Inventory of unrealized Welles projects

[Wellesnet]

Webpage on some of Orson Welles's unfinished, as well as some unbegun, projects, with updates:
http://rateyourmusic.com/lists/list_vie ... 25&start=0

The following is a first draft for a possible pdf. Feel free to respond or offer any corrections or additions.

[Wellesnet]

THE THREE PRE-KANE SCREENPLAYS:

Heart of Darkness
The influence of Joseph Conrad on Orson Welles is obvious: the flashbacks, the multiple points of view, the sense of a voyage into unknown dangerous waters. Welles first project at RKO was to film The Heart of Darkness. Parallels were to be made between the brutal colonialism of the novella and modern day fascism. It was to be told by a first person camera identified with the narrator, Marlowe, and Welles was going to voice Marlowe and act Kurtz. A cast was assembled, sets were being built, tests were shot, but costs were escalating, Hitler was closing down much of Hollywood’s overseas markets and RKO finally 'postponed' the project.

The Smiler With the Knife
Welles quickly turned to an adaptation of Nicholas Blake’s thriller The Smiler With a Knife. Unusually for Welles it was going to have a female hero and it sounds as though it was going to be like one of Hitchcock’s chase films, the heroine fleeing across America being pursued by agents of a millionaire Nazi sympathizer. But there were problems with casting the central role, established stars being uncertain about working with the inexperienced Welles. Welles suggested Lucille Ball but RKO turned the idea down. The project was shelved.

The Way to Santiago/Mexican Melodrama
As a third anti-Nazi project Welles began to adapt Arthur Calder-Marshall’s The Way to Santiago, renamed Mexican Melodrama. Welles was to play two roles, an innocent American who blunders into a Nazi plot in Mexico and his double, the leader of the plot. The script was begun after The Smiler With the Knife was abandoned, but put aside when Citizen Kane came to the fore. However, it was taken up again the following winter as a possible follow up to Citizen Kane. Locations were scouted in Mexico, but the Mexican government objected and RKO decided it contravened Hollywood’s neutral stance on the European War.

All three of these screenplays are available at the Lilly Library. Heart of Darkness and The Way to Santiago are also available online.

[Wellesnet]

IN THE WAKE OF KANE:

The Pickwick Papers
Frank Brady's Welles biography "Citizen Welles" indicates that Welles suggested a version of Dickens' novel with W.C. Fields as Pickwick and John Barrymore also in the cast. When later asked about it Welles had no recollection. We can only wonder how much alcohol would have been consumed on the set if it had gone ahead.

The Life of Christ
Welles considered filming a life of Christ, to be situated on the American-Mexican border of the late Nineteenth Century. Greg Toland was to have shot it and locations were scouted, but the project was abandoned.

The Little Prince
Welles worked on a script of Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s story. It was to be part live action, part animation and Welles tried to get Walt Disney interested. Disney didn't want anything to do with it. Nor did anyone else.

Don't Catch Me
Welles bought the rights to Richard Powell’s thriller in 1944 and developed it into a “farce-melodrama” in collaboration with a couple of his radio scriptwriters. It never gained the interest of any studio. The screenplay exists as part of the Lilly Library Welles collection.

The Little Prince and Don't Catch Me screenplays are available at the Lilly Library, and Little Prince was also published in Italian same years ago. The other projects are not known to have had screenplays created.

[Wellesnet]

PROJECTS FOR ALEXANDER KORDA (1943-1954):

War and Peace
When Welles met Hungarian-British producer Alexander Korda it was love at first sight, both warmed to the other's showmanship. Korda dreamed of making a version of War and Peace, to be partly financed by MGM, to be shot in Russia. At first he thought of Sergei Eisenstein to direct and amongst his dream cast he suggested Welles as Pierre; Welles suggested himself as writer and director. But the project was under financed and with the beginning of the Cold War the location shooting would have been impossible. But the project knocked around for a few years, both Welles and Korda dreaming. No evidence of a screenplay exists.

Around the World In 80 Days
Welles had made a radio version of Jules Verne's story in the 1930s and tried to get RKO interested in the idea. He staged a musical version in 1946 (it was so extravagant that even with full houses it could not have got its money back) and when he was in Europe in the late 1940s he and Hungarian-British producer Alexander Korda dreamed about a film version. Although Korda owned the film rights he sold them when he needed some cash, so that was the end of that. We can only imagine what sort of extravaganza Welles could have made. (The 1950s Hollywood version was produced by Mike Todd who had originally been the backer for Welles's stage version, but had ducked out when costs escalated.) No evidence of a screenplay exists.

The Master of Ballantrae
Welles did a radio version of Robert Louis Stevenson's tale in the mid-1940s and in 1946, when he and Alexander Korda were trying to fix on a firm project to be filmed in Europe, he tried to convince Korda that it would be a good idea. And it is easy to imagine Welles as the Master - and he would have enjoyed the Scottish accents. But Korda couldn't get the rights.

Salome
Another project with Alexander Korda, based on Oscar Wilde's play, to star Paulette Goddard. This one seemed to be getting off the ground: there was even a contract and a script was worked on during the filming of The Lady From Shanghai. A framing story was added to the play, Welles was to play Wilde. Welles was supposed to be in Europe to start work at the beginning of 1947, but The Lady From Shanghai overran its shooting and the contract became void.

Carmen
Welles envisaged Prosper Merimee’s novella as a tough thriller. There are two stories about the project, maybe both true. It was planned with Korda to be a follow up to Salome, also to star Paulette Goddard. The other story is that Welles tried to get Harry Cohn interested, the film would have starred Rita Hayworth. Nothing came of either idea, although Columbia made a lavish romanticized version with Hayworth and Glenn Ford.

Cyrano de Bergerac
Welles always liked false noses so this was a natural. As with Around the World in 80 Days he toyed with the idea for many years, first at RKO (there was a script by Ben Hecht) and then in Europe in the late 1940s. Again it was a project Welles dreamed about with Alexander Korda. Parts of Welles's script were possibly incorporated into an early 1950s version starring Jose Ferrer.

Paris By Night
A project for Welles’s old friend Alexander Korda. A portmanteau film which was to include an episode based on Isak Denison/Karen Blixen’s story, The Old Chevalier.

The screenplays for Salome and Carmen are at the Lilly Library. Screenplays for the other projects are not known to exist

[Wellesnet]

OTHER EUROPEAN PROJECTS (1947-1961)

Moby Dick
Independent Hollywood producer Edward Small was interested in working with Welles. Welles had done a radio broadcast of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick and now mused over the idea of filming Bernard Herrmann's Moby Dick oratorio. How far the project got is unknown.

Henry IV
In Europe in the late 1940s Welles scripted a loose adaptation of Pirandello's play, changing the central character into a young American who believes that he is the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV. Welles was to play the central role and he claimed it was his finest script, but there is no evidence of it's existence.

Portrait d'un assassin [Portrait of an Assassin] (1949)
Welles worked on a script of Portrait of a Murderer with his friend Charles Lederer for French producer Jacques Gautier. Apparently Welles and Gautier clashed and the film was made without Welles and with a different script. Whether Welles's script survives is unknown.

The Autobiography of Cellini
Bret Wood's Bio-bibliography of Welles claims that there was a project based on the life of 16th-century sculptor Benvenuto Cellini knocking around during the late 1940s and 1950s. There is no evidence of a script.

Enrico Caruso
Wood's book indicates that Welles was also interested in a film about opera legend Enrico Caruso. How far it got is unknown. There is no evidence of a script.

Caesar
Welles's staging of Julius Caesar was one of the New York theatre events of the late 1930s. In the early 1950s a film was planned, to star Richard Burton as Mark Anthony: like the stage production it was to be in modern costume. But MGM made their version, produced by John Houseman, and Welles's project was shelved. Welles sent a telegram to Houseman during the filming which said, "You've taken everything else from me, must you take this too?" A script called "Caesar" is part of the Beatrice Welles archive at UM.

The Odyssey
While he was working on Othello Welles ‘hired’ Ernest Borneman to write a script based on Homer about Ulysses. Welles envisaged the equivalent of one of Robert Graves’s historical novels. Borneman stopped working when he wasn’t paid...although eventually he received his promised money. Shortly afterward, an Italian film version was made starring Kirk Douglas. There is a script called "Ulysses" in the Beatrice Welles archive.

Operation Cinderella
There was a completed script. A comedy about an Italian town occupied by a Hollywood film unit. A role was written for Anna Magnani. Welles claimed it to be his finest script, and it is part of the Beatrice Welles archive sold to UM.

Two By Two
A screenplay was written based on the Noah story, but updated to modern times. The screenplay exists in the Beatrice Welles archive recently sold to UM.

Lonely Life
It's been claimed that there was a completed script and it was about sexual obsession, but no evidence for one exists.

Green Thoughts
Welles's proposed followup to his TV pilot for Desilu, The Fountain of Youth, Green Thoughts was a "spook story with a seasoning of giggles", as he called it. When Fountain was rejected as a pilot, Welles went back to Europe. When Fountain was shown on TV the following year, it received great acclaim, and there was interest in continuing the series, but by that time Welles was involved in other things and decided not to come back for it, much to Desilu's anger. The script for Green Thoughts is part of the Beatrice Welles collection at UM.

Mandelman's Fire
Mendelman's Fire, based on a 1957 short story by Wolf Mankowitz, concerns an unscrupulous scheme to insure Mendelman's fortune for his daughter and how its ramifications are traced by Botvinnik, an accountant whose wily activities delight in, but are horrified by, the course of the plotting. A script is part of the Beatrice Welles collection.

Taras Bulba
Welles had wanted to make a version of Gogol's story and there are claims that he completed a script in the early 1960s, although no evidence of one exists. Hollywood shortly after made a version with Yul Brynner and Tony Curtis.

The Sacred Beast/Sacred Monsters
An idea for a film about bullfighting and an American film director knocked around through the 1950s and 1960s, finally being transformed into The Other Side of the Wind.

Treasure Island
Welles agreed to make a version of Treasure Island (a book he loved and had adapted for radio in the late 1930s) for the Spanish producers of The Chimes at Midnight. They were supposed to have been made at the same time, but it was probably just a lure for the producers to back the Shakespeare and maybe Welles had never had any intention of shooting it. A few years later Welles signed up to act in a British version as Long John Silver and his script was drawn upon. A script of Treasure Island is part of the Beatrice Welles archive.

Beware the Greeks
A comedy that Welles was supposed to have written or revived in the mid-1960s. There is a screenplay by that name in the Beatrice Welles archive.

[Wellesnet]

THE OJA KODAR PERIOD (1967-1985)

Masque of the Red Death
Originally intended to part of the omnibus film, Histoires Extraordinaires [Spirits of the Dead] (1968), a collection of Edgar Allen Poe stories. Screenplay part of the Oja Kodar collection at UM. Kodar says this was the first screenplay she and Welles wrote together. Screenplay drafts are at UM's Kodar collection.

Santo Spirito
An original comic story by Welles (with some gruesome touches) about cross-dressing female pirates. Would have starred Jane Fonda and Pearl Bailey. Not much is known about any attempt to raise financing, but the complete screenplay exists at UM.

Soldier, Soldier
Another original story by Welles, although very little is known about it. A copy of the screenplay exists in the recently discovered Welles archive in Turin, Italy.

Because of the Cats
A script based on one of Nicolas Freeling’s Van der Valk detective novels was written. A complete shooting script, with some camera directions, is at UM.

The Heroine
Story by Isak Dineson that was intended to be a followup to The Immortal Story. One day's filming was done on it before it was abandoned. Oja Kodar was going to play the lead, but the screenplay is actually part of the Beatrice Welles collection.

Midnight Plus One
Welles toyed with the idea of adapting Gavin Lyall’s thriller Midnight Plus One, to star Robert Mitchum and Jack Nicholson. Would have been produced by Bert Schneider, who Welles would later act for in the 1972 horror film, Necromancy. The rights to Lyall's novel could not be secured. No evidence of a script.

Surinam
Welles wrote an adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s Victory with Oja Kodar. It was to be made for Peter Bogdanovich’s The Directors Company and star Kodar and Ryan O’Neal. But Bogdanovich had a couple of flops, money became short and the project was dropped. Conrad's novel is frequently described as an modern-day variation of Shakespeare's The Tempest. Several drafts are at UM's Kodar collection.

Crazy Weather
Oja Kodar and Welles adapted her own short story, which concerns a married couple traveling through Spain, whose lives are disrupted by a mysterious young hitchhiker. Fragmentary screenplay drafts are at UM's Kodar collection.

The Other Man
In the late 1970s Welles and Oja Kodar worked on an adaptation of Graham Greene's 1973 novel The Honorary Consul. It was renamed as The Other Man, possible a play on Greene's more famous story, The Third Man. Welles owned the film rights for a while, but that's as far as it got. Jonathon Rosenbaum described the screenplay as extraordinary. Screenplay drafts are at UM's Kodar collection.

The Assassin
Based on a book by Donald Freed, the story speculates on the possible brainwashing techniques used on Sirhan Sirhan to prepare him for the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Screenplay drafts are at UM's Kodar collection.

Dead Giveaway
With Oja Kodar and Gary Graver, Welles adapted Jim Thompson’s thriller, A Hell of a Woman, in the late 1970s. Graver would have directed. A script exists as part of the Kodar collection at UM.

The Dreamers
In the late 1970s Welles and Oja Kodar adapted two Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen stories, The Dreamers and Echoes. At first the projected film was to be called De Capo, but later it was renamed The Dreamers. Kodar was to play the central role. Bits and pieces were shot in the 1980s and he was still working on it when he died. Screenplay drafts are at UM's Kodar collection.

The Old Chevalier
Welles created scripts for another Dineson story, The Old Chevalier, a story that he had planned to film years before for Korda. Unknown whether any attempts to find financing were made, but given the rejection of The Dreamers, it's doubtful. Part of the Kodar collection at UM.

The Big Brass Ring
In the early 1980s, on the urging of Henry Jaglom, Welles and Oja Kodar wrote an original script called The Big Brass Ring. Hollywood producer Amon Milchan agreed to back it if Welles could get a leading figure to star in it. It was offered to Warren Beatty, Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, Robert Redford, Jack Nicholson and others, but they all turned it down. Published in 1990. A film based loosely on the Welles/Kodar screenplay was later made in 1999. Screenplay drafts are at UM's Kodar collection.

King Lear
Welles planned to stage Lear in the 1930s, did a radio version in the 1940s, acted in a TV version in the early 1950s (directed by Peter Brook), staged it in New York in the mid-1950s (breaking his leg in rehearsal Welles played Lear in a wheelchair), tried to get a film version going in the 1960s, and had promises of finance in the early 1980s from the French Government, but the money never came through. Apparently, as part of his bid for support, Welles shot footage explaining his vision for the film: the film was to be shot largely in close-up.

Cradle Will Rock
Producer Michael Fitzgerald asked Welles to look at a script about Welles’s 1930s stage production The Cradle Will Rock. Welles wrote a new script and was to direct. Rupert Everett was to play Welles, Amy Irving was to be Welles’s wife, Virginia. Sets were built, but then the money collapsed. Published in 1989.

Mercedes
A few months before his death Welles and Oja Kodar began work on a new script, based on Kodar’s story Blind Window.

[Jeff Wilson]

THE THREE PRE-KANE SCREENPLAYS:


The Way to Santiago/Mexican Melodrama
As a third anti-Nazi project Welles began to adapt Arthur Calder-Marshall’s The Way to Santiago, renamed Mexican Melodrama. Welles was to play two roles, an innocent American who blunders into a Nazi plot in Mexico and his double, the leader of the plot. The script was begun after The Smiler With the Knife was abandoned, but put aside when Citizen Kane came to the fore. However, it was taken up again the following winter as a possible follow up to Citizen Kane. Locations were scouted in Mexico, but the Mexican government objected and RKO decided it contravened Hollywood’s neutral stance on the European War.

All three of these screenplays are available at the Lilly Library. Heart of Darkness and The Way to Santiago are also available online.

The "Mexican Melodrama" was not another name for Way to Santiago, but rather a project Welles had some nebulous connection to that Dolores Del Rio would have starred in. I can dig up my notes if you want more info, but the actual script that the Mexican Melodrama title would have applied to is at the Lilly. I read through it and took a few notes, but don't recall much else at the moment. If you look at the Lilly holdings guide, it's the folders immediately before Way to Santiago (Box 15, folders 12-15: Unnamed Mexican Story (Jan? 1941). Drafts of scripts, by Paul Trivers). Maybe Welles wanted to produce something for his girlfriend? Or was helping the writer?

[Le Chiffre]

Thanks for the info, Jeff, long time no read! Any further info would be great. I suspect then, that the Mexican Melodrama may have been SANTA, based on the 1904 novella by Federico Gamboa (famous in Mexico) about a prostitute who has a rough life. Ironically, it was made into a film in 1943 directed by Norman Foster (who we'll hopefully be seeing soon as Billy in THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND). It didn't star Delores Del Rio though, rather Esther Fernandez and Ricardo Montalban. I wonder if they used any of Welles's script. Anyway, thanks for the reminder. I'd forgotten about Santa. David Ramon wrote a whole book on it:
https://translate.google.com/translate? ... rev=search

[Jeff Wilson]

Well, here's a summary from my notes, which tell me I looked at this in May 2001. How time flies... Anyway, elderly Don Carlos is the owner of a hacienda where he tries to be the benevolent owner, but his peons are getting restless. His new wife (the Del Rio role), Josefina, is too young for him. She meets Diego the vaquero, and sparks fly. They have an affair. The peons rise against Carlos, who isn't bad but apparently clueless and stuck in his ways. They tell Carlos they are taking his land and splitting it up amongst themselves. Things come to a head with Carlos burning to death in his hacienda, having tried to keep his tenants from getting grain to eat. Diego, who has rescued Josefina from being barbecued, and he takes her to his aunt's village, where she is grossed out by the squalor. Class relations (or lack thereof) were a big part of the picture.

Meanwhile, revolution is breaking out. Josefina wants to try and get to Mexico City, but she is refused passage by the local barracks. She tells Diego she won't stay in such a pigsty. They argue, and kiss. They get married. Diego joins the revolution, and Josefina gets hacked off at Diego constantly leaving to fight. She passes out; she is pregnant. Government troops arrive at the village, and are ready to kill every rebel before Josefina, who has been offered passage to Mexico City, finally realizes where her heart is, warning the rebels of the government troops' plan, which they foil.

According to my notes, Mercury planned to make two films in Mexico, Way to Santiago and potentially this one, with or without Welles being unclear. Norman Foster was the likely director. Incidentally, regarding Santiago, preliminary budget was $424,408.27, with Foster to direct, and OW to produce, write, and star.

[Le Chiffre]

Thanks Jeff, interesting synopsis. It'd be nice to find out if that is an original story by Trivers or based on a previous work. That sounds quite a bit different from SANTA, which takes place before the 1910 revolution, and largely in brothels, making it difficult to imagine any Hollywood studio of the time tackling it.

Pretty small budget for Santiago. Surprising that Welles would have Foster direct that, since it's first 10-15 minutes or so call for the same subjective (I=Eye) camera technique Welles had envisioned for HEART OF DARKNESS.

For those interested, here's a synopsis of Gamboa's novel (translated from Spanish):

Santa's story takes place in a brothel in Mexico City during the Porfirian era (José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori was a Mexican general and politician who served as President of Mexico from 1884 until being ousted by the revolution in 1911). It shows the dark side of a hypocritical conservative society that on the one hand promotes morals and the "values ​​of the time" and on the other side in a fortuitous way practices the most terrible baseness and moral vices.

Santa is a 19-year-old girl who arrives at a brothel owned by the ambitious Dona Elvira, where she is immediately subjected to rigorous physical examinations and medical examinations to determine if she is a healthy young woman and above all a "product" that can generate money for Dona Elvira. During the first night in the brothel Santa is forced by Mrs. Elvira to have sex with the clients. At the same time she meets Hipolito (a blind pianist who entertains the brothel) and Jenaro, his guide.

Santa tells her story to her first client:
she comes from Chimalistac, where she lived with her mother and her brothers, who work in a factory. Marcelino Beltrán, a high-ranking military man, convinced her by trickery to surrender to him sexually. As a product of that trickery, Santa became pregnant. Marcelino then ignored Santa, and after a few months she aborted and her mother and brothers threw her out of the house. Some time before this, Dona Elvira's assistant, Pepa, had told her to look for her if she ever needed work. This is how she wound up at Dona Elvira's place. End of flashback.

Santa quickly becomes the favorite of the clients and, of course, of Mrs. Elvira. On the other hand, her friendship with Hipolito grows, and he falls in love with her. To feed his illusion, Hipolito always asks Jenaro to describe Santa to him because he can not see her.

As time passes Santa realizes that in the house of Mrs. Elvira a deep animosity towards her has been gestated because she is the favorite of the clients, and of Dona Elvira herself. Shortly after her return, her brothers locate her to inform her that her mother has died, but that before her death she granted her forgiveness. Despite this, they ignore her and ask her to never look for them.

El Jarameño, a bullfighter who frequents Doña Elvira's dating house, offers Santa to take her away from prostitution, and takes her to the guest house known as "La Guipuzcoana". Everything takes place calmly until she begins to feel alone and, in her need for attention, she deceives the Jarameño with an inventor named Ripoll. The Jarameño discovers them and she is forced to return to Dona Elvira's house. One night, after some unfortunate events in Dona Elvira's house, both Hiccup and Santa and their co-workers end up in the police station serving as witnesses to a murder. Santa begins to feel that a disease afflicts her, a disease that will not be restored.

Some time later, Santa accepts the old proposal of a man named Rubio to go live with him. But, a few weeks later, Rubio begins to mistreat her, so Santa gets involved in alcoholism. After a while, Rubio dismisses Santa from his home, so the girl tries to recover her previous life, but no longer in the house of Dona Elvira where she no longer feels well received. Santa goes to a brothel that competes with Dona Elvira but they reject her because of her illness and because of certain rumors that had spread about her.

After a night of wandering around without knowing where to go, she wakes up in a hotel with a 16-year-old boy who had been in love with her for some time. After a beautiful day with the young man, Santa's decadence begins, going to brothels that are increasingly in a worse physical and hygienic state. From one of these places, they end up throwing her out due to her illness, since it is impossible for her to satisfy her clients, due to the terrible pains that afflict her.

That's when she sends for Hipolito, who takes her home with Jenaro's help. In gratitude, she wants to surrender to Hipolito, who has been in love with her for years and waiting patiently for that moment. However, once again, the pain caused by her illness does not allow her to fulfill this purpose. Hipolito, in spite of everything, does not scold her for her impossibility, but, on the contrary, calls a doctor to try to cure her. The doctor tells him that she has a very advanced uterine cancer already, and that an operation could lengthen her life, but that there would be great risks in carrying it out. Hipolito agrees to pay for the operation, which will cost him about a quarter of his meager fortune.

The operation is carried out, but in the middle of it, Santa dies. Hipólito fulfills her last wish: to be buried next to her mother in the cemetery of her town, Chimalistac.

For those that read Spanish, here is What David Ramon claims is Welles's script for Santa:
https://issuu.com/filmotecaunam/docs/la ... son_welles

And here are some scenes from Norman Foster's 1943 film on YouTube (with music instead of the original soundtrack). Just from the visuals one can tell how Welles-influenced Foster's style was:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpUZi3z37eA

[Le Chiffre]

Here's the first page of the SANTA script, translated from Spanish. Like OTHELLO, it opens with a funeral procession for the title character:

FADE IN UNDER THE CREDITS

1. An old carriage in a small funereal procession, advancing through small streets towards the cemetery. When the credits end the camera stops on a stone cross that marks a grave.

2. The cross fills the picture, almost in silhouette against the sky. Written on it's surface is the simple word, SANTA, and on this shot the voice of Santa is heard, speaking slowly and simply:

VOICE OF SANTA
Do not believe me a saint simply because
Santa was my name.

I was a number ... a thing for rent.
When I laughed, I was punished.
When I cried, nobody believed in my tears.
When I died, it was miserably, with nothing left.

I will tell you my story, and although I was guilty, you will forgive me, I'm sure - just as sure as I am that God has forgiven me.

The image of the Cross disappears from the screen. A long moment of darkness - cut to silence, while we

FADE IN

3. Brothel door - day

A female hand enters the scene, and a door moves slowly, almost hesitantly. It is the hand of Santa, a servant. Euphrasia informs her that he will take her to see Pepa.

CUT TO-
THE DIMLY LIT QUARTERS OF PEPA

The impression here should be one of sordidness. Pepa is lying on her bed. Although he cannot be seen, it is obvious that there is a man lying together with her. Santa, although her face is not yet revealed, is led by Euphrasia who, after presenting Santa as a new one, goes out, closing the door behind her.

[Le Chiffre]

CORRECTION: Now that I've perused the online copy of David Ramon's book, I see that it contains the English language version of the Santa script as well, starting on page 27. Actually, it's not really a full script, but for the most part, more like a couple of drafts of a detailed script outline, without dialogue. A lot of interesting stuff there, though, and having read several Welles scripts, it definitely looks like his work.

BTW, Norman Foster's film is available on DVD from Amazon here:
https://www.amazon.com/Santa-Esther-Fer ... B000255JHC

Can't vouch for the quality, or whether English subtitles are provided, since it is a Spanish language film.

[I=Eye]

Does this Orson Welles reading of the story of Noah on The Dick Cavett Show come from his unproduced Two By Two screenplay?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_yvb8GMfZA

[Roger Ryan]

Does this Orson Welles reading of the story of Noah on The Dick Cavett Show come from his unproduced Two By Two screenplay?...

The film Welles says he created the monologue for is Henry Jaglom's A Safe Place (1971). The character in the film played by Tuesday Weld is nicknamed "Noah" and, as Welles notes, the film includes a number of visual references to the biblical story such as a toy boat (which Welles pulls a rainbow out of - a shot that Jaglom would go on to use as a visual identifier for his "Rainbow Film Company"). It's possible the entire monologue was filmed for Jaglom's directorial debut, but only one line remains in the finished film (about forty minutes in, Welles' character references the rainbow as "God's covenant to His people"). A Safe Place appears heavily improvisational and its fragmented editing-style only allows the scenes with Welles to be interspersed as brief segments sprinkled throughout other scenes. Included are two short oblique stories Welles' character tells "Noah" which give the impression that Jaglom asked Welles to come up with some additional material apart from the Noah's Ark story.

As to the full monologue Welles delivers on Cavett's show, most of it comes directly from the Bible with what appears to be improvisational semi-comic digressions Welles does in-character. The concluding comments, however, do sound more scripted, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were adapted from lines Welles wrote for his Two By Two screenplay (I've not read that screenplay, so I don't know for sure).

[Wich2]

The DRACULA feature, that he spoke of to Bogdanovich, is a mouth-watering idea. He says it was blocked by threats from Universal.

A Welles film from Stoker, with the same heart as the Mercury version, shot ala OTHELLO, could have been wondrous...

- Craig