‘Hopper/Welles’ to be shown at IndieLisboa
The 130-minute documentary will be shown as part of the Director’s Cut section of the IndieLisboa film festival, which runs August 21 to September 6.
Recalling Orson Welles’ work on ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’ trailer
A recent podcast recounts how Orson Welles lent his voice to the teaser trailer for “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” the cinematic return of the cult 1960s television series.
Alec Baldwin, William Friedkin join hunt for lost ‘Magnificent Ambersons’ print
Alec Baldwin and William Friedkin will serve as an executive producer and advisor, respectively on “The Lost Print: The Making of Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons.”
Has unseen footage from ‘The Deep’ surfaced?
The image is reportedly from “a 16mmm positive duplicating reel that contains underwater shooting tests with Welles… and Oja Kodar” for the unfinished movie “The Deep.”
Oft-unappreciated ‘The Stranger’ turns 75
“The Stranger” — one of Orson Welles’ most overlooked, but commercially successful films — marks the 75th anniversary of its theatrical release.
Podcast series features ‘Orson Welles Commentaries’
A lively podcast series hosted by “Buck Benny” features these 75-year old radio broadcasts and puts them into historical context.
‘Citizen Kane’ 80th anniversary Blu-ray in the works
The 80th anniversary of Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane” is upon us, and while there has been no official word of a commemorative Blu-ray set, a release with extras is now in the works.
Another ‘Citizen Kane’ jacket on auction block
They must be cleaning out the closets at Xanadu: Another “Citizen Kane” jacket is on the auction block. The gray and black herringbone suit jacket was worn by Orson Welles in the scene where Charles Foster Kane meets future wife Susan Alexander, played by Dorothy Comingore.
Cole Porter songs from Orson Welles’ ‘Around the World’ online
The musical — based on the Jules Verne novel “Around the World in 80 Days” — was a flop and never properly recorded. A handful of songs were featured in a very abridged performance on The Mercury Summer Theatre of the Air.
‘Citizen Kane’ returning to theaters via Fathom, TCM
Classic film fans can look forward to seeing “Citizen Kane” in theaters again, courtesy of TCM Big Screen Classics and Fathom Events. Look for two showings in September.
‘New Deal for Artists’ recalls WPA impact on arts (review)
At the start of the documentary “New Deal for Artists,” Pulitzer Prize winner Studs Terkel — who got his start in the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Writers’ Project — laments that the contribution the New Deal and WPA made to the arts is not taught in schools and has been lost to history.
The remastered and re-released “New Deal for Artists” is narrated by Orson Welles, himself a beneficiary of the Federal Theater Project. In addition to Welles and Terkel, the WPA aided thousands including writers Richard Wright, Margaret Walker and Ralph Ellison; painters Diego Rivera, Jackson Pollock and James Brooks; and actors Will Geer, John Houseman and Howard Da Silva.
Norman Lloyd, Mercury Theatre member, dead at 106
Norman Lloyd, who worked with Orson Welles, Charlie Chaplin and Alfred Hitchcock and won the hearts of TV viewers as Dr. Daniel Auschlander on “St. Elsewhere,” died on May 11, 2021. He was 106.
Third Man Museum in Vienna reopening its doors
Like other attractions worldwide, The Third Man Museum has had to cope with a series of lockdowns and restrictions since the start of the pandemic more than a year ago.
‘Citizen Kane’ at 80; look back at the 1941 reviews
From the archives, a sampling of the favorable notices that greeted the release of Orson Welles’ first Hollywood film on May 1, 1941. The trade paper Variety wrote of its young director-star: “Welles has found the screen as effective for his unique showmanship as radio and the theatre.”
‘Citizen Kane VR’ – University of Michigan creates virtual reality Xanadu
“Citizen Kane VR” is a virtual reality project launched at the University of Michigan — home to a massive collection of Orson Welles’ papers. A team of programmers and 3D artists have already re-created one of the Xanadu sets,
‘Citizen Kane’ mystery solved 80 years later — and it’s not ‘Rosebud’
Researchers at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor have solved a “Citizen Kane” mystery that has perplexed film scholars just in time for the landmark film’s 80th anniversary on May 1.
WPA doc ‘New Deal for Artists,’ narrated by Orson Welles, to be released
The 1981 documentary “New Deal for Artists” is a look back at the WPA and the most ambitious government-supported arts program since the Italian Renaissance.
Christie’s auctioning off an original ‘War of the Worlds’ script
The prestige auction house expects the script, obtained more than 80 years ago by a newspaper reporter, to fetch between $15,000 and $25,000 when the last bid is accepted on April 22.
‘Frozen Peas’: The Full Story
Anyone interested in Orson Welles’ work has sooner or later chuckled along at ‘Frozen Peas’, the notorious out-take in which the actor-director tetchily took to task his director and sound engineer, whilst recording a series of commercials for Findus Frozen Foods. But what was the full story behind it?
Writer Seth Thévoz probes the history of this commercial.
‘What Ever Happened to Orson Welles?,’ updated by Joseph McBride, on its way
An updated paperback edition of Joseph McBride’s book “What Ever Happened to Orson Welles?: A Portrait of an Independent Career” has been announced for publication by the University Press of Kentucky.
In updating What Ever Happened to Orson Welles? for its first-ever paperback edition, McBride has included significant developments of the past decade, chiefly the surprise discovery of the 1938 footage shot for the stage show “Too Much Johnson” and the completion of Welles’ last major work, “The Other Side of the Wind.”