Orson Welles Centennial (1 Viewer)

Today, May 6, 2015, would have been Orson Welles' 100th birthday. Let's celebrate by watching Orson, either something by him or something with him, or--better yet--both! There's tons of things out there that I'm sure you've never seen. I'm planning to watch MACBETH (1948) today, which I've never seen in its entirety. Last night I re-watched ORSON WELLES: THE ONE-MAN BAND, always a good way to celebrate Welles, since there's so much footage of him in it and from a variety of eras and places. This morning I watched "Around the World with Orson Welles," a tape of documentary episodes that he made in Europe for the BBC.

There's tons of great stuff to be found on YouTube. I esp. recommend Orson Welles' Sketchbook, a multipart series of talks he did for the BBC in 1955.

Orson Welles’ Sketchbook, on Houdini and Barrymore:


Orson Welles’ Sketchbook, on War of the Worlds:


Orson Welles' Sketchbook, on the police:


And I looked in my own collection of stuff taped off TV over the years to find something I could upload on YouTube and found this segment done by Leonard Maltin on Entertainment Tonight in 1988 about the newly discovered wartime Brazilian footage that Welles shot for an unfinished film. This footage later formed the basis for the documentary, IT'S ALL TRUE:

Thanks for the heads up, I'll be watching F For Fake tonight.

Last Friday night, Turner Classic Movies premiered "Too Much Johnson". I have it saved on my DVR (but not yet watched).

I've been watching quite a few the past couple days. The shorts VIENNA and THE SPIRIT OF CHARLES LINDBERGH are both on Youtube and are worth watching. I watched TOO MUCH JOHNSON that was on TCM but it's a workprint so it's pretty hard to really judge the film. I also watched DON QUIXOTE, which gets a really bad rap from people with a lot of people hating on Jess Franco but with all the legal issues with the film it's impossible for anyone to put a complete film together. Plus, Welles is the only one who knows what he was wanting while filming since there's not a screenplay lying around for others to go off of.


I plan on getting JANE EYRE on tonight.

My blog entry is up:


https://briandanacamp.wordpress.com/2015/05/06/orson-welles-centennial/


And here's a still of Welles playing a thinly veiled Clarence Darrow from COMPULSION (1959) that I found in my collection tonight:

Check this out: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/other-side-of-the-wind-orson-welles-last-film

A worthy cause... Looking forward to the coffee table book, poster and Blu-ray.

I didn't watch any Welles movies but I listen to Welles on 2 episodes of SUSPENSE. Donovan's Brain parts 1 and 2.

Orson was excellent as usual.

He had a great voice for radio.

I watched The Lady from Shanghai. Excellent blu-ray from Mill Creek.

I found time for "Citizen Kane" and "The Third Man" on Blu-Ray, "Jane Eyre" on DVD, and the Criterion laserdisc commentary for "The Magnificent Ambersons" which I burned onto a DVD. Sweet topic, Vic!