Film Directors Mediagraphy - Orson Welles
updated (10/00)

Avant garde and experimental films [videorecording]. Sandy Hook, Ct. Video Images c1980. 1 videocassette (74 min.) : sd., b&w ; 1/2 in. Un chien andalou: A surrealistic film composed of bizarre and grotesque scenes. Based upon the theories of surrealist artist André Breton, this film was meant to have a dreamlike irrationality. Regen: A study of rain in Amsterdam. Uberfall: Story of a man who wins a dice game and is subsequently robbed by a prostitute and beaten up by a thug. Noted for unusual angles of photography and use of distorting mirrors to depict victim's thoughts Hearts of age: Made by Welles at the age of 19, film was intended as a parody of the surrealist movement. Welles appears as the figure of death. Ballet mécanique : One of the most influential experimental works in the history of cinema, the film demonstrates Leger's concern with the mechanical world. Repetition, movement and multiple imagery combine to animate and lend an aesthetic view to the clockwork structure of everyday life. VHS 5278

The Battle over Citizen Kane [videorecording] / a production of WGBH, Boston ; a Lennon Documentary Group film ; produced by Thomas Lennon, Michael Epstein ; written by Richard Ben Cramer & Thomas Lennon. Alexandria, VA . c1996. 1 videocassette (114 min.) : sd., col. with b&w sequences ; 1/2 in. William Randolph Hearst, the powerful newspaper magnate, was portrayed in Citizen Kane, an Orson Welles film. Hearst's reaction upon learning about the film was to work to supress it and destroy Welles. Major movie theater chains refused to show Citizen Kane, and Welles' masterpiece virtually disappeared for almost 25 years. Never again would Orson Welles gain control of a major Hollywood production. VHS 3948

Citizen Kane [videorecording] / Mercury Productions ; RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York : VidAmerica, c1980. [Smyrna, GA.] : Turner Home Entertainment, 1996. 1 videocassette (120 min.) : sd., b&w ; 1/2 in. Regarded as one of the finest films ever made, Citizen Kane tells the story of idealism corrupted by wealth and is considered to be loosely based on the life of William Randolph Hearst. Film, focuses on the rise and fall of the wealthy and controversial newspaper publisher, Charles Foster Kane. Introduces cinematic techniques of overlapping dialogue, special wide-angle, deep-focus photography and the dialogue track to span a long period of time. VHS 2 and VDD 4

Early auteur films [videorecording] : the first shorts made by famous directors. First shorts made by famous directors. [United States] : Festival Films, [198-?]. 1 videocassette (121 min.) : sd., b&w ; 1/2 in. A collection of short films made early in the careers of Orson Welles, Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Roman Polanski, Michelangelo Antonioni and Alberto Cavalcanti. All the boys...: College roommates become acquainted with Patrick on the same day in separate encounters. Each falls for his line and agrees to a later date with him. They do not realize they have dates with the same Patrick until later, when they see him with another girl -- Two men and a wardrobe: A fantasy-parable without commentary about the cost of private lives in the modern world, as portrayed in the adventures of two men who emerge from the sea with a dilapidated old-fashioned wardrobe -- Les Mistons: Focuses on the fantasies and exploits of five adolescent boys awakening to adult emotions who follow and torment two lovers. The hearts of the age: Made by Welles at the age of 19, intended as a parody of the surrealist movement. Welles appears as the figure of death -- Rien que les heures: An impressionistic study of Paris and its inhabitants -- The fat and the lean: A pantomised parable which satirizes man's desire to dominate other men -- N.U.: Nettezza urbana: Documents one aspect of city life that is often taken for granted as it shows street cleaners in Rome as they go about their daily work. VHS 5222

F for fake [videorecording] / SACI ; Les Films de L'Astrophore ; Janus Films Und Fernsehen. Ve´rite´s et mensonges. [S.l.] . [1993?], 1975. 1 videocassette (98 min.) : sd., col. ; 1/2 in. Last full length film made by Welles. Experimental film done in a pseudo-documentary style that deals with lies and artistic charlatanism (fakes, forgery and swindling) as it demonstrates the elusive nature of authorship and truth. Film mixes fiction and documentary as it re-creates events that never happened and presents interviews with real people and with fictitious characters - there is, for example, a bogus encounter with the artist Pablo Picasso, a Picasso forger (Elmyr de Hory) and his confident (and biographer) Clifford Irving. VHS 4874

Falstaff [videorecording] = (Chimes at midnight) = [Campanadas a medianoche] / Internacional Films Española ; Alpine Films. Chimes at midnight : (Falstaff) Campanadas a medianoche. New York . 1966. 1 videocassette (115 min.) : sd., b&w ; 1/2 in. Story of the friendship between the bohemian, boisterous Falstaff and the young Prince Hal, the future King of England. It dramatizes the betrayal of that friendship, and Falstaff's disillusionment when the prince does become king. VHS 2671

The immortal story [videorecording] = [Histoire Immortelle] / co-production of O.R.T.F. ; Albina Films. Histoire Immortelle. Sandy Hook, CT . 1998. 1 videocassette (57 min.) : sd., col. ; 1/2 in. Mr. Clay (Wells), a wealthy American merchant living in Macao, is told the archetypal sailor's fairy tale of a rich old man who hires a young sailor to make his wife pregnant. Mr. Clay decides, for one sailor at least, to make the story true. He hires a woman (Moreau) to play his "wife," recruits a young sailor (Coggio), and then watches the romance develop only to be shocked when the sailor vows never to tell the tale for "who in the world would believe me if I told it?" VHS 5450

It's all true [videorecording] / Paramount Pictures ; Les Films Balenciaga production in association with the French Ministry of Education and Culture/French National Center for Cinematography ... [et al.]. Hollywood, CA . c1994. 1 videocassette (86 min.) : sd., col. with b&w sequences ; 1/2 in. Twenty-five-year-old Orson Welles went to Brazil for RKO to make a film for the United States' anti-Nazi "Good Neighbor Policy." He masterminded a complex film that featured three separate stories, each vividly depicting the charm, drama and politics of South American culture. During the course of filming, Welles encountered hazardous locations and an ever-changing cast of studio executives at RKO. After months of shooting, the studio suddenly pulled the plug and shelved the ambitious project. VHS 6148

Journey into fear [videorecording] / Mercury Productions ; RKO Radio Pictures. Hollywood, Calif. c1987. 1 videocassette (69 min.) : sd., b&w ; 1/2 in. Howard Graham (Joseph Cotton) is an American naval engineer trying to return to the States with his wife. But the Nazi agents trailing him have a detour in mind -- murder! Stalked like a wild animal, Graham has only a passenger list of mysterious characters to turn to for Help. VHS 6207

King Lear [videorecording] / Film Forum. [Carson City, Nev.?] : International Film Forum, c1989. 1 videocassette (90 min.) : sd., b&w ; 1/2 in. A foolish king who divides his realm between two ungrateful daughters, while disinheriting his youngest daughter who loves him truly VHS 2807

The Lady from Shanghai [videorecording] / Columbia Pictures Corporation. Burbank, CA . c1991. 1 videocassette (87 min.) : sd., b&w ; 1/2 in. Mike O'Hara (Wells) is drawn into a dangerous web of intrigue when he is hired by Elsa Bannister (Hayworth) to work on a yacht belonging to her husband, crippled millionaire Arthur Bannister (Sloane). During the voyage, a love affair grows between O'Hara and Elsa, but they are watched by Bannister's hired detective. Through a chain of unusual events, both the detective and George Grisby (Anders), Bannister's law partner, are murdered - and O'Hara is accused. After being found guilty in court, O'Hara escapes to find the real murderer. VHS 3540

Macbeth [videorecording] / Republic Pictures ; Mercury Productions ; Literary Classics Productions. Los Angeles, Calif. c1985. 1 videocassette (89 min.) : sd., b&w ; 1/2 in. A dramatization of William Shakespeare's tragedy. In this classic story of murder, witchcraft, and revenge, Macbeth, driven by overwhelming ambition and an unscrupulous wife murders the King of Scotland and claims the throne for himself. He begins a violent reign of terror and execution in a desperate attempt to maintain his power. Haunted by ghosts and vexed by witches, he and his wife rapidly descend into the depths of madness and paranoia as the weight of their crimes proves their undoing.VHS 223 and VDD 149

The Magnificent Ambersons [videorecording] / Mercury Productions ; RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. [Los Angeles, Calif.] : RKO Home Video, [c1985] Film classics series. 1 videocassette (88 min.) : sd., b&w ; 1/2 in. Set in the early years of the 20th century as the rapidly expanding automobile age was bringing prosperity to a new industrial middle class, film is a portrait of the decline of an aristocratic Midwestern family unwilling to change its way of life. Much of Welles' most imaginative work appears here: the brilliant scene setting, the sleigh ride, and the famous ball sequence in the Amberson mansion. VHS 194 and VDD 16

Mr. Arkadin [videorecording] / Film Organization S.A. [Filmorsa] ; Cervantes Film ; Sevilla-Films Studios (Madrid) ; Mercury Production. Confidential report Mister Arkadin. Brooklyn, N.Y. c1998. 1 videocassette (100 min.) : sd, b&w ; 1/2 in. Set in Spain, film tells the story of Gregory Arkadin (Wells), a reclusive billionaire who, faking a case of amnesia, hires Guy Van Stratten, a young adventurer and con man, to research his life and compile a confidential report with special emphasis on how he achieved his power and wealth. As the inquiries begin unraveling Arkadin's sordid history, the young man realizes he's being used to keep the truth from Arkadin's daughter and (as those that he has talked to are killed) that his own life is in danger. VHS 5451

Orson Welles' Ghost story [videorecording] / Gordon Films, Inc. Ghost story Return to Glennascaul. [United States] . 1994. 1 videocassette (ca. 30 min.) : sd., col. ; 1/2 in. Peter Bogdanovich provides a brief introduction to the newly restored version of Orson Welles' short film "Return to Glennascaul." In Ireland, Welles (as himself), is taking a break from the filming of "Othello," when he offers a ride home to a man whose car has broken down. The man tells him a strange tale of two mysterious women he picked up one night as they were walking on the same road. He drives them to their beautiful home (where the word "Glennascaul" is etched on glass above the front door) and he joins them for a cup of tea. Later, when he goes back, he finds their house a decayed ruin and learns the women died years ago. VHS 4864

Orson Welles [videorecording] / [presented by Camera Three]. Kent, CT . IL : distributed by Facets Video], c1997. 1 videocassette (60 min.) : sd., b&w ; 1/2 in. Welles was still alive and trying to get his stalled career going again when this 1967 documentary was produced. It traces his life and creativity, with emphasis on his high ideals, the literary influences on his enthusiasms, radio productions like War of the Worlds, his years with the Work Projects Administration and John Houseman, experiments for the theater with colleagues like Peter Brook, and his budget struggles to go his own way in an entertainment business grown steadily more wary of his unconventional methods. With a wealth of photographs, and clips from some of his less well-known films, including A Man for All Seasons, Falstaff, The Trial and Touch of Evil. VHS 6110

Othello [videorecording] / Mercury Productions. [United States] . 1993. 1 videocassette (93 min.) : sd., b&w ; 1/2 in. The valiant warrior Othello has secretly married the beautiful Desdemona, but their happiness is short-lived. Iago, an army ensign, swears to avenge Roderigo, whom Othello has promoted to lieutenant over him -- and the jilted soldier devises "a net shall enmesh them all." The events that follow form a classic plot of revenge and deceit. Roderigo's oath is just the first in a bloody chain of events that seals the downfall of many lives. VHS 2078

Radio history [videorecording] / produced in cooperation with the College Division of the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. and Knowledge TV ; Jones International, Ltd. Princeton, NJ : Films for the Humanities & Sciences, c1998. Media waves, an introduction to mass communication The story of film, TV and media. 1 videocassette (28 min.) : sd., col. with b&w sequences ; 1/2 in. This program tells the complete story of radio, from its roots in Marconi's wireless telegraphy and the invention of the vacuum tube by Lee De Forest, to its heyday in the 1930s and subsequent upstaging by television in a battle for audience-share. Academic experts discuss the impact of early innovators like Frank Conrad of station KDKA, Pittsburgh, who broadcasted from his garage; the power of personalities to influence mass audiences, citing FDR, Edward R. Murrow, and Orson Welles as examples; radio's role as a vehicle for delivering mass audiences to advertisers; and the superior ability of the radio to entertain and actively engage listeners in the "theater of the mind." VHS 6135

The stranger [videorecording] / RKO Radio Pictures ; Haig Corp. ; International Pictures, Inc. Piscataway, N.J. c1994. 1 videocassette (95 min.) : sd., b&w ; 1/2 in. Orson Welles plays an escaped Nazi war criminal named Franz Kindler who flees to the U.S. after the war under the assumed name of Charles Rankin. Now he is posing as a college professor in a small Connecticut town and is engaged to the unsuspecting daughter of a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. It looks like he has escaped his past until federal agent Wilson (Edward G. Robinson) follows the trail of ex-Nazi Konrad Meinike (Shayne). Meinike has been allowed to escape from a German war crimes prison in hopes he will lead the good guys to bad guy Kindler who is suspected of planning to revive the Third Reich. VHS 5006

Touch of evil [videorecording] / Universal Pictures. Universal City, Calif. : MCA Home Video, Inc., 1991. 1 videodisc (108 min.) : sd., b&w ; 12 in. An elaborate mystery involving a corrupt police official in a squalid town on the Mexican border and a murder that ensnares a narcotics agent and his wife. Extended play CLV laser disc. Welles, Orson, 1915- Zugsmith, Albert. Mancini, Henry. Masterson, Whit. Badge of evil. Heston, Charlton. Leigh, Janet. Dietrich, Marlene. Calleia, Joseph, 1897-1976. Tamiroff, Akim, 1899-1972. Gabor, Zsa Zsa. Universal Pictures Company. VDD 75

The tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice [videorecording] / Mercury Productions ; produced, directed and written by Orson Welles. Chatsworth, Calif. 1999. 1 videodisc (93 min.) : sd., b&w ; 4 3/4 in. A great man's vanity is manipulated by a jealous aide to bring about his downfall. Betrayal, deception and murder end the friendship between Othello, Desdemona, and Iago. DVD 74

The Trial [videorecording] / Paris-Europa Films (Paris), HISA Films (Munich), and FICIT Films (Rome) ; Hisa-Films. Los Angeles, Calif. c1994. 1 videocassette (118 min.) : sd., b&w ; 1/2 in. A symbolistic study of the tyranny of modern social systems. Portrays the experiences of a young man who is mysteriously arrested by agents of the police for an unspecific crime and is prepared for questioning and trial. VHS 3973

Working with Orson Welles [videorecording] / Grand Am, Ltd. ; produced by Sidney Niekerk ; program conceived by Gary Graver. Chatsworth, CA . c1999. 1 videodisc (94 min.) : sd., col. & b&w ; 4 3/4 in. The story of the Welle's project, the never finished "The other side of the wind," with clips of Welles and interviews with his friends and associates, including many technicians and actors who were eager to be in any project that was attached to Welles. DVD 71