Reichenbach Portrait

[Store Hadji]

En Français (de François) and most good. Welles directs scenes from THE IMMORTAL STORY.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dckS6kAWyk

[abasak]

Have you seen the other things he uploaded?

A clip from The Other Side of the Wind, that I have never seen before. The entire pilot to the Orson Welles shot. Some lengthy shots from The Dreamers and The Orson Welles sketch book.

Take a look here.

http://youtube.com/user/deconstructionist909

(ps. my first message here)

[Glenn Anders]

Welcome, abasak: You bring interesting news.

A quick check of deconstructionist909's contributions -- "lfrench" is listed as a friend -- indicates that he is adding them at a rate of about one every 22 minutes, as mido505 seems to know. He/she appears to have tapped into a personal private collection, or a museum/archive holding.

The latest addition I saw was an alternative reconstruction of the last sequence of THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS. This version resembles the work of Roger Ryan, but utilizes, I think, different voices, another editing pattern, and some stills I don't remember seeing before.

One feature which intrigued me was a clear recording of a vulgar, popular minstrel piece of the time, which we hear in the background to the dialogue. I have read that Welles had this "party record" re-recorded for the sequence, and I'm struck by reference to a family home fire on the recording. Reminds me that somewhere I've read that Dick Welles, his father, a friend of Tarkington, had a big ramshackle house toward the end of his life, which burned down. Perhaps, Welles was making a reflection on his own life, as he often seemed to do.

As a matter of fact, strikes me, too, how often Welles was drawn to the destructive image of fire in his work, and in his life.

Glenn

[Roger Ryan]

The latest addition I saw was an alternative reconstruction of the last sequence of THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS. This version resembles the work of Roger Ryan...

It resembles my work because it is. "deconstructionist909" does give me credit, but all the same, I would prefer that this clip not be on YouTube.

Glenn - The "vulgar minstrel" piece you noted is directly copied from a popular routine performed around 1900 where a homeowner returns from a lengthy holiday only to have a long dire list of ever-increasing catastrophic events relayed to him by his butler. The home burning down is due to the lit candles placed around a coffin of the newly deceased mother-in-law. I don't believe any of it was actually written by Welles. Joseph Cotten and Norman Foster performed the piece initially for the soundtrack. Welles requested Ray Collins replace Foster (Collins could provide a "tight-voiced vaudevillian" style of delivery that Welles preferred), but I don't think the soundtrack was ever recut before the boarding house scene was dropped completely.

[Glenn Anders]

My apologies, Roger. In my mind's eye, your cutting of the final sequence ended simply with his car driving away. I should have gone back to check.

And my understanding of the old 78 record was that, if not 'vulgar minstrel' in nature, it was considered at least low comedy.

In any case, the recording appears now to be gone, along with the sequence.

But in its place, has appeared a missing scene from JOURNEY INTO FEAR and seldom seen footage from IT'S ALL TRUE.

This guy has a lot of stuff.

Glenn

[Store Hadji]

That makeup scene is wonderful. I love that man.

[mido505]

Store, are you talking about the clip where Orson makes up and does Falstaff? That almost brought tears to my eyes it was so wonderful.

[Store Hadji]

That's the one, the chubby tragedian with the putty nose.

[abasak]

Too bad I missed the Amberson's clip, can anyone explain what it was/is?

Anyway the Falstaf bit is quite good and entertaining. It's simply just amazing the amount of clips this guy is uploading. Hard to keep up, but just makes it all the more exciting to check in.

[The Night Man]

The latest batch - The Death of Orson Welles (in four parts) - which compiles various TV obits, contains some of the saddest footage of Welles I've ever seen. The Entertainment Tonight interview, conducted a week before his death, finds him looking haggard and altogether unwell, and filled with regrets. He also looks bad (unsurprisingly) in the short clip from his appearance on the Merv Griffin Show the day he died, in which he talks about his advanced age. He must have sensed the cold hand of death beckoning.

Thanks, abasak, for linking to deconstructionist909's complete Youtube offerings. I'm checking every night now to see what new treasures have appeared, especially after having (like you) missed the Ambersons clip from Roger Ryan's reconstruction.

[Alan Brody]

That guy really is uploading a lot of great stuff, so much that I've bookmarked his site. That Falstaff makeup session is priceless, and it's very interesting to see that Welles had more then one version of the character in him.

[Tony]

Roger: Why don't you upload your whole Ambersons reconstruction onto Youtube? That way thousands will see it, including the Wellesnetters who missed it. I can't imagine why you don't want it up.

[Roger Ryan]

Roger: Why don't you upload your whole Ambersons reconstruction onto Youtube? That way thousands will see it, including the Wellesnetters who missed it. I can't imagine why you don't want it up.

There are several reasons actually. The least of which would be related to a recent David Lynch quote regarding films and cell phones!

Less cryptically, I'll only add that my AMBERSONS reconstruction has not been completely inaccessible. Thanks to a number of people who took an interest in it (including traders on this site), quite a few Welles fans have had a chance to view it.

[Tony]

That is cryptic, Roger! Seriously: a lot of interest would be generated in both Ambersons and your reconstruction if it was on youtube; perhaps some company would pay you to finish it up the way you would like and add it as an extra on a DVD (hint, hint). The more people that see it, the more people that know what was done to Ambersons. Turner (or whoever is going to release it) really should include something explaining the history of the film; I can't imagine a better way to do that than include your version as an extra.

[Alan Brody]

Looks like Deconstructionist909's account has been closed already. Too bad.