Best books on Orson Welles?

[NoFake]

Eve_h, you did it again! Thanks so much. (And thanks, Tim. I'd done a search for "Walking Shadows" using Wellesnet's search engine and received a negative response, which is why I asked. As always, Jeff gets to the heart of things, and provides an invaluable precis. Thanks fagain!

[Anton]

Knowles Noel Shane, I second your recommendation on Peter Conrad's book. I found it fascinating too, and it does have a stream-of-consciousness quality that makes your James Joyce comparism very apropos. No less a Welles scholar then James Naremore also praised the book's "dazzling erudition", and said it contains some of the finest writing about Kane and Ambersons that he's ever read. And you're also right that it's anything but Welles 101. You need to know your stuff before attempting to plow through it.

[NoFake]

Two French books that look interesting, both on THE TRIAL: "The Trial: 40 Questions/40 Answers/4 Studies," by Jean-Pierre Damour, and "The Trial: Verbal Language and Images." Has anyone read these?

[jaime marzol]

i immediately jumped to amazon ready to buy these 2 titles, and they don't have them. they must have no translation yet. too bad

[NoFake]

Yes, same with the Isaghpour trio (which I have, but have barely started. So much on Welles; so little time!!!). Hopefully, someone will nudge an amenable Stateside/British publisher, enabling those who don't read French to add these books to their personal Welles library.

[chrissie]

Well, I have just picked up Brady (rather more than the prices quoted earlier, but not too steep) and Put Money in Thy Purse (even steeper, but at least it's a hardback).

I'm 150+ pages into the former and it's mostly excellent. I think it could've used some editing (to be critical)... for instance, Mercury Theater on the Air is first mentioned (in this copy) on pp129, as if already being broadcast, around the time Shoemaker's Holiday was being planned (Mercury's first play of '38), and again on 131, yet the beginning of this show is rightly detailed several pages later, July '38. Maybe I'm being picky, but careful proofing could've caught these odd slips. Okay, okay... I'm a pedant.

I've read a few pages of the latter and really like the style and humour!

[Store Hadji]

You found Put Money in Thy Purse? I envy you. I've always wanted to read it. Jaime has it, and I envy him too!

Tried the Callow book? A lot more info than Brady included. When is Callow publishing his second Welles book?

[chrissie]

Try a search on Amazon. The book should be listed but not available from them BUT via a 'new and used' link, where, at least on amazon.uk, several second-hand copies are for sale.

[chrissie]

Oh, I should say, no, haven't read Callow yet. I'm also planning to get Despite the System, maybe McBride, possibly the Stories of His Life thing too. (Though I'm not 100% keen on reaching analyses generally.)

[Glenn Anders]

Chrissie: You have received the stuff of a whole short course, maybe a semester, on this thread!

I have found This Is Orson Welles the most useful book, Naremore's the most insightful.

My problem with Callow's book is that he has pretty well doomed his subject by the time young Welles gets back from the world trip his father took him on, and at the end, he denigrates Welles' work on CITIZEN KANE. Where can Callow go from there except to some abysmal depth? I find the whiff of an actor's envy in Callow, whereas in Thomson I find sorrow.

In any case, there are many worthwhile works listed by all here, and I understand from Larry French that there will soon be another book from Joseph McBride.

I'll be on the look out for that, Chrissie, and like you, for some of these books mentioned by the old hands.

Glenn

[chrissie]

I like Callow. He's an interesting guy, and his intro to Les Bravades was okay (though even there, a couple of factual slips creep in), but his book does sound like a downer. Then again, the admiration he has for OW is evidently sincere and heartfelt.

I'm reading Michael's book and Citizen Welles simultaneously. Not that much time for reading -- just been getting to grips with installing a DVD writer and trying to draw a few comic strips for someone, and today was shopping day! -- but my habit of reading several things at once persists.

The former might not be the most informative or wide-ranging of OW books, but it is possibly the most entertaining! M has a way of putting scenes across in terse format that somehow places you right in the scene. I loved this bit:

"'Impotent,' he roared in (surely somewhat forced) rich bass baritone, 'that's why he hates life so much -- they always do,' continued he (voice by this time down in boots). He then gobbled up some sturgeon, ordered some more, and went on to talk about the costumes, which are to be made in Rome."

Amongst many others -- can't you just SEE this, though? Priceless.

[catbuglah]

and his intro to Les Bravades was okay

Nice book, that - its almost like storyboards to an OW Sketchbook TV show - very charming - his affection towards people and cultures really shines through - and it's a great example of his fascination with ceremonial processions - he manages to fit one into almost all of his films, (funerary or otherwise) - he apparently did others like this - nice...

[Store Hadji]

I have been informed by Mr. Rosenbaum that James Naremore has read the draft of volume 2 of Simon Callow's Welles bio - this one covering the rest of the 1940s - and thinks well of it. This portends subsequent volumes for the remaining chapters of Welles career. At last a bio that doesn't spend less time covering Welles after Kane than Welles leading up to it.

The first Callow book isn't a downer, Chrissie. It's the work of Charles Higham and Pauline Kael that are downers.

[The Night Man]

Callow's first Welles book certainly is not a downer. In fact, for me it has become the definitive biography for the period covered.

I can't quite figure out why others don't like it. Is it not reverential enough? Granted, it doesn't shy away from pointing out Welles' failings, but on the whole it strikes me as fair-minded and balanced, and it seems exhaustively researched. Welles wasn't a god, after all. (OK, a demigod perhaps, but even that would allow for human failings, would it not?)

David Thomson's book, now that's a downer!

[jaime marzol]

chrissie, my god, i loved PUT MONEY IN THY PURSE so much. what a charming, beautiful read it is.

i had not had a drop of alcohol for maybe 15 years (some around here that have read my posts over the last 5 years would argue that). when i read PUT MONEY IN THY PURSE, it inspired me to start drinking again. i will forever be indebted to that book for that. i've read it twice, and drank wine all through the second reading.

the other thing it did for me, it really inspired my writing style. let me correct that, writing style is an oxymoron, like military intellegence. no such thing as a writing style, it's just how you project your voice onto paper. PUT MONEY IN THY PURSE inspired my writing voice more than any of the great authors i've read. none of mac's other books are written like MONEY IN THY PURSE, this book is the only time he was a brilliant writer. other brilliant pieces of writing i've found that affected me in a big way, lillian ross' PICTURE, and an abridged audio tape of henry miller's TROPIC OF CANCER. i have no interest in reading the book. i've heard the book is very graphic. i have nothing against graphic anything, but the abridged tapes of the book are brilliant as is.

hadj, you can get the book from local pubic library. go to 7-11 with 5 cent copies, late at night. while store clerk is snoozing, pirate yourself a copy.