Probably no event would have made the late Orson Welles prouder than to see his beloved Chimes at Midnight getting the proper U.S. release and acknowledgment it should have received 50 years earlier.
Its restoration and release by Janus Films was one of the brightest moments of 2016 for Welles enthusiasts.
The restored release was lauded by critics with The New Yorker calling it a “cinematic event of the first order.” Entertainment Weekly noted that “thanks to an astonishingly crisp restoration, Orson Welles’ 1965 Shakespearean masterpiece can now be appreciated by anyone who thought his best days behind the camera ended with Touch of Evil.”
Chimes at Midnight enjoyed a successful run at art houses in more than 60 U.S. cities. Welles’ co-star, Keith Baxter, and the director’s youngest daughter, Beatrice, who played a page in the movie, made appearances on its behalf and were involved in a subsequent, and superb, home video release from The Criterion Collection.
Collegiate Church of Sant Vicenç in Cardona, Spain, where some of Chimes at Midnight was filmed, was designated a “Treasure of European Film Culture” by the European Film Academy.
More than three decades after Welles’ passing, there was a surprising amount of activity in 2016, including:
- The continuing (and painful) saga of The Other Side of the Wind. Our hopes up that Welles’ look at 1970s Hollywood would be completed and released in 2015 were dashed that year. The broken promise continued into 2016. Wellesnet broke the news that Netflix is now party to the ongoing negotiations with Filip Jan Rymsza, Frank Marshall and Oja Kodar.
- Several Welles-related books arrived on shelves this year including Simon Calllow’s Orson Welles, Volume 3: One-Man Band; Harlan Lebo’s Citizen Kane: A Filmmaker’s Journey and Matthew Asprey Gear’s At the End of the Street in the Shadow – Orson Welles and the City.
- Notable Blu-ray releases: The previously mentioned Chimes at Midnight and The Immortal Story made their long-awaited home video debut in the U.S., courtesy of The Criterion Collection. There was also a deluxe Macbeth set from Olive Films and a 75th anniversary Citizen Kane release from Warner Home Video. (Kudos to Peter Bogdanovich, Beatrice Welles and Scott Mantz for giving the Kane Blu-ray a proper launch at AFI Fest 2016.)
- Bright Lucifer, a largely forgotten horror play written by a young Welles, had its London premiere at the White Bear Theatre.
- Forget those cheap Paul Masson wines! Orson Welles Merlot was issued by the TCM Wine Club during the summer. We are hoping it will find a larger retail audience.
- Good news from two repositories of Welles’ papers. The Lily Library at Indiana University announced plans to preserve Welles radio shows and stream them online, while the University of Michigan has made papers recently acquired from Oja Kodar available to scholars and fans.
- The late director was mentioned during the presidential campaign season when Donald Trump referred to Orson Welles “totally f–ked up.” In discussing his love of Citizen Kane, the future commander-in-chief managed to resurrect several popular misconceptions about the maverick filmmaker – remarks that Beatrice Welles later dismissed as “stupid.”
- Wellesnet, which marked its 15th anniversary in 2016, shed light on several aspects of Welles’ personal and professional life, such how he sought justice for beaten black veteran Isaac Woodard, his aborted Treasure Island, an examination of court documents related to the complex estate he left behind, and an interview with Juan Cobos, Welles’ assistant on Chimes at Midnight and a longtime friend.
- In memoriam: We lost Kathryn Trosper Popper, an assistant and actress in Citizen Kane; Mercury Theatre members Arthur Anderson, Kevin O’Morrison and Bill Herz; and Joanne Grace Hill Tarbox Styles, the daughter of Welles’ mentor, Roger “Skipper” Hill. Also, Chimes at Midnight photographer Nicolas Tikhomiroff, Encyclopedia of Orson Welles author Charles Berg, Confidential Report set decorator Gil Parrondo, and Touch of Evil actress Zsa Zsa Gabor passed away in 2016.
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