Wellesnet: The Orson Welles Web Resource

The Spring, 2010 issue of DGA Quarterly has just come out and features a fabulous 8-page collection of stills of Orson Welles directing on the set of 11 of his movies, ranging from Citizen Kane to The Immortal Story.

Jackie Lam, the DGA photo editor has done a splendid job of searching out some rare photos, many of which I'd never even seen before! You can download the DGA photo essay in PDF format HERE. It also makes quite a nice companion piece to the special Orson Welles issue of La Furia Umana.

The DGA Quarterly also has reprinted the 1969 reminiscences of many of the cast and crew who worked with Orson Welles on Citizen Kane in their Spring, 2006 issue HERE.

From the introduction to the article:

"The interviewees were found in many places: John Houseman at the Julliard School in New York, Richard Wilson at his beach house at Santa Monica, Ralph Hoge at his camera rental house, William Alland at an investment firm of which he is a partner, Paul Stewart at his home above the Sunset Strip, Agnes Moorehead on the Bewitched set, Joseph Cotten in the Polo Lounge of the Beverly Hills Hotel, Robert Wise in his Universal Office, James G. Stewart at Glen Glenn Sound, Mark Robson at 20th Century-Fox. Curiously, since working on Citizen Kane, Wilson, Hoge, Stewart, Wise and Robson have all become directors themselves."

The Italian online multi-language film magazine LA FURIA UMANA (The Human Fury or WHITE HEAT) edited by Toni D’Angela has just come out with their fourth issue, devoted to the work of that great genius of the cinema, ORSON WELLES.

Their past three issues have featured detailed examinations on the films of Raoul Walsh, Andy Warhol and John Ford.

Given the sorry state of today's print magazines on the cinema, including the once great Film Comment, it is quite heartening to be able to turn to the internet and find far more interesting writing on motion pictures for free.

As LA FURIA UMANA #4 has just appeared (it will be online from April 1st to May 1st and then archived), I've only had time to read two of the extensive articles, and both have been excellent: The poet Richard Hell on The Lady From Shanghai, and Richard Naremore on Welles's unfilmed script for Heart of Darkness, which I found exceptionally interesting, as I only recently read Welles's fascinating screenplay for Heart of Darkness.

I am also honored that two of my own articles on The Other Side of the Wind and Filming Othello are included!

One problem for English speaking readers is that many of the articles appear in the writers native tongues, but I've found that by using the Google translation helper, you will get a slightly distorted but still readable version of the articles that are in Italian or other languages.

Below is the link and the contents page for the special ORSON WELLES issue of LA FURIA UMANA.

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CONFIDENTIAL REPORT
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The Other Side of the Wind (started in 1970) / Lawrence French

Infinity: The Cinema of Orson Welles / Toni D’Angela

Orson Welles Today (1966) / Gianni Rondolino

Orson Welles's Dracula on the radio / Ross Wilbanks

Heart of Darkness: Joseph Conrad and Orson Welles / James Naremore

Hearts of Age (1934) / Rinaldo Censi

Citizen Kane (1941) / Denis Lévy

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) / Giulia Carluccio

It’s All True (1942) / Alessandro Cappabianca

Journey Into Fear (1942) / Renzo Pellizzari

The Stranger (1946) / Marzio Pieri

The Lady from Shanghai (1946) / Richard Hell

Macbeth (1948) / Michele Goni

Othello (1952) / Chris Fujiwara

Don Quixote (begun in 1955) / Elena Dagrada and Sigismondo Sciortino

Mr. Arkadin (1955) / A. S. Hamrah

Touch of Evil (1958) / Alfonso Cariolato and Sergio Wolf

The Trial (1962) / Marzio Pieri and Alessandro Cappabianca

Chimes at Midnight (1966) / Giona A. Nazzaro

The Deep (started in 1967) / Renato Zorzin

The Immortal Story (1968) / Sigismondo Sciortino

F for Fake (1973) / Jonathan Rosenbaum

Filming Othello (1978) / Lawrence French

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