Jonathan Rosenbaum's Discovering Orson Welles

[DexyMan]

Hey guys - I'm sure I remember some other comments about this book but I couldn't find them for some reason so I just started a new thread.

I just started reading it (What took me so long??) and I must say that the Introduction is one of the most interesting essays I've ever read about Orson Welles. It really illuminated the fallibility of every Welles book out there and showcased why Rosenbaum is such a great voice in Welles criticism. I can only hope the rest of the book is as good. I've read some of these articles, of course, like the 7 Arkadins so I know it should be good.

Any other fans of this book out there?

He also mentions how impressive Bart Whaley's PDF book is. Did anyone ever make it through that one? Any more news about a possible publisher for it?

[Jeff Wilson]

I'm going to be covering the Whaley book along with the OW At Work book in a forthcoming post, but I'll add a few comments here first. Whaley's book is overlong (it comes in at 660-something pages), obviously with a strong emphasis on the magic side of things. The bulk of his original research comes in the magic material; the rest largely seems to be culled from published works on Welles. The emphasis on magic works to the book's advantage and disadvantage; when discussing something like the Mercury Wonder Show, it's interesting to hear a magic-oriented take on how it was put together and so on. On the other hand, digressions about Welles visiting some random magician or magic shop and learning a given trick left me thinking "who cares?"

So the book is essentially a biography, with a heavy emphasis on magic, which makes it unique among Welles books out there. Whaley adds some further material in an appendix section that includes brutal rippings of John Houseman, Pauline Kael, Howard Koch, and Herman Mankiewicz, which certainly are entertaining if nothing else.

[jbrooks]

I think the Rosenbaum book is great. I had read a number of the pieces before, but I was delighted to see that he had included short updates to many of the pieces.

[Tony]

If you liked the book, you'll love this video:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... &plindex=5


It's an hour-long interview with Rosenbaum on Welles. I too love the book, even though I have most of the articles already from when they were printed in magazines. Still, it's nice to have them in one place, and there are some new ones as well. I paricularly like "Orson Welles's Essay Films and Documentary Fictions", "Othello Goes Hollywood", "The Battle over Orson Welles", and "Orson Welles as Ideological Challenge", but they are all good writings.

For me, Rosenbaum is the finest living American film critic, and the finest living writer on Welles. He is only superceded by Bazin and Bessy (ah, those French) a list I might add to as soon as I finish reading the new book "Orson Welles at Work" by François Thomas and Jean-Piere Berthomé .

You might also want to check out Rosenbaum's other books as well: I have several, and they all challenge the usual assumptions about cinema today.

[tonyw]

Tony, Thanks for posting this. I was only able to access the QUIXOTE section a few months back so it is good to have the complete version available. Tomorrow evening I'll be using "Othello Goes Hollywood" and beginning the class by comparing the soundtracks on both versions of the film. You need not guess which will gain my seal of approval.

[Tony]

tonyw: I recall (on page 229, This is Orson Welles, 1st edition) that Welles described the opening music to Othello as "hair-raising" and in Welles's original mix and recording, it is indeed that. However, when those hacks working for Beatrice redid it, it is something much less than "hair-raising", although similar music (I say similar because as you know, it was transcribed by ear.) Welles also discusses how he reprocessed (like the Beatles) the battle music: overdubbed it, ran it backwards, etc.

You probably know all this, I'm just mentioning it just in case. Best of luck with what sounds like a fascinating class.

[LamontCranston]

What they named after Welles is called Genus