one of the more fascinating things in the article and, no, I won’t give it away here.

Give the article a read, it offers a fascinating window into myth making.