Criterion's 'Chimes at Midnight' previews and reviews

[Wellesnet]

Keith Baxter discusses Chimes and Orson Welles in this interview excerpt from the upcoming Chimes Bluray from Criterion:
http://www.wellesnet.com/watch-keith-ba ... -midnight/

[Wellesnet]

DVD Beaver hailed the Blu-ray as "one of the more desirable Blu-ray releases of the year for Welles fans, Shakespeare fans and all cinephiles. "

It gave its highest recommendation to the August 30 release, calling the 1080P image "superb - looking consistent, rich, and detailed." The new release has an aspect ration of 1.66:1.

"Criterion use(s) their typical linear PCM - original mono track - at 1152 kbps (24-bit). The dialogue sync always seems slightly off to me, at times, but the film's music credited to Angelo Francesco Lavagnino... is clean and clear. There are optional English subtitles on the region 'A'-locked Blu-ray disc," the reviewer noted.

As for the extras: "Criterion include an important audio commentary featuring film scholar James Naremore, author of The Magic World of Orson Welles and it is quit educational and informative. There are new interviews recorded by Criterion in 2016. The first is with actor Keith Baxter – for 1/2 an hour – who reminisces about playing Prince Hal on stage and screen and his close relationship with Orson Welles. We also hear, about 15-minutes, from director Orson Welles’s daughter Beatrice Welles, who appeared in the film at age nine and recalls the atmosphere on set and her reluctance to play Falstaff's young page. We also get 1/2 an hour with Welles biographer Simon Callow who played Falstaff to Keith Baxter's King Henry IV in a 1998 production of Orson Welles stage version of Chimes at Midnight. As an author, he has published three volumes of a Welles biography. In this interview, Callow discusses Welles's nimble adaptation of several Shakespeare plays into one coherent work of cinema. There is also a new, 27-minute, interview with film historian Joseph McBride, author of What Ever Happened to Orson Welles? discussing Welles late career and approach to adapting Shakespeare. Included is an 11-minute interview with Welles while at work editing the film, from a 1965 episode of The Merv Griffin Show and a trailer. The package contains a liner notes booklet with an essay by film scholar Michael Anderegg."

http://www.wellesnet.com/rave-review-for-criterions-chimes-at-midnight-blu-ray/

[atcolomb]

Looks like Criterion did a great job on Chimes and I hope one day they will get the rights to release Ambersons like they did with the laserdisc release years ago.

[atcolomb]

Great blu-ray review from website DVDTALK. Mine should come in a few days along with The Immortal Story.

http://trailersfromhell.com/chimes-at-m ... 8RloUYZKoV

[Wellesnet]

Now on sale at stores and getting great reviews:
http://www.wellesnet.com/reviews-criter ... tal-story/

[atcolomb]

Just received my copy and did a quick comparison with the region 2 Mr. Bongo and Criterion has the sharper image with less jitter and film damage. I guess Criterion did get the Mr. Bongo print and did their magic to make it look and sound better.

[Roger Ryan]

NPR's "Fresh Air" has done a belated, but welcome, review of Criterion's release of Chimes at Midnight which is really more of an appreciation of Welles' accomplishment...

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/28/511572722 ... as-falstaf

[tonyw]

Much more could have been said. That is why I term National Propaganda Radio's "Fresh Air" as "Stale Air"!

[Wellesnet]

Criterion Collection’s ‘Chimes at Midnight’ Bluray a finalist for Il Cinema Ritrovato award:
http://www.wellesnet.com/criterion-coll ... ritrovato/

[NoFake]

I had the opportunity the other day to hear Keith Baxter – whose tour-de-force cameos / incarnations of the Ghost, the Player King and the Gravedigger in a production of Hamlet at DC’s Shakespeare Theatre made my mind reel in Wellesian circles (on several levels) – in conversation with Shakespeare Guild president John Andrews. While I’d planned on taking notes, I found myself so utterly riveted by the exchange, I barely put pen to paper. That being said, here are a couple of relevant tidbits:

Baxter and Welles “loved” John Gielgud. “We were all in awe of him.” Of course, that didn’t keep them from finding amusement during the frigid shooting when Gielgud complained of the cold, “and we knew he had a hot-water bottle underneath him.” Indeed, despite their disparity in age and eminence, Welles almost invariably treated Baxter (and everyone, from the grips to the folks who delivered the food) with respect and warmth. “To have a good time, Orson and I had a gramophone” on which they played Lena Horne records. Of course, that wasn’t the sole source of fun: during the dubbing in Madrid, Baxter enjoyed the attentions of Jeanne Moreau, “who for five minutes was in love with me.” (I couldn’t help but think of the flame-haired, feisty Moreau and imagine her watching from the spirit world – and her response.)

“Orson Welles was a great American” who was treated badly by his own country, said Baxter, whose sadness and anger were evident as he described the visit by IRS agents who came to seize Welles for unpaid taxes as he was upstairs, with his cherished Moviola, desperately trying to finish the cutting. The last time Baxter saw him was even more dispiriting: It was near the end of Orson’s life, as he was leaving Ma Maison. “He was gargantuan,” trying to get into the stretch limousine whose capacious dimensions could barely contain his girth. “And I couldn’t say anything. The tears . . .” His face reddened; he paused for almost a full minute, then continued: “Even now.”

Baxter, now 20 years older than Welles was then, is still a vital, commanding presence on stage, even in “bit” parts that recalled for this Wellesian the ones Orson took on, from the start of his career to its end, for different reasons and with different results, all the while being at once each of those characters and, in the end, the (in all the ways that count) inimitable, indomitable artist Wellesnet, and we, celebrate.

[jbrooks]

20 years older than Welles was then? Not quite. Baxter is 84. So 14 years -- or maybe 15 -- depending on how near to the end of Welles' life that was.

[NoFake]

Absolutely. (Sometimes a throwaway should be thrown away. :-/) The correction should appear shortly.

[Wellesnet]

Excellent recent interview with Joseph McBride on Chimes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykHVom4HMmI

[atcolomb]

Blu-ray.com has a rather late review of the Criterion release. Brief but favorable review of the film and disc.

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Chimes-a ... 42/#Review

[Wellesnet]

Thanks, atcolomb. Good article. I like his observation that the trumpeters look like they're doing some kind of quirky dance.