Arena: The Orson Welles Story

[DexyMan]

What is the full length of this interview? The version I have clocks in at 2:25. But the credits say that it is the TNT version so I'm assuming this is the short version. Also, is the opening scene from Follow the Boys? If yes then how much longer is his bit in the movie besides the scene shown?

Thanks alot!

[Terry]

Off the top of my head...

I think OW Story ran for three hours in its original BBC Arena form. Maybe a little less... The TNT version is great, but the original is superior if you can find it. The actual text of the interview was published in the book (appropriately titled) Orson Welles Interviews.

The opening is from Follow the Boys. There's probably another couple minutes of the scene...involving sawing Marlene Dietrich in half. Plus Welles is in an earlier scene, mentioning to George Raft that he has a magic show...

[Roger Ryan]

The program for last year's Locarno Film Festival (where "The Orson Welles Story" was shown in its entirety) lists the running time as 165 min. (or 2:45).

[Wellesnet]

Someone uploaded the entire 1982 BBC documentary, "Arena: The Story of Orson Welles." As Roger noted, it runs about 165 minutes, about 25 minutes longer than the American version, "Orson Welles: Stories From A Life in Film", which ran on the TNT network in 1989, four years after Welles's death.

Arena: The Story of Orson Welles-
Part 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFqW6b1hfFY

Part 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brVah-r65pI

Just for good measure, here is the 139-minute American version:

Orson Welles: Stories From a Life in Film-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w269hFyfKJ0

[Le Chiffre]

ARENA is definitely the version of this that I want to watch from now on. Glad to see it has stayed up for so long!

[atcolomb]

About 10 years ago i purchased from the UK a dvd disc version of the BBC Arena and it was a recording made from a tv broadcast. Glad i recorded the American TNT broadcast to VHS tape back then and transferred it to disc later so now i have two versions i can watch.

[Le Chiffre]

Yes, it's good to have both versions available, but then, I can't help but thinking that, if both versions are available, the original BBC sort of makes the TNT version obsolete. There's quite a lot of good stuff that the TNT leaves out.

[atcolomb]

I keep the TNT version for sentimental reasons to remind me of what tv could show instead of the worthless garbage we have today. Back in the 1990's cable channels like TNT, Bravo, and AMC did broadcast alot of nice classic movies and documentaries. TCM does broadcast some documentaries but not that much like they used to do.

[MartynH]

After I saw the Arena program on Welles I wrote to the BBC asking them what the title music was. They never got back to me. I had to wait until the internet age to find out is Brian Eno 'Another Green World'. It is a superb and haunting piece of music. Add the bottle in the water clip. It really fits.