The Archive of American Television in partnership with E1 Entertainment has just released Orson Welles 1953 Television debut as King Lear in a deluxe DVD package. It is highly recommended, since although this historic TV show is still mastered from a kinescope copy, it looks far better than the blurry VHS copies that have long […]
The recent BBC Four showing of the first episode from Orson Welles Sketchbook dovetails nicely into something Christian McKay and I recently discussed during dinner when Mr. McKay was in San Francisco to promote Me and Orson Welles. Namely, how Welles work in television, which has probably remained the least celebrated aspect of his work, […]
Many thanks to Paul Condon of Dublin, Ireland for alerting us to the retrospective of Orson Welles films that will be screening in Dublin this month under the auspices of The Irish Film Institute. Chimes at Midnight is one of only three Welles’ movies that will not be shown, the others being Othello and Filming […]
It’s hard to complain too loudly when Warner Home Video finally brings out one of their many movies people have been waiting to see on Blue Ray and DVD. Yet, the way Warners has been carelessly dropping film gems on the marketplace without any advance publicity, is rather disheartening, to say the least. Such classics […]
R. Michael Stringer, a longtime friend of Orson Welles and Gary Graver has posted a wonderful video of Orson Welles to celebrate July 4th on his FaceBook page. You can view it HERE.
Reading Simon Callow’s perceptive two books on King Henry IV, Part One and Part Two made me want to revisit Welles masterpiece, Chimes at Midnight. In doing so, I also looked at one of the best interviews Welles ever gave about a single movie, his long talk with Juan Cobos and Miguel Rubio that was […]
A few months ago I found several old issues of Theatre Arts magazine in the tenderloin district of San Francisco, a few short blocks from where Wellesnet “legend” Glenn Anders lives. The mags were priced at a big 100% mark-up over their original price. Well, since the original price was only .50 cents, they were […]
In his introduction to Ray Harryhausen’s Film Fantasy Scapbook, Ray Bradbury confesses that his dream as a teenager (presumably after seeing Citizen Kane) “was to work some day with Orson Welles, whose career was begining to burgeon on the American Scene.” Bradbury continues: “Somewhere along through the years we realized our dreams. I wrote lines […]
ORSON WELLES: There is a grand place, where the ancient cliffs hold a million stories. Where the mystic forests whisper time worn tales. Where the glacial lakes drown secrets from the ice age. There is a grand place called New Hampshire. A brand new stage for adventure and romance… ******************* It’s rather amazing that Orson Welles work […]
PRINCE OF FOXES (1949) Twentieth Century-Fox. Directed by Henry King; Produced by Sol C. Siegel; Screenplay by Milton Krims; Second Unit Director: Robert D. Webb; Based on the novel by Samuel Shellabarger; Director of Photography: Leon Shamroy; Editor: Barbara McLean; Art Direction: Lyle Wheeler and Mark-Lee Kirk. Costume designer: Vittorio Nino Novarese; Music by Alfred […]
When talking with Roger Corman about his Edgar Allan Poe movies, I took the opportunity to ask him about his dinner meeting with Orson Welles, which took place in the mid-seventies when Corman and Peter Bogdanovich were preparing St. Jack, which Welles was originally supposed to direct. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask Corman about Welles […]
