Oft-unappreciated ‘The Stranger’ turns 75
“The Stranger” — one of Orson Welles’ most overlooked, but commercially successful films — marks the 75th anniversary of its theatrical release.
‘Around the World with Orson Welles’ now streaming
Filmed in Europe, the short-lived series included episodes with Welles visiting Jean Cocteau and Juliette Gréco in Paris, attending a bullfight in Madrid with Kenneth Tynan and a trip to the Basque Country.
‘New Deal for Artists’ recalls WPA impact on arts (review)
At the start of the documentary “New Deal for Artists,” Pulitzer Prize winner Studs Terkel — who got his start in the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Writers’ Project — laments that the contribution the New Deal and WPA made to the arts is not taught in schools and has been lost to history.
The remastered and re-released “New Deal for Artists” is narrated by Orson Welles, himself a beneficiary of the Federal Theater Project. In addition to Welles and Terkel, the WPA aided thousands including writers Richard Wright, Margaret Walker and Ralph Ellison; painters Diego Rivera, Jackson Pollock and James Brooks; and actors Will Geer, John Houseman and Howard Da Silva.
WPA doc ‘New Deal for Artists,’ narrated by Orson Welles, to be released
The 1981 documentary “New Deal for Artists” is a look back at the WPA and the most ambitious government-supported arts program since the Italian Renaissance.
TCM funding September hunt for lost ‘Ambersons’ in Brazil
Two groupings of “Ambersons” reels (14 and 10), as well as 10 reels of “Journey Into Fear,” were shipped to Welles in Brazil so he could edit the film. Filmmaker Josh Grossberg hopes the footage, if it has survived the past 80 years, is in the hands of private collectors.
PBS to air ‘Blinding of Isaac Woodard’ documentary
In 1946, Isaac Woodard, a Black army sergeant on his way home to South Carolina after serving in World War II, was pulled from a bus for arguing with the driver. A local police chief savagely beat Woodard, leaving him unconscious and permanently blind.
Director says Orson Welles not drunk during infamous wine commercial
Veteran British commercial producer and director Peter Shillingford says Orson Welles not drunk during the infamous Paul Masson “French champagne” shoot, rather he had taken a sleeping pill before filming.
‘Ides of March’ fitting time to revisit Mercury Theatre’s ‘Caesar’
The Orson Welles-directed “Caesar” was described by one critic as “the most exciting, the most imaginative, the most topical, the most awesome and the most absorbing of the season’s new productions.”
Wellesnet at 20: Founder Jeff Wilson looks back at website’s start
To mark our 20th anniversary, Wellesnet founder Jeff Wilson looks back to March 2001 and recalls the birth and early days of the Orson Welles Web Resource.
Online Orson Welles course to return
When Matthew Asprey Gear, author of “At the End of the Street in the Shadow: Orson Welles and the City,” announced last fall that he would offer an online course for newbie and veteran Wellesians, we were intrigued. Apparently, we were not alone. The course was a success on both sides of the Atlantic and another is in the offing.
‘Assassination of Orson Welles’ up for French book prize
The French detective novel “The Assassination of Orson Welles” is set at the Cannes Film Festival in 1949. A film-loving private detective is hired by Welles to find the gunman who tried to kill him.
Retired lawyer is the son of Vampira but is Orson Welles the father?
Maila Nurmi, who gained fame as Vampira in the 1950s, reportedly dated Orson Welles a decade earlier, but the jury is out as to whether he fathered her child.
2020 in review: New Orson Welles movie, chart-topping rap album appearance
In 2020, fans saw the release of “Hopper/Welles” and Orson Welles’ radio work repurposed in a best-selling hip hop album.
Orson Welles featured in ad for upcoming video game
Orson Welles’ days as a commercial pitchman did not end with his death in 1985. He is featured in a promotion for a new video game. BioWare and Electronic Arts licensed the use of Welles’ voice for a teaser trailer for the next installment in its sci-fi video game series “Mass Effect.”
Mank and the Ghost of Christmas Future
Film historian Joseph McBride, who penned “Rough Sledding with Pauline Kael” in 1971, graciously offered to revisit the authorship of Citizen Kane for Wellesnet after screening David Fincher’s new Netflix movie Mank — the latest in a string of unflattering film portrayals of Orson Welles.
Probing the mind of filmmaker Orson Welles
Documentarian Mark Cousins looked into The Eyes of Orson Welles, now psychoanalyst/psychotherapist Jack Schwartz has published a paper on what could be called “the mind of Orson Welles.”
Rarely seen Orson Welles-narrated film ‘Gift of Harvest’ surfaces online
Part of the Dupont Company films and commercials collection, A Gift of Harvest was filmed throughout 1978-79 and released in 1981.
Film author to lead online course on Orson Welles
Matthew Asprey Gear, author of “At the End of the Street in the Shadow: Orson Welles and the City,” will offer a 12-week online course for serious fans of the late filmmaker.
‘Orson Welles Great Mysteries Vol. 2’ DVD set for release in UK
Network, which released the DVD “Orson Welles Great Mysteries Volume 1” in the United Kingdom last year, will release the second and final volume on October 26. Produced by Anglia Television, the 25-minute long episodes were originally broadcast by Britain’s ITV between September 1973 and February 1974. Thirteen episodes were featured on the first volume and the remaining 13 shows are contained on Volume 2.
‘The world needs this’ – Logic on including Orson Welles speech on racism on new album
When rapper Logic decided to sample an Orson Welles radio show for Intro on his album No Pressure, he did not plan on using the late filmmaker’s voice again to close the collection. Logic sampled Welles’ introductory remarks from a 1942 broadcast of The Hitch-Hiker to playfully kick-off his hit album. “On one of the very […]