Discovering Orson Welles

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Published by University of California Press 2007

Discovering Orson Welles

Jonathan Rosenbaum

https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520940710

Overview
Contents

About this book

Of the dozens of books written about Orson Welles, most focus on the central enigma of Welles's career: why did someone so extravagantly talented neglect to finish so many projects? Film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum has long believed that to dwell on this aspect of the Welles canon is to overlook the wealth of information available by studying the unrealized works. Discovering Orson Welles collects Rosenbaum's writings to date on Welles—some thirty-five years of them—and makes an irrefutable case for the seriousness of his work, illuminating both Welles the artist and Welles the man. The book is also a chronicle of Rosenbaum's highly personal writer's journey and his efforts to arrive at the truth. The essays, interviews, and reviews are arranged chronologically and are accompanied by commentary that updates the scholarship. Highlights include Rosenbaum's 1972 interview with Welles about his first Hollywood project, Heart of Darkness; Rosenbaum's rebuttal to Pauline Kael's famous essay "Raising Kane"; detailed essays and comprehensive discussions of Welles's major unfinished work, including two unrealized projects, The Big Brass Ring and The Cradle Will Rock; and an account of Rosenbaum's work as consultant on the 1998 re-editing of Touch of Evil, based on a studio memo by Welles.

Author / Editor information

Rosenbaum Jonathan :

Jonathan Rosenbaum writes film criticism for the Chicago Reader and has written on film for many other publications. He is also the author of many books, including Movies as Politics (UC Press, 1997).

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1.I Missed It at the Movies: Objections to “Raising kane” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	16
2.The Voice and the Eye: A Commentary on the heart of darkness Script Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	28
3.Notes on a Conversation with Welles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
4.First Impressions of f for fake Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	51
5.The Butterfly and the Whale: Orson Welles’s f for fake Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
6.Prime Cut (The 107-Minute touch of evil) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
7.André Bazin and the Politics of Sound in touch of evil Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	62
8.The Invisible Orson Welles: A First Inventory Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
9.Reviews of Biographies by Barbara Leaming and Charles Higham and a Critical Edition of touch of evil Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	90
10.Afterword to the big brass ring, a Screenplay by Orson Welles (with Oja Kodar) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	99
11.Wellesian: Quixote in a Trashcan (New York University Welles Conference) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
12.Reviews of Citizen Welles and a Critical Edition of chimes at midnight Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	120
13.Review of Orson Welles: A Bio-Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	126
14.Orson Welles’s Essay Films and Documentary Fictions: A Two-Part Speculation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	129
15.The Seven Arkadins Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	146
16. Othello Goes Hollywood Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	163
17.Truth and Consequence: On it’s all true: based on an unfinished film by Orson Welles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
18.Afterword to the cradle will rock, an Original Screenplay by Orson Welles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	188
19. Orson Welles in the U.S.: An Exchange with Bill Krohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
20.The Battle over Orson Welles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	236
21. Touch of Evil Retouched Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	248
22.Excerpt from “Problems of Access: On the Trail of Some Festival Films and Filmmakers” (On touch of evil) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	258
23.Welles in the Lime Light: The Third Man Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	261
24.Orson Welles as Ideological Challenge Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	269
25.Orson Welles’s Purloined Letter: F for Fake Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	289
26.When Will—and How Can—We Finish Orson Welles’s Don Quixote? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	296
Appendix: The Present State of the Welles Film Legacy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	309
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	323

Language: English
Publisher: University of California Press
Pages
- Main content: 346

eBook

Published: May 2, 2007
ISBN: 9780520940710