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Orson Welles

TM2YC

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I might have mentioned once or twice about how awesome I think Orson Welles is? :p

Well time for a dedicated thread because after years of his filmography being treated like cr*p, 2015 seems to be his year (This may be by chance, or may be because next Wednesday marks the centenary of his birth). I've struggled for a long time to aquire the best quality versions of all his movies. Sometimes upgrading several times as better transfers become available but now for the first time, all his feature films are going to be released at a decent standard (Not all in HD but still it's a start).

I've recently bought several new excellent HD upgrades which I will discuss but first to the exciting forthcoming releases in 2015...

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The big news is that 1966's 'Chimes at Midnight' will be released by Mr.Bongo on Blu-Ray on June 29th. With a full restoration from a "pristine" 35mm print. I own Mr.Bongo's previous DVD release of the film which was not restored. It wasn't great but still light years ahead of any other release. It's great that they releasing it again now they've got access to this new source. Welles maintained it was his best movie but has been seen by few in anything greater than VHS-like quality before.

Mr.Bongo will also be releasing Orson's recently re-discovered first film 'Too Much Johnson' onto Blu-Ray and 'The Immortal Story' onto DVD, on the same day. It's a shame the latter is still going to be standard-def but I'm hoping it will be a better transfer than the average looking DVD from Madman.

Next up, The BFI will be releasing 'Around the World with Orson Welles' (His 1955 ITV show) to Blu-Ray on Auguest 24th. It will be pressed in "Strictly Limited" numbers, whatever that means.

The acclaimed documentary 'Magician: The Astonishing Life & Work of Orson Welles' will be coming to Blu-Ray and DVD on May 26th.


I'm pre-ordering all this stuff! :)
 

hebrides

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Awesome news about Chimes at Midnight! I spent quite a few years looking for it after hearing about it (IIRC) as an undergrad while taking a Shakespeare class about 20 years ago (this was years before I specialized in Shakespearean film adaptations in grad school).

At one point, I ordered it from Critics Choice Video, one of the larger mail-order video catalogs back in the day. I was so surprised they had it and couldn't wait to watch it. It was one of the most crushing moments of my life to that point when the package arrived and contained not Chimes at Midnight, but Snoopy Come Home (seriously)! I eventually found it on VHS, though (I think from Facets Video), and then later on DVD from Spain.

My go-to adaptations of 1 Henry IV and 2 Henry IV are still the BBC ones from the 1970s with Anthony Quayle as Falstaff (though I haven't seen the Tom Hiddleston "Hollow Crown" ones yet), but Welles's film, while maybe not as strong overall in some of the casting, is a towering achievement from a singular visionary.

While I'm on the subject of Shakespeare productions he directed/was involved with, his Macbeth is very evocative and interesting (and includes the only-Welles-could-be-so-bold introduction of an entirely new character not present in the original play), and his Othello, while marred by some less-than-stellar casting, is amazing for the sheer number of born-of-necessity moments in it. Probably one of the most famous sequences from the film, a showdown in a Turkish bath, was an improvised-in-the-moment directorial decision by Welles when all but one of the costumes failed to arrive! He also made a great King Lear when he played the ancient king (at age 38!) in a TV production directed by Peter Brook.

He was so good at Shakespearean adaptation (among so, so many other things) that I can almost forgive his (purported and quite possibly apocryphal) snobbery for feeling that Shakespeare's plays had to have been written by the Earl of Oxford...:p
 

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hebrides said:
Awesome news about Chimes at Midnight! I spent quite a few years looking for it... I eventually found it on VHS, though (I think from Facets Video), and then later on DVD from Spain.

I had that Spanish DVD once. It wasn't pretty :oops:

hebrides said:
I haven't seen the Tom Hiddleston "Hollow Crown" (Henry IV and 2 Henry IV) yet

You really should it's superb. I'm planning on a fanedit of it one day. Either to concentrate on the Hiddleston parts, or to do a "reimagining" of Welles' Falstaff idea. Apparently there will be a new series of 'The Hollow Crown' next year. Taking in Henry VI, Part I with Henry VI, Part II, and Henry VI, Part III condensed in one film and Richard III staring Benedict Cumberbatch.

hebrides said:
While I'm on the subject of Shakespeare productions he directed/was involved with, his Macbeth is very evocative and interesting ... and his Othello

I've just aquired both in this awesome Blu-Ray boxset from France (Screenshots here)...

test-macbeth-othello-d-apres-william-shakespeare-realises-par-orson-welles18.jpg


...and here are the loaded special features (In french)...

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It's Welles' daughter's 1992 "restored" and apparently slightly altered version of Othello but still it looks and sounds amazing. It would be nice if she allowed the original cut/soundtrack to be released one day (Not that I've ever seen or heard it, to notice the differences?).

I've also recently upgraded my DVDs to Blu-Ray copies of 'The Lady from Shanghai' and 'F for Fake' from the USA. But awaiting getting my new region-free BR player tomorrow before commenting on what these are like.
 

TM2YC

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FYI y'all: There is an old YouTube channel called Citizen Welles which uploaded some goodies including...

This Region2 DVD documentary by film critic Barry Norman...


...the Criterion Laserdisc commentary for Othello...


...and this feature-length Arena documentary...

 

Dr. Chim Richalds

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There's probably been discussion on this in the past but I'd be interested to know y'all's go to version of Ambersons. I bought the Criterion LD a long time ago but a friend borrowed it before I ever watched it and mysteriously I never got it back. Replaced it years later with a TCM VHS version after having given up on a DVD but ended up DVR-ing it and usually just went to that recording for years. It's been a few years since I've seen it now.

Also, I know it's the great white whale and all but has anyone ever talked about trying to fan edit that movie to replace the lost footage with photo stills and audio (ie either the radio play versions of missing scenes or actors voices) and/or black and white versions of the remake (which I never saw but read wasn't that great) if it features lost scenes just to give some approximation of what it could have been? Especially for those of us too lazy to read the book that does just that?

anyway, awesome to hear about those new releases!
 

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TM2YC

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Dr. Chim Richalds said:
I'd be interested to know y'all's go to version of Ambersons.

I can't comment on the LD but here is a comparison I did between the old Universal Studios DVD and the more recent excellent looking MGM DVD...

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(Top-Right MGM / Bottom-Left Universal)

As you can see, the R1-MGM disc is the one to go for...

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Dr. Chim Richalds said:
has anyone ever talked about trying to fan edit that movie

Why yes :p...

http://www.fanedit.org/forums/showthread.php?11522-Magnificent-Ambersons

I will continue work on that one day.
 

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Billy Batson said:
If anyone is interested, there's an Indiegogo project to complete Welles' THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND at: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/other-side-of-the-wind-orson-welles-last-film/x/4105745

I've made my contribution.

Excellent!

I read that the legal-wrangles had been finally "put to bed" but that the funding for a release this year had fell through. Glad that they are going the fan-funding route. Here is the Vimeo clip from that page...


I need a moment to consider which donation to make, as some of the perks sound amazing. If only I had $25,000...

We will ship you a 35mm PRINT of "The Other Side of the Wind". No Joke. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. This perk is EXCLUSIVE. Includes all other Non-Exclusive Perks. Includes Domestic (US) Shipping.

:)
 

Dr. Chim Richalds

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Well, hope one day to see the finished product, TM2YC. Even better if it could be sourced in HD in the future of course!

thanks for the heads up on the better dvd. Seems like it came out on DVD just about the time no one was buying dvds anymore. :(
wonder if there's a digital hd source? (Even if it would be compressed.)
 

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The crowd funding for Orson's last film continues slowly (10%) and they've added a T-Shirt to sweeten the deal. I've gone for the $150 Blu-Ray/T-Shirt/Art-Book deal. They've posted a couple of celeb vids recently...


 

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Annoyingly the recent documentary 'Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles' will only be released in the US on Blu-Ray. I've got a region-free player, so I've ordered a copy anyway but for everyone else in the world, it's standard-def only :-(.

There was a segment in the recent BBC Radio 4 'Film Programme' talking to Peter Bogdanovich about his friendship with Orson and how his editing is going on 'The Other Side of the Wind'. He said it will be completed this year... probably. An mp3 can be downloaded here.
 

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The BFI have an Orson Welles season on in London and I'm there this weekend :). Hopefully I'll have time to see something. The BFI magazine 'Sight & Sound' also have an extensive article this month on Orson:

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^ Damn that's a good photo.

The fundrasing to complete Orson's last film has fallen short sadly :-( ($400K out of the million needed) but the producers assure the 3000 doners that all their merch will be delivered and the film will be completed somehow, soon.

I've got the new Blu-Ray release of 'Falstaff' from Mr.Bongo films. The good news is that the image is sharp, nicely grainy and light-years ahead of all other shody releases this film has endured (Also the clarity of the soundtrack is improved a lot). The bad news is that it's very low contrast and bright for some reason, with the blacks looking very grey.

It's nothing that a fan regrade couldn't improve :p...

Original:



Regrade:



Original:



Regrade:



(Click images to see full res captures)

^ This was just a quick go on a couple of shots and I've no real idea how this film should look but to my eye the new official Blu looks wrong and this improves things.
 

ThrowgnCpr

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The bottom picture looks great. I'd say the blacks are crushed a bit too far on the top image though.
 

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ThrowgnCpr said:
The bottom picture looks great. I'd say the blacks are crushed a bit too far on the top image though.

Yes you're right, I did that first one very quick. I spent more time on the second because it was hard to keep the sky from blowing out to white.

Couple of new videos from the BFI youtube channel. Mel Brook's on Welles...


...and a fantastic new trailer for 'Touch of Evil'...

 

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I'm a wells fan too, but I do think he gets a bit pretentious at times. He did really take American cinematography and editing to the next level (a style that was previously only happening in Russia and eastern Europe). As far as directing the actors goes though, I still think Charlie Chaplin is tops.
 

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This is...I don't even know what this is. But it's Tommy Wiseau comparing Citizen Kane to The Room. Paging Dr. Frink...

 

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^ That was wierd.

Randomly browsing Welles clips and found this "Drunk History" gem from last year...


Shot really well, looking just like a Welles picture. Jack Black was perfect having pretty much played Welles in PJ's 'King Kong' before.

and this clip is amazing. Full makeup and Shakespearean monologue live...


btw yay going to see the 1998 "restoration" of 'Touch Of Evil' tonight on the big screen! :)
 

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The Room is "so ridiculously-bad-it's-not-good-at-all-but-it-makes-you-laugh-uncontrollably-at-the-movie-and-its-directors-stupidity". I don't understand the fascination with the Tommy Wiseau character. Some can call Orson Welles pretentious at times, but what would we call Wiseau then? Is he to blame or the industry? Someone's keeping his persona alive... Anyway, the clip is ridiculous. As in so many other clips I've seen, Wiseau has absolutely nothing interesting to say.

The Touch Of Evil clip is great though. I should really make good work of checking out the Orson Welles library :)
 
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