Found a few Welles scripts on the web, different from the usual ones that float about on the script sites. Wondered how 'real' they were...
CITIZEN KANE Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles
Shooting Script, 1941 http://rapidshare.com/files/238516743/C ... script.pdf
THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS Orson Welles
10/7/1941 FINAL SCRIPT http://rapidshare.com/files/238526036/T ... script.pdf
THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI Orson Welles
FINAL DRAFT August 17, 1946 http://rapidshare.com/files/238527768/T ... script.pdf
THE STRANGER Anthony Veiller (John Huston & Orson Welles)
Shooting Script, 194 http://rapidshare.com/files/238521900/T ... script.pdf
TOUCH OF EVIL Orson welles
February 5, 1957 FINAL REvised. http://rapidshare.com/files/238519332/touch_of_evil.pdf
(from http://savethecat.informe.com/more-scre ... t1519.html)
Scripts
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ToddBaesen
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Re: Scripts
*****
Wow, thanks for this sensational find, Alan!
I've only had a chance to glance at two of the scripts so far, but it appears that both AMBERSONS and SHANGHAI are very early drafts.
AMBERSONS does not have the final ending Welles filmed, but uses the ending that was in the novel. SHANGHAI is 164 pages so there is a lot of extra material that obviously got cut out, and the setting is still in New York City and Long Island, as it is in the novel, before Welles changed it to Mexico and San Francisco.
Wow, thanks for this sensational find, Alan!
I've only had a chance to glance at two of the scripts so far, but it appears that both AMBERSONS and SHANGHAI are very early drafts.
AMBERSONS does not have the final ending Welles filmed, but uses the ending that was in the novel. SHANGHAI is 164 pages so there is a lot of extra material that obviously got cut out, and the setting is still in New York City and Long Island, as it is in the novel, before Welles changed it to Mexico and San Francisco.
Todd
Re: Scripts
What a great find Alan.
Thanks so much.
The early draft of Lady from Shanghai is great.
I love the Quixotic variation on the final line from Elsa:
Good-bye knight errant ... give my love to the sunset
Thanks so much.
The early draft of Lady from Shanghai is great.
I love the Quixotic variation on the final line from Elsa:
Good-bye knight errant ... give my love to the sunset
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Roger Ryan
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Re: Scripts
Yes, thanks for the wonderful links!
The AMBERSONS shooting script is legitimate (as they all are, I believe) and, as dated 10/7/09, it's pretty much the script Welles used when he went into production three weeks later. Certain scenes and elements were altered during principal photography and post-production; the biggest of these, as Todd pointed out, was the inclusion of the closing "boarding house" sequence, a scene devised well into shooting and not found in any version of the script leading up to principal photography. Also, the ending scene of the 10/7/09 script is not from the novel (which ended with Eugene visiting a psychic before stopping in to see George in the hospital), but from Welles' own radio adaptation of 1939.
The AMBERSONS shooting script is legitimate (as they all are, I believe) and, as dated 10/7/09, it's pretty much the script Welles used when he went into production three weeks later. Certain scenes and elements were altered during principal photography and post-production; the biggest of these, as Todd pointed out, was the inclusion of the closing "boarding house" sequence, a scene devised well into shooting and not found in any version of the script leading up to principal photography. Also, the ending scene of the 10/7/09 script is not from the novel (which ended with Eugene visiting a psychic before stopping in to see George in the hospital), but from Welles' own radio adaptation of 1939.
Last edited by Roger Ryan on Mon Oct 05, 2009 2:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Scripts
Yes, I was quite excited when I found the links. Lady from Shanghai caught my eye instantly, as well as The Stranger (hoping it was the draft that Simon Callow talks of; detailing the dream/sleepwalking framework Welles intended).
Not had a chance to flick though them yet ...but I'm glad that they are as interesting as I hoped they were. Funny, I just stumbled across the links - they had been online since May 31st! - I'm very thankful to the original poster, and hope that he/she does not mind me sharing the links on this board!
Thank you Todd for the Shanghai info, and Roger for the draft versions of the Amberson script. What a find indeed!
Now, I wonder what the chances are of a script for Mr. Arkadin?
Not had a chance to flick though them yet ...but I'm glad that they are as interesting as I hoped they were. Funny, I just stumbled across the links - they had been online since May 31st! - I'm very thankful to the original poster, and hope that he/she does not mind me sharing the links on this board!
Thank you Todd for the Shanghai info, and Roger for the draft versions of the Amberson script. What a find indeed!
Now, I wonder what the chances are of a script for Mr. Arkadin?
Re: Scripts
Thanks Alan,
This is most appreciated especially as I'm teaching Welles again next semester.
This is most appreciated especially as I'm teaching Welles again next semester.
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Glenn Anders
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Re: Scripts
May I add my thanks to you, Alan?
I might say that my downloaded copy of THE STRANGER does contain those nightmare parameters to which you and Callow refer -- at the beginning, back and forth before the credits, and with clear references near the end.
No doubt someone has noted the similarities of visual themes and homages with which which Welles and Huston dotted their screenplay, some still surviving in the heavily edited final product. For instance, there is the obvious reference to FRANKENSTEIN, as Franz Kindler is trapped by the the good townsfolk of Harper in a clock tower. Or for another possible comparison, we see the open cell door which tempts Meinke's emergence on his odyssey by which he will attempt to save the soul of Kindler, his former Nazi leader, matched in at least one version of MR. ARKADIN, where Jacob Zouk is forced out of his prison cell in Germany to fall prey to his guilty old partner in prostitution, Gregory Arkadin. Then, some English majors might recall how the great New England Poet, Emily Dickinson, was plagued and haunted by nightmares of the graveyard across the road from her, and which figured in many of her most enigmatic poems.
Finally, speaking of influences, has anyone remarked on the similarities in plot construction between Welles-Huston's original THE STRANGER and that later Hitchcock masterpiece, VERTIGO, where two women are lured up into a tower, at least one to her death? The strange mix of Madeline, Judy and Scotty with Mary, Sara and Rankin/Kindler?
Much food for thought here, thanks to you, Alan.
Glenn
I might say that my downloaded copy of THE STRANGER does contain those nightmare parameters to which you and Callow refer -- at the beginning, back and forth before the credits, and with clear references near the end.
No doubt someone has noted the similarities of visual themes and homages with which which Welles and Huston dotted their screenplay, some still surviving in the heavily edited final product. For instance, there is the obvious reference to FRANKENSTEIN, as Franz Kindler is trapped by the the good townsfolk of Harper in a clock tower. Or for another possible comparison, we see the open cell door which tempts Meinke's emergence on his odyssey by which he will attempt to save the soul of Kindler, his former Nazi leader, matched in at least one version of MR. ARKADIN, where Jacob Zouk is forced out of his prison cell in Germany to fall prey to his guilty old partner in prostitution, Gregory Arkadin. Then, some English majors might recall how the great New England Poet, Emily Dickinson, was plagued and haunted by nightmares of the graveyard across the road from her, and which figured in many of her most enigmatic poems.
Finally, speaking of influences, has anyone remarked on the similarities in plot construction between Welles-Huston's original THE STRANGER and that later Hitchcock masterpiece, VERTIGO, where two women are lured up into a tower, at least one to her death? The strange mix of Madeline, Judy and Scotty with Mary, Sara and Rankin/Kindler?
Much food for thought here, thanks to you, Alan.
Glenn
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ToddBaesen
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Re: Scripts
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Thanks Glenn, for noting the connection between VERTIGO and THE STRANGER. It is something I had never realized before you pointed it out!
Also, it's sort of amazing in getting such a mother lode of Orson Welles's scripts thrown into our laps all at once! What a treasure trove! And where do you begin!
Well, the one thing that has struck me about all these scripts is how long they all are, and how much great material they contain that never actually made it to the screen.
The script for CITIZEN KANE is 166 pages long. It appears this is the same version that Turner published with the 50th anniversary edition video box set of CITIZEN KANE, which the idiots at Turner decided to re-format so it ran to 209 pages. Why would they do this? Just imagine if they decided to change the shots in a movie to make it "easier to read." As George Cukor said to me, "I'm sure it was very stupid of them."
*
THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS script dated October 7, 1941 looks to run a huge 181 pages. The page numbers on the script are often crossed out, so they may not be totally accurate, but it still seems likely to be the longest script Welles wrote. Roger Ryan can probably tell us more, and compare it to the Criterion script that appeared on the Laserdisc edition.
*
THE STRANGER script runs 150 pages. I have a version that runs to 156 pages. The final movie ran only 95 minutes. No wonder Welles thought it was a disaster, and the worse movie he ever directed! Thanks to Sam Spiegel for all his support.
*
THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI script runs 164 pages and having read it last night, I can say it is a real masterpiece of screenwriting acumen. Yet the final movie only runs 87 minutes!
Gone are all the wonderfully pieces that would have not only totally explained the plot to Harry Cohn, but given it texture and characterization. Also missing: the beautiful soundtrack effects that Welles indicates in some detail in his script, where, (in just one instance), a cross dissolve between a car horn would be taken up by a telephone ringing.
My God, can you just imagine if Welles had convinced Harry Cohn to hire Bernard Herrmann to score this film, instead of the hack composer they eventually used!
*
TOUCH OF EVIL appears to be about 127 pages long. However, this is an early draft of the script, before Welles had expanded the role of both Tanya and the Night Watchman. In any case the movie Universal released in 1958 was only 93 minutes long, and as the script shows, is quite a far cry from Welles's original conception!
*
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND: This script runs for about 160 pages. None of Welles finished films ran over two hours, as he felt that was the longest an audience should be kept sitting in a darkened theater, even when he had final cut. So it seems that he liked to write long scripts and cut them down to about two hours during the editing, if he had the final cut. But on all the films where Welles retained final cut, there is something interesting to note: They all run just a bit under two hours (except for the documentaries and TV films).
*
Thanks Glenn, for noting the connection between VERTIGO and THE STRANGER. It is something I had never realized before you pointed it out!
Also, it's sort of amazing in getting such a mother lode of Orson Welles's scripts thrown into our laps all at once! What a treasure trove! And where do you begin!
Well, the one thing that has struck me about all these scripts is how long they all are, and how much great material they contain that never actually made it to the screen.
The script for CITIZEN KANE is 166 pages long. It appears this is the same version that Turner published with the 50th anniversary edition video box set of CITIZEN KANE, which the idiots at Turner decided to re-format so it ran to 209 pages. Why would they do this? Just imagine if they decided to change the shots in a movie to make it "easier to read." As George Cukor said to me, "I'm sure it was very stupid of them."
*
THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS script dated October 7, 1941 looks to run a huge 181 pages. The page numbers on the script are often crossed out, so they may not be totally accurate, but it still seems likely to be the longest script Welles wrote. Roger Ryan can probably tell us more, and compare it to the Criterion script that appeared on the Laserdisc edition.
*
THE STRANGER script runs 150 pages. I have a version that runs to 156 pages. The final movie ran only 95 minutes. No wonder Welles thought it was a disaster, and the worse movie he ever directed! Thanks to Sam Spiegel for all his support.
*
THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI script runs 164 pages and having read it last night, I can say it is a real masterpiece of screenwriting acumen. Yet the final movie only runs 87 minutes!
Gone are all the wonderfully pieces that would have not only totally explained the plot to Harry Cohn, but given it texture and characterization. Also missing: the beautiful soundtrack effects that Welles indicates in some detail in his script, where, (in just one instance), a cross dissolve between a car horn would be taken up by a telephone ringing.
My God, can you just imagine if Welles had convinced Harry Cohn to hire Bernard Herrmann to score this film, instead of the hack composer they eventually used!
*
TOUCH OF EVIL appears to be about 127 pages long. However, this is an early draft of the script, before Welles had expanded the role of both Tanya and the Night Watchman. In any case the movie Universal released in 1958 was only 93 minutes long, and as the script shows, is quite a far cry from Welles's original conception!
*
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND: This script runs for about 160 pages. None of Welles finished films ran over two hours, as he felt that was the longest an audience should be kept sitting in a darkened theater, even when he had final cut. So it seems that he liked to write long scripts and cut them down to about two hours during the editing, if he had the final cut. But on all the films where Welles retained final cut, there is something interesting to note: They all run just a bit under two hours (except for the documentaries and TV films).
*
Todd
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Alan Brody
- Wellesnet Veteran
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Re: Scripts
Thanks Alan, this is a real feast that'll take weeks to devour. And that's a very interesting observation about Emily Dickenson, Glenn. There is a definite sense of subtext in the story about the suppression of women in puritanical America, which Mary seems to rebelI against in her choice of this "Stranger" for a husband. Wilson and Kindler throughout the film use Mary's psyche as a kind of chessboard for their cat and mouse game. Also, I do have an earlier version of The Stranger script in which Kindler's name is "Kuhn" instead (as in Kuhn and Loeb?). Another passage in this later script that struck me were these curious bits which come right after Wilson and Noah discuss the death of Mary's dog Red and seems to subtly hint at certain metaphors:
171 INT. CLOCK TOWER - DUSK
Mary and Rankin are still working on the clock.
MARY
Charles... Why didn't you tell Mr.
Wilson you're working on the clock
tonight?
RANKIN
(very busy with a big
spring, mumbling)
I want to finish this myself.
Mary changes the subject. She's at the window, looking down
into the square below.
MARY
I'm so glad Noah has found such a
good friend in Mr. Wilson.
RANKIN
How's that?
172 LONG SHOT - HARPER SQUARE - WILSON AND NOAH
CAMERA, shooting from Mary's angle, over her shoulder, down
into the square, shows Wilson and Noah talking together.
They appear very small, standing near Potter's.
MARY'S VOICE
See them down there talking so
earnestly? It's a fine experience
for him... the companionship of an
older man like Mr. Wilson.
173 CLOSE SHOT - MARY'S FACE
As she looks down into square from tower.
MARY
You know, everywhere I go I seem to
see them together.
We hear the sound of a spring breaking and CUT TO:
174 CLOSE SHOT - RANKIN
Holding the spring which has broken in his hands. Small beads
of sweat stand out on his forehead.
186 INT. CLOCK TOWER - AFTERNOON
In an opening by the window above the clock works. Rankin is
standing by the window in the roof above the clock works,
looking down on the square. Over his shoulder, we see what
he sees:
187 EXT. SQUARE - WILSON AND NOAH
At the moment we left them. From this height, they are very
small. We see Noah race away furiously on his bicycle. Wilson
turns and hurries into the hotel.
188 INT. CLOCK TOWER - CLOSEUP - RANKIN'S FACE
Trying to understand what he sees. He gives up and sinks
down on the ledge. The job of being Charles Rankin, a school
teacher, is becoming almost too much for him. He is terribly,
terribly tired. His eyes turn dull, his mouth hangs loose.
He sits there among the works of the clock. His breath comes
long and heavy.
DISSOLVE TO:
189 EXT. CHURCH - EVENING
Rankin comes out... stands for a moment on the steps.
190 FULL SHOT - RANKIN
Rankin stands on the steps, his face vacant and
expressionless. Then we see the moment the street lights go
on all over town.
191 CLOSE SHOT - RANKIN'S FACE
As he reacts to the sudden glow of the lights. He pulls
himself together. He is Kindler no longer. He is Rankin again
as he walks off scene.
171 INT. CLOCK TOWER - DUSK
Mary and Rankin are still working on the clock.
MARY
Charles... Why didn't you tell Mr.
Wilson you're working on the clock
tonight?
RANKIN
(very busy with a big
spring, mumbling)
I want to finish this myself.
Mary changes the subject. She's at the window, looking down
into the square below.
MARY
I'm so glad Noah has found such a
good friend in Mr. Wilson.
RANKIN
How's that?
172 LONG SHOT - HARPER SQUARE - WILSON AND NOAH
CAMERA, shooting from Mary's angle, over her shoulder, down
into the square, shows Wilson and Noah talking together.
They appear very small, standing near Potter's.
MARY'S VOICE
See them down there talking so
earnestly? It's a fine experience
for him... the companionship of an
older man like Mr. Wilson.
173 CLOSE SHOT - MARY'S FACE
As she looks down into square from tower.
MARY
You know, everywhere I go I seem to
see them together.
We hear the sound of a spring breaking and CUT TO:
174 CLOSE SHOT - RANKIN
Holding the spring which has broken in his hands. Small beads
of sweat stand out on his forehead.
186 INT. CLOCK TOWER - AFTERNOON
In an opening by the window above the clock works. Rankin is
standing by the window in the roof above the clock works,
looking down on the square. Over his shoulder, we see what
he sees:
187 EXT. SQUARE - WILSON AND NOAH
At the moment we left them. From this height, they are very
small. We see Noah race away furiously on his bicycle. Wilson
turns and hurries into the hotel.
188 INT. CLOCK TOWER - CLOSEUP - RANKIN'S FACE
Trying to understand what he sees. He gives up and sinks
down on the ledge. The job of being Charles Rankin, a school
teacher, is becoming almost too much for him. He is terribly,
terribly tired. His eyes turn dull, his mouth hangs loose.
He sits there among the works of the clock. His breath comes
long and heavy.
DISSOLVE TO:
189 EXT. CHURCH - EVENING
Rankin comes out... stands for a moment on the steps.
190 FULL SHOT - RANKIN
Rankin stands on the steps, his face vacant and
expressionless. Then we see the moment the street lights go
on all over town.
191 CLOSE SHOT - RANKIN'S FACE
As he reacts to the sudden glow of the lights. He pulls
himself together. He is Kindler no longer. He is Rankin again
as he walks off scene.
Re: Scripts
I managed to find some time and started reading them ...and what a treat they are!
The Stranger script is a fantastic document - all the details I had hoped were in there are, along with some interesting new perspectives on the relationships. Always liked the film (ever since I found it on a grainy old VHS), and always enjoyed re-watching it in the hope of understanding it more. This script is a wonderful piece of the puzzle.
The Lady from Shanghai script is simply a pleasure to read. And I’m taking my time with it. Almost makes me want to hunt down the original novel …almost.
I'm also enjoying the thoughtful comments and discussions in the thread. We really have been treated well as Welles fans this year; what with these scripts, Filming The Trial and the "The Museum of Orson Welles" radio archive webpage! I just hope I can find the time for them all...
The Stranger script is a fantastic document - all the details I had hoped were in there are, along with some interesting new perspectives on the relationships. Always liked the film (ever since I found it on a grainy old VHS), and always enjoyed re-watching it in the hope of understanding it more. This script is a wonderful piece of the puzzle.
The Lady from Shanghai script is simply a pleasure to read. And I’m taking my time with it. Almost makes me want to hunt down the original novel …almost.
I'm also enjoying the thoughtful comments and discussions in the thread. We really have been treated well as Welles fans this year; what with these scripts, Filming The Trial and the "The Museum of Orson Welles" radio archive webpage! I just hope I can find the time for them all...
Re: Scripts
thanks for the links .. does anyone know if any unproduced scripts are online?
The Smiler With a Knife
Mexican Melodrama
The Life of Christ
The Little Prince
Salome
Henry V
Ulysses
Caesar
Taras Bulba
Lord Jim
Esprito Santos - Female Pirate Film
No Flowers for a Duchess
Con Man
Because of the Cats
The Smiler With a Knife
Mexican Melodrama
The Life of Christ
The Little Prince
Salome
Henry V
Ulysses
Caesar
Taras Bulba
Lord Jim
Esprito Santos - Female Pirate Film
No Flowers for a Duchess
Con Man
Because of the Cats
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A Sled in Flames
- Member
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Re: Scripts
Hi! I'm working on an analytical essay of Lady from Shanghai. Can anyone please re-upload the draft for that? I'm very intrigued to see it, as it should be very enlightening.
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