Capra, Bogdanovich, Brooks and Altman on Cavett

[Tony]

Just watched the Directors show on the Cavett box: Bogdanovich mentions the butchering of Ambersons, which elicits a surprising (for me) response from both Capra (the older Hollywood) and Altman (the then new Hollywood): Capra says simply "I would never allow it" and "Nobody ever touched any of my pictures" and Altman simply says "If they tried, I'd burn the negative- I know where the key to the vault is".

It makes one think that either Welles had really bad luck, or that he didn't lay down the law; as Capra adds:" You just have to tell them that it's not going to happen- this is what young directors must do- get control of their pictures."

Capra also talks about the disasterous preview of "Lost Horizon", Altman tells about the preview for "Brewster McCloud", and Brooks tells a couple of hilarious stories of his first days at Columbia with Harry Cohn.

A fantastic segment.

[Glenn Anders]

The point most commentators make is that Welles was not on the spot to put his foot down to save THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS. Capra made few films that really were controversial. He always sweetened his pictures with a little sentimentality, enough to get them by. And Altman belonged to a later period, when directors really did take charge for a time, in the way Welles had on CITIZEN KANE.

In fact, an examination of how Welles shot, finished, and protected CITIZEN KANE is really what Capra, Altman and Bogdanovich are talking about.

Glenn

[Tony]

Here's an interesting bit from Bogdanovich's "Is it true what they say about Orson?" :

"Then let me report that Welles’ first appearance on Dick Cavett’s TV show in May received a higher rating than any other program in the series, so much so that Welles was invited back for an unprecedented two 90-minute solo interviews. And this after he had already been a tremendously successful 90-minute guest on the David Frost show (which invited him back as host for a week)."

Wonder if Cavett will ever release that 2nd 90 minute interview on DVD. And what about the week of hosting for Frost?:;):

[ToddBaesen]

It's interesting that on the Cavett director's panel show, Bogdanovich only talks about Welles, not his own movies.

Of course Capra, as Glenn points out, was in quite a different position than Welles. His movies made tons of money for Harry Cohn, and in fact, Capra was so important to Columbia that if he didn't want them to cut LOST HORIZON, he probably could have had it go out that way. The point is, he realized the film was not playing correctly at the preview and got to cut it himself. Welles didn't get that chance with AMBERSONS since he was far away in Brazil.

As Welles wrote to Bogdanovich:

Dick’s file will show you that I only agreed to the Brazilian junket on the firm guarantee that the moviolas and all the film (of THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS) would immediately follow me. What happened instead? The film never came. A takeover in RKO brought in new bosses committed, by the simple logic of their position, to enmity. I quickly lost the last vestiges of control over AMBERSONS, and friends at home collapsed in panic. Who can blame them? Even if I’d stayed I would have had to make compromises on the editing, but these would have been mine and not the fruit of confused and often semi-hysterical committees. If I had been there myself I would have found my own solutions and saved the picture in a form which would have carried the stamp of my own effort.

[LamontCranston]

He was in Brazil at the time making a war-time propaganda film for Uncle Sam, in order to get there in time to film the Carnivale he had to leave ahead of the raw film and editing equipment, it never arrived and communications with studio were severely limited.
Lets see Capra or Altman protect their film under those conditions.

[Harvey Chartrand]

One could argue that WW2 destroyed Welles' promising career as a director of motion pictures.

[Glenn Anders]

Lamont: I'm not sure the equipment "never arrived," but it took longer than RKO thought it would. We should remember that early in 1942, German submarines were in position off our East Coast, and in the first months of the War turned that area into a "shooting gallery." I've never heard that any camera equipment was lost at sea, but it may have been delayed for having a low priority. Eventually, a lot of project stuff and personnel were flown down to Brazil.

Your supposition that WWII did much to ruin Welles' career seems a reasonable one to me -- one more primal motivation to oppose fascism in the Post-War World.

Glenn