PORTRAIT OF AN ASSASSIN (1949) - welles involvement?

[maxrael]

over at:
http://www.geocities.com/orsonwelleslives/

it lists in the unseen welles list:

PORTRAIT OF AN ASSASIN (1949)
(Developed; Filmed by another director)

Is this the same as the french film, Portrait Of An Assassin directed by Bernard-Roland also in 1949?..

If so does anyone have any more details as to welles involvement with this project?

[Harvey Chartrand]

I saw "Portrait of an Assassin" many years ago on Radio-Canada and recall enjoying it immensely. I think it was a project in which Welles would have appeared as actor only. Perhaps it fell through because Welles didn't feel comfortable in the role of a daredevil motorcyclist and stuntman, braving the Wall of Death in an amusement park for a living. Too bad, because then Welles could have had some great scenes with sad old Erich von Stroheim, another great director who had it all taken away from him.

[Colmena]

On p56 in My Lunches with Orson, Welles says that he and Lederer wrote "Portrait of an Assassin" for von Stroheim. "They didn't use one word we wrote. But they used the story."

Furthermore, "We got paid by a black-market producer who came to the Lancaster hotel with the money wrapped in newspaper..."

I saw PoaA some years ago, when it was available at Netfix, before I knew of Welles' connection-- and certainly enjoined it.

PS Had the pulp fiction that OW wrote in Spain, he says, ever turned up?! Been identified as such?