I have somewhat mixed feelings about Orson. I love some of the films he made and acted in. I consider The Third Man and Kane amongst the greatest of all time. However, I'm always left with that feeling that it should have been much more. All the unfinished projects, lack of funding etc. It can't be all the other guy's fault, Welles must have been very poor at professional relationships. He is the kind of guy that needed a good business partner. But, it is what it is. I have a soft spot for Lady from Shanghai, while the accent is bad, I love Rita as a blonde.
Quite. It’s still my favorite from him - just relentlessly dirty. So many of his more lauded films either bore me, feel uneven or drop the ball in some way. Touch of Evil, as his interviewer in the clip below says, leaves no room for maneuver - and is precisely why (for me) it’s his most complete film - Lakeshore PBS had has a very good copy streaming free for a while. Hope it stays up a bit longer.
I think Welles’ ADHD got the better of him in his later career. Hyper fixating at some moments, only to cast aside ideas and forward momentum when his interests and fixations changed. Without people willing to question his genius, which he was happy to protect if challenged, he was bound to repeat that cycle.
He was asked by the American government to do some kind of goodwill documentary in South America, but yeah, he made a big mistake with Magnificent Ambersons, and similar mistake with Touch of Evil. He was brilliant film maker, but he had some flaws. I think he was too much of a maverick and too stubborn for Hollywood, you gotta know how to play the game too.
Dean Martin roast, as only Welles can go over the top serious When the moon hits your eye Like a big pizza pie THAT's amoré!
Orson Welles interviewing Andy Kaufman, friend who linked this to me is big Kaufman fan and said that this is probably one of the few times he was starstruck and respected the interviewer enough to be serious. Andy Kaufman Orson Welles Interview 1982 : Andy Kaufman : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
If you haven't seen Compulsion, you owe it to yourself to see it. His speech at the end was among the most intense non Shakespeare Welles I ever saw.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say I don't like "A Touch of Evil" all that much. Huge Welles fan, major influence on my life. But I HATE Dennis Weaver in that movie. And I don't buy Charlton Heston in Brown Face. Janet Leigh, as always, looks great in a sweater, but I always thought she was a putrid actress. I always lose interest about halfway through this film. But I guess I've never seen the Welles cut. Same way everyone backs "Vertigo" (made the same year, 1958) as Hitchcock's masterpiece, but I don't really dig it as a movie. Give me Kane, Lady From Shanghai, the Trial, Mr. Arkadian
Yeah, I don't like Touch of Evil much, either, though it's my favorite from him. Feels like his most successfully realized film, despite the studio butchery. I admire Welles, the man, far more than any of films. Don't think I'm in the minority on that score.
If I remember correctly, there were some shots in OTHELLO that were done months apart, even dialogue scenes between characters, and Orson was able to keep all of the shots straight. I'm sure he did that with many projects, as most of his own work was halted in order for him to take an acting role to raise money to continue filming. Re: SHANGHAI. Orson had to have been filled with a perverse glee when he turned Hollywood's iconic redhead into a blonde. Somewhere in storage I have a Columbia photo shoot of the whole cut and dye process Rita went through. Columbia head Harry Cohn (who pursued Rita and terrorized her for years) was enraged at Orson's handiwork.
True. Except for Kane - which is untouchable as a landmark film - Orson the thesbian and daring artist is what I admire most.
Like I said, I admire Welles, the adventurer, filmmaker, raconteur and all around showman (wish there were more of his stature like him) and like many of his films but I don't feel (and he'd probably agree) he was one of the 20th century's great arists. But so what? We would have been poorer without him. And Kane is smashing bore.
Touch of Evil is my favorite. The first 30 minutes are a great energetic thriller. After that, it turns into a very dark and intriguing police investigation. Welles' character Quinlan is also very imposing and menacing. An impressive performance by Welles. He dominates every other character in the film! Nobody can stand up to him! I also read that The Lady From Shanghai was 4 hours long. Imagine how it could have been with 4 hours I also like The Trial a lot. It's very experimental and it happens a lot of things in it.
Though I Kane leaves me cold I love hearing about the drama surrounding its conception, development and aftermath, particularly from Welles, himself -