Orson Welles

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A colonial scene in the U.S. An old lady sits astride a bell while a man in blackface, wig, and livery pulls the bell rope. From an upper door emerges an old man, dressed as a dandy, who tips his hat to the woman as he walks down stairs grinning. Others leave the same door and walk down the same stairs: a shabby man, a cop, and, several times, the same dandy. The man in blackface hangs himself; the dandy continues to smile. A bell tolls, a grave beckons. In the dark, the dandy plays the piano. Is he Death?Read More »

The town of Spurline is basically run at the beck and call of local cattle rancher Virgil Renchler (Orson Welles), who owns many acres of grazing land in the area. But with that kind of power comes a recklessness, and a lack of control over the worst instincts of his men, who he supports unconditionally no matter what. The breaking point may have arrived, however, when two of his employees march into the living quarters of the Mexican labourers Renchler employs and drag out one of the younger members, into a tool shed where he is beaten to death, it would seem these men believe they can get away with anything. But what they didn’t reckon on is a witness…Read More »

Winner of Grand Prix du Festival International du Film 1952 Festival de Cannes

Criterion Collection writes:
Gloriously cinematic despite its tiny budget, Orson Welles’s Othello is a testament to the filmmaker’s stubborn willingness to pursue his vision to the ends of the earth. Unmatched in his passionate identification with Shakespeare’s imagination, Welles brings his inventive visual approach to this enduring tragedy of jealousy, bigotry, and rage, and also gives a towering performance as the Moor of Venice, alongside Suzanne Cloutier as the innocent Desdemona, and Micheál MacLiammóir as the scheming Iago. Shot over the course of three years in Italy and Morocco and plagued by many logistical problems, this fiercely independent film joins Macbeth and Chimes at Midnight in making the case for Welles as the cinema’s most audacious interpreter of the Bard.Read More »

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Orson Welles’ free-form documentary about fakery focusses on the notorious art forger Elmyr de Hory and Elmyr’s biographer, Clifford Irving, who also wrote the celebrated fraudulent Howard Hughes autobiography, then touches on the reclusive Hughes and Welles’ own career (which started with a faked resume and a phony Martian invasion). On the way, Welles plays a few tricks of his own on the audience.Read More »

The Stranger is often considered Orson Welles’ most “traditional” Hollywood-style directorial effort. Welles plays a college professor named Charles Rankin, who lives in a pastoral Connecticut town with his lovely wife Mary (Loretta Young). One afternoon, an extremely nervous German gentleman named Meineke (Konstantin Shayne) arrives in town. Professor Rankin seems disturbed–but not unduly so–by Meineke’s presence. He invites the stranger for a walk in the woods, and as they journey farther and farther away from the center of town, we learn that kindly professor Rankin is actually notorious Nazi war criminal Franz Kindler.Read More »

Plot
Two-part profile of actor-director Orson Welles, looking at his life and career in theatre, radio and particularly film.Read More »

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Life and times of Nikola Tesla, famous scientist whose inventions were stolen, but whose greatest contribution to mankind remain a mystery to this day.

A bewitching film about Nikola Tesla (Peter Bozovic), one of the world’s most gifted but unknown scientific discoverers, the genius who ushered in the age of electricity, who was born in 1856 in the village of Smiljan, in the province of Lika, Croatia—then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Tesla’s inventions were stolen but whose name nevertheless remains legendary for his overwhelming scientific contributions. He is quoted as saying “Science is but a perversion of itself unless it has as its ultimate goal the betterment of humanity.”Read More »

“Perhaps the most fascinating component of the films directed by Orson Welles was the masterpiece he never lived to complete. Beginning in 1957 and continuing on-and-off for the next 15 years, Welles self-financed and directed an audacious film version of Cervantes’ “Don Quixote” which brought the legendary knight and his rotund aide Sancho Panza out of 16th century Andalusia and into the world of (then-) modern Spain. But despite his genius behind the camera, Welles was remarkably neglectful in maintaining and preserving the footage he created and much of his work was considered lost…and the footage that remained was not properly stored! However, throughout the 1980s and early 1990s the Spanish filmmakers Jess Franco (who served as Welles’ second unit director on Chimes at Midnight) and Patxi Irigoyen tracked down nearly all of the surviving footage, finished the incomplete soundtrack based on Welles’ notes, restored the footage where they could and offered a reconstructed Don Quixote de Orson Welles in 1992…” – Phil Hall, Filmthreat.comRead More »

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A stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping, and police corruption in a Mexican border town.Read More »