The Many Documentaries on Orson Welles

[ToddBaesen]

I'm quite glad to see this new sub-heading.

After all, of all the great film directors, I really don't know of anyone who has had more documentary films made about them, than Orson Welles.

The documentary films on Welles are probably just as numerous as the books about him. The BBC FOUR documentary, hosted by Simon Callow, being the latest.

There is also a documentary on several countries Welles stayed in while he was in Europe: Italy, Spain, Yugoslavia. France and England are addressed in Simon Callow's "Welles Over Europe."

Then, add to that all the documentaries about Welles's entire career, or certain sections of it. THE BATTLE OVER CITIZEN KANE. The making of IT'S ALL TRUE. The A & E biographies. The LOST FILMS OF ORSON WELLES (ONE MAN BAND).

Perhaps the next "documentary" will be the making of THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND for Showtime.

[Magentarose67]

"Great Romances of the 20th Century" has an episode dedicated to Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toeqbKk3 ... re=related
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn9MxmPppTA
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JynuYYD ... re=related

BTW: On part 1, where they talk about radio, there is a man around 5:22 that kind of looks like Orson...when I saw it, I could have sworn it was him, but I do not think so ...

[the scotsman]

For me the best Documentary on Welles is still the "Complete Citizen Kane" BBC 1991. It includes everything and beats out by far the "Battle over Citizen Kane". That is not to denigrate "The Battle", it is just the best made doc. I can think of.
It beats me why no company, especially Criterion,has ever thought of Licencing it.

[atcolomb]

Neil from RAREDVDs4SALE has sent me a new list of dvd's for sale and 2 of them are Orson Welles Over Europe 2009 Simon Callow looks back over Welles film and stage career in Europe and Orson Welles: The Sketchbook Show 1955 Orson Welles Five episodes of the rarely seen "Sketchbook Show" that Welles recorded for the BBC....both on the same disc. Also he has a new digital recording of Orson Welles: Stories from a Life in Film 1988 Leslie Megahey 165 minutes.

[RayKelly]

Neil from RAREDVDs4SALE has sent me a new list of dvd's for sale and 2 of them are Orson Welles Over Europe 2009 Simon Callow looks back over Welles film and stage career in Europe and Orson Welles: The Sketchbook Show 1955 Orson Welles Five episodes of the rarely seen "Sketchbook Show" that Welles recorded for the BBC....both on the same disc. Also he has a new digital recording of Orson Welles: Stories from a Life in Film 1988 Leslie Megahey 165 minutes.

These are the documentaries shown recently on BBC. A blogger has posted them on his site.
For more informationm check out the thread http://wellesnet.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1770

[Le Chiffre]

DOCUMENTARIES ABOUT WELLES (that I can think of. If anyone wants to comment or add anything to this, feel free)

1. ARENA (aka WITH ORSON WELLES - STORIES FROM A LIFE IN FILM (1986))
BBC Documentary, about 140 minutes. Probably the best and most extensive documentary on Welles, "Stories" is abridged slightly from the BBC's version.

2. AFI TRIBUTE - ORSON WELLES (1975) (75 minutes)
Hosted by Frank Sinatra and Charlton Heston, features Peter Bogdanovich, Natalie Wood, Janet Leigh, Johnny Carson, Edgar Bergen, etc.

3. ORSON WELLES - WHAT WENT WRONG? (1992) (55 minutes)
Made to help publicize the '92 restoration of Othello, this docu features interviews with Beatrice Welles and Peter Bogdanovich.

4. THE RKO STORY - WELLES SEGMENT (1982)
Fourth episode of six-part series on the studio focuses on Welles's years at RKO. about 55 minutes.

5. ONE MAN BAND (1995, 2003)
Footage from Welles's unfinished works highlights this look at his final years, told by his companion and artistic collaborator Oja Kodar. There are at least three different versions of this program, one in German, one hosted by Peter Bogdanovich for Showtime, about 90 minutes.

6. MSNBC'S HEADLINERS AND LEGENDS - ORSON WELLES (1999)
Hosted by Matt Lauer. Covers Welles's life and career, with emphasis on CRADLE WILL ROCK, probably as a tie-in with Tim Robbins's film. With footage from Welles's last appearance on Merv Griffin. , about 55 minutes.

7. WORKING WITH ORSON WELLES (1994)
Hosted and directed by Welles's longtime cameraman Gary Graver. Features interviews with many actors from the unfinished THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND, about 90 minutes.

8. JOHN HOUSEMAN ON THE SOUTH BANK SHOW (1988)
Welles Mercury Theatre partner tells the story of The Mercury Theatre and his work with Welles in the 1930's. Broadcast on the Bravo channel, about 30 minutes.

10. WAR OF THE WORLDS 50th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL (1988)
Well-researched program, hosted by Jim Moore, explains the social and political context leading up to the broadcast. From Discovery Channel, about 30 minutes.

11. WAR OF THE WORLDS 60TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL (1998)
Broadcast on Mysteries and Scandals, program features interviews with Peter Bogdanovich and David Thompson.

12. WYCC ESSAY ON MR. ARKADIN (1986)
Mr. Arkadin essay fair quality, recorded from a WYCC film class, about 10 minutes.

14. THE BATTLE OVER CITIZEN KANE (1996)
Oscar-nominated film tells the story of the film's making, and near-unmaking. 100 minutes.

15. RECONSTRUCTING EVIL (1998)
Created as a companion piece to the 1998 reedit of "Touch of Evil", features interviews with Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, producer Rick Schmidlin and other cast members. 55 minutes.

16. ROSABELLA (2001)
Italian documentary on Welles' years and work there. 60 minutes

17. MAKING OF MR. ARKADIN (2002)
European documentary compares the various versions of Welles' Mr. Arkadin. Features rare outtakes of Welles directing. 30 minutes

18. SUZANNE CLOUTIER ON OTHELLO (1994)
Welles' Desdemona revisits the Morrocan locations where Othello was filmed and reflects on her personal and professional association with Welles. 40 minutes

19. CAMERA THREE ON WELLES (1967)
Rare docu looks at Welles' career up to that point, including his then-latest film, CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT. 50 minutes.

20. MAYSLES BROS. ON ORSON WELLES (1966)
Welles explains the concept of a proposed film, THE SACRED BEASTS, to potential investors. The project eventually became THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND. 10 minutes

21. BRUNNEN (2004)
Details Welles's life and career in Spain. Features interviews with Oja Kodar and Jess Franco. 60 minutes

22. ORSON WELLES IN YUGOSLAVIA (2006)
Details Welles's life and career in the former Yugoslavia, Features a 1978 interview with Welles and Oja Kodar for Yugoslavian TV. 60 minutes

23. THE COMPLETE CITIZEN KANE (1991)
Excellent British Documentary made for the film's 50th anniversary. 90 minutes

24. ORSON WELLES IN EUROPE (2009)
Welles biographer Simon Callow takes a look at Welles's major artistic works during his time in Europe. 60 minutes

25. PROGRAM ON WELLES FOR FRENCH TELEVISION (unknown title)
Made in the late 70's, Features interviews with Welles and John Houseman (speaking French), plus Richard Wilson

26. IN SEARCH OF ORSON WELLES (2008)
No information available

27. A SIGNO DE CHAOS (1994)
Brazilian documentary by Rogerio Sganzerla, about Welles's time in Brazil and the ill-fated IT'S ALL TRUE project. About 90 minutes

28. LINGUAGEM DE ORSON WELLES (1996)
Another Brazilian documentary by Rogerio, shorter and somewhat more surreal then A SIGNO DE CHAOS, about 25 minutes

29. IT'S ALL TRUE - BASED ON AN UNFINISHED FILM BY ORSON WELLES (1992)
Produced by Richard Wilson, a comprehensive look at Welles's time in Brazil. Features a reconstruction of FOUR MEN ON A RAFT.

30. PRODIGAL SONS (2008)
Strange, disturbing look at the chaotic relationship between Welles's only known grandchild (the late Mark McKarrow), and his transexual sibling. Features some brief scenes at Oja Kodar's Villa Welles in Croatia.

31. GREAT ROMANCES OF THE 20TH CENTURY - ORSON WELLES AND RITA HAYWORTH (1997)
30 minutes.

32, ORSON WELLES AND CURSES (1997, 15 minutes)
A look at Welles's belief in the power of curses. Focuses on the Voodoo Macbeth and It's All True. Features interview with Peter Bogdanovich. From The Discovery Channel?

33. PORTRAIT: ORSON WELLES (1968)
Made by future Welles collaborator Francois Reichenbach, features footage of Welles making salad and directing THE IMMORTAL STORY. Welles reportedly hated it and tried to prevent it from being shown.

34. THE BIG 'O' (1987)
Rarely seen, little info available, excerpts from it are seen in the documentary WHO IS HENRY JAGLOM?.



INTERVIEWS WITH WELLES

1. EDWARD R. MURROW (1957)
OW talks about the then still new medium of television. Decent quality 10 minutes

2. CBC ON WELLES (1961)
Bernard Braden interviews Welles in Paris. 30 minutes

3. HUW WHELDON (1962)
Interviews Welles about his then-latest film "The Trial". 30 minutes.

4. THE HOUR HAS SEVEN DAYS (1965)
Brief interview with OW on the set of IS PARIS BURNING? 10 minutes

5. DAVID FROST (1970)
No info available. 60 minutes

6. DICK CAVETT (1971)
Can be seen on Youtube. 60 minutes

6. KEN PARKINSON (1974)
interviews Welles for the BBC. About 25 minutes.

7. THE TOMORROW SHOW (1975)
Welles is interviewed by Tom Snyder. 60 minutes.

8. MERV GRIFFIN SHOW (1985)
Welles is interviewed with Barbra Leaming the night before his death. 60 minutes.

[Vidamonte]

Albert Maysles is still going strong.
He is digging his vaults and is releasing new documentaries from unused archive footage, like from "Gimme Shelter" comes new "Get yer ya-ya's out" and he also mentions Welles.

AM: This is something we’ve been doing with several of our films. We made a half-hour film of Muhammad Ali preparing to fight... Recently, 30 years later, we took that footage, expanded it into an hour. There’s a film that we made of Orson Welles. At this moment it’s only 13 minutes long, but we hope to make it at least half an hour, maybe even an hour. With “Gimme Shelter,” we just came out with another film of that film called “Get Yer Ya-Yas Out!” We went back to our footage that was shot by us at Madison Square Garden, found enough extra material there to make a whole extra film.

http://www.allmediany.com/scroll_article.php?scr_id=92

[Le Chiffre]

I enjoyed the Maysles Bros' documentary on Welles, and think that would be terrific if it could be expended to an hour, or at least a half hour. I'd love to see what else they've got on him. Welles's sales pitch to investors in the film could also be incorporated into a terrific documentary on the history of TOSOTW that might attract attention and possible financing for an actual completion of the film itself. In fact, the Albert Maysles might be a good choice to make that documentary.

[jbrooks]

Hey Ray, I'm thinking "Orson Welles: Stories from a Life in Film" was on TNT 25 years ago -- not 15 as reported on today's NEWS item discussing TCM's May schedule (which is very exciting, by the way!)

[tonyw]

I don't know if this site has been mentioned before but Cinephiliaand beyond.org.com has some great articles and documentaries on Welles including "The Making of Citizen Kane" that I viewed last night. I think it appeared a decade after The Orsdon Welles Story shown on BBC 2 and has a facsimile introduction imaging the opening of HEART OF DARKNESS in terms of its resemblance to KANE'S beginning.

[Roger Ryan]

Yes, that BBC "Making of CITIZEN KANE" is superb and would have been a much more appropriate extra on the Warners Blu-ray/DVD release than the more tangentially-related and, frankly, misleading "The Battle Over CITIZEN KANE".

[tonyw]

As the robot says in LOST IN SPACE, "Warning! Warning!" Unfortunately many pdf screenplays and links to documentaries have been removed from Cinephila and Beyond for some reason as I discovered on Wednesday. I don't know if this applies to Welles but I managed to download Peckinpah's screenplay for ONE EYED JACKS before it vanished for ever (?).