By RAY KELLY Orson Welles’ candid lunchtime conversations with director Henry Jaglom will be the basis of the upcoming book “My Lunches with Orson: Conversations between Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles.” Peter Biskind (“Easy Riders, Raging Bulls”) is editing the book using transcripts of conversations taped by Jaglom. “I’m excited about it. I’m reliving these […]
By RAY KELLY While the future of The Other Side of the Wind is always cloudy, one thing appears clear: A book chronicling the making of this unfinished Orson Welles film is in the works. Josh Karp, who teaches journalism at Northwestern, is writing about The Other Side of the Wind for St. Martin’s Press. […]
Richard Frances’s play Obediently Yours, Orson Welles was published by Oberon Books earlier this year in a volume entitled Hollywood Legends: ‘Live’ on stage. Besides the Welles show, it features two additional plays, one on Marlene Dietrich, the other about James Dean, along with an introduction by Simon Callow. Dr. France has graciously given his […]
CHRIS WELLES FEDER: My father thought Chimes at Midnight was his masterpiece, and I think that, as well. Falstaff was a role that was really made for him and I think his playing of that part is probably his greatest moment on the screen as an actor. When Prince Hal says, “I know thee not […]
Harper Collins has come out with a trade paperback edition of the novelization of Orson Welles’s movie Mr. Arkadin, which contains a new Foreword by John Baxter. Jonathan Rosenbaum has written an essay about the book for the Barnes and Noble website, noting that “Baxter’s Foreword, which starts off quite reasonably, winds up with the […]
Robin Wood died on December 18, 2009 and although I never had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Wood, his passing hit me especially hard because I regard his writings as among the most influential ever to be published about the cinema. His groundbreaking book Hitchcock Films still remains to my mind, the best book ever […]
Chris Welles Feder’s wonderful new book about her life and times with Orson Welles, In My Father’s Shadow has just been released by Agonquin Books. Chris Welles began her book tour in San Francisco with a showing of The Lady From Shanghai at the Rafael Theatre on November 2, and earlier that day Alex Fraser […]
Wellesnet is co-sponsoring Chris Welles Feder’s first appearance for her intimate new book about Orson Welles, In My Father’s Shadow at the Rafael Theatre, in San Rafael on Monday November 2. Ms. Welles-Feder has long been a supporter of Wellesnet and we do return those duties back to her as are right fit… The book […]
Southern Illinois University Press has released Orson Welles and The Unfinished RKO Projects: A Postmodern Perspective by scholar Marguerite Rippy.
When you have a great figure of myth like Don Quixote, like Falstaff, it is a silhouette against the sky of all time… —Orson Welles to Juan Cobos. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A beautifully written and moving memoir which should have a most special place in the extraordinary world of Orson Welles. –Peter Bogdanovich ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Orson Welles’s eldest […]
Simon Callow had mentioned some time ago that he originally hoped to finish the third volume of his massive biography on Orson Welles by his 60th birthday. So I thought that today, on the occasion of his 60th birthday, I’d take the opportunity to wish him a very happy birthday on behalf of everyone at […]
While looking through the lavish and quite fabulous new Taschen book, THE INGMAR BERGMAN ARCHIVES, edited by Paul Duncan, I was astonished to see how much of Bergman’s career outside of his movies I was totally unaware of. I daresay that most people in America probably know as little about Bergman’s work on the Swedish […]
I just recently received a copy of a poem Gary Graver wrote that was printed for his memorial service. Unfortunately, there wasn’t time to include it in Gary’s memoir, Making Movies With Orson Welles, so I thought I would reproduce it here. I’ll also add this thought, since I’ve now had the opportunity to see […]
One of the highlight’s of Gary Graver’s memoir, Making Movies with ORSON WELLES is the inside view it gives us on the making of The Other Side of the Wind. Perhaps the book may finally help to sweep aside the last remaining obstacles and get the Showtime deal to finish the movie back on track. […]
To celebrate Gary Graver’s wonderful new memoir, Making Movies with ORSON WELLES, I thought I’d offer a sample of the delights it has to offer. To start, here is the text for an incredibly detailed memo Welles wrote to Gary Graver which appears to have been written around 1972, when Welles was in the midst […]
I can hardly be called an unbiased reviewer when it comes to this book, since I contributed an interview with Gary Graver and Oja Kodar that serves as an afterward, but I must say in all candor, I was absolutely delighted when I received a copy of it today. First of all, having talked with […]
The question is not whether we are to support art, but rather whether we are to bear it, bear the existence of the artist. It is not we who have the right to demand something from the artists; the right to demand is entirely on their side. –Dr. Werner Schmalenbach _________________________ Sequence of stills highlighting […]
Orson Welles at Work is a stunning new collection of rare and beautiful images from the films of Orson Welles, as collected by co-authors Jean-Pierre Berthome and Francois Thomas. To put it simply, this is the Welles book I’ve been hoping to see for quite some time. It’s certainly a must have volume for anyone […]
Jonathan Rosenbaum’s new book, Discovering Orson Welles arrived in stores earlier this month, via the UC Press, and is highly recommended. Here is the table of contents: 1. I Missed It at the Movies: Objections to “Raising KANE” 2. The Voice and the Eye: A Commentary on the HEART OF DARKNESS Script 3. Notes on […]
Peter Tonguette’s book about Welles, Orson Welles Remembered, has just seen publication, and he sent along the following about the book and why he put it together. – Jeff Wilson _________ By PETER TONGUETTE My fascination with Orson Welles began when I saw the restored Touch of Evil in December 1998. I was 15 at […]
