The Dreamers script excerpt

[Tony]

Lawrence French has posted many fascinating posts, and the excerpt from the Dreamers is no exception. I was wondering what other members thought of it. Personally, I find it so "poetic" that it is impossible for me to imagine it playing in a film. I just can't picture a modern audience (say, of the last 50 years) sitting through this without laughing out loud at it's verbosity. My guess is that this is one of the reasons it never got financing, whereas projects immediately before and after it did, or almost did (such as F For Fake and Big Brass Ring). In addition, the object of this verbal excess would have been Oja Kodar, who has no acting talent whatsoever, further making the whole thing ridiculous. I am aware ,though, that perhaps I am a hardened character, and not sensitive enough to appreciate the Dreamers.

I'd like to hear others' opinions on this script excerpt.

[ToddBaesen]

Tony:

I think you are correct, because Gary Graver said THE DREAMERS got rejection notes saying things like, "too poetic" or "not suitable for the screen."

So I guess poetry in motion pictures is something that is not suitable for the screen, at least in Hollywood's view.

Francois Truffaut summed it up beautifully when he said:

In my opinion, all the difficulties that Orson Welles has encountered with the box office, which have certainly put the brakes on his creative elan, stem from the fact that he is a film poet. The Hollywood financiers (and, to be fair, the public throughout the world) accept beautiful prose—John Ford, Howard Hawks—or even poetic prose—Hitchcock, Roman Polanski—but have much more difficulty accepting pure poetry, fables, allegories, fairy tales. There is no point in congratulating Welles for remaining faithful to himself and not making concessions, since he couldn't have done otherwise, even if he wanted to! Each time he says "Action!" he transforms vile reality into poetry.

However, Orson Welles has made films with his right hand (Kane, Ambersons, the three Shakespeare adaptations, The Immortal Story, The Other Side of the Wind) and films with his left hand (the thrillers). In the right-handed films there is always snow, and in the left-handed ones there are always gunshots; but all constitute what Cocteau called the "poetry of cinematography."

Of course, THE DREAMERS falls into the category of a Welles film with snow, just as Truffaut's FAHRENHEIT 451 combined the poetry of Bradbury's words with snow and Bernard Herrmann's music to create pure poety. But given that THE DREAMERS dealt with the world's greatest Italian opera singer, is set in Italy and the Alps, and also featured a young boy soprano, I can't imagine anyone better than writing the score for the film than the Italian maestro, Ennio Morricone.

In fact, if someone should ever make THE DREAMERS, Morricone would be the perfect composer to write the music for it.

[Roger Ryan]

However, Orson Welles has made films with his right hand (Kane, Ambersons, the three Shakespeare adaptations, The Immortal Story, The Other Side of the Wind) and films with his left hand (the thrillers). In the right-handed films there is always snow, and in the left-handed ones there are always gunshots; but all constitute what Cocteau called the "poetry of cinematography."

Thanks Todd for that superb Truffaut quote, but I wonder if "Mr. Arkadin" is a film that Welles made with "both hands" considering if contains both snow and gunshots?!

[Tony]

Thanks Todd for a superb post. :;):

[Glenn Anders]

Tony, Todd, Roger: Agreed on Larry's contribution.

Question: Might fire and smoke be the unifying principle in most Welles' films?

Glenn

[tonyw]

Yes, this extract is extremely poetic and cinematic if we consider what film art is capable of as opposed to the industry. This would have made a great film. Perhaps if the BBC had comissioned it like those Jonathan Miller adaptations of Lewis Carroll and M.R. James and left Welles alone, it really would have worked. Thanks to Todd and others for their comments.

This is really an outstanding extract!