{"id":4406,"date":"2012-03-06T03:13:41","date_gmt":"2012-03-06T08:13:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mondomark.com\/wordpress\/?p=2953"},"modified":"2012-03-06T03:13:41","modified_gmt":"2012-03-06T08:13:41","slug":"%e2%80%98swell-welles%e2%80%99-part-i-orson-welles%e2%80%99-magnificent-ambersons-1939-1942-and-2002-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=4406","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Swell Welles\u2019 Part I: Orson Welles\u2019 Magnificent Ambersons (1939, 1942, and 2002) & More!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The standard approach to tackling Orson Welles on home video is to start from scratch and begin with his first film, Citizen Kane<\/strong> (1941), but I\u2019ve decided to begin this review wave of Wellesian material on DVD and Blu-ray with his 1942 adaptation of Booth Tarkington\u2019s The Magnificent Ambersons<\/strong>, partly because it\u2019s so imperfect<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s step aside for a moment.<\/p>\n

To claim Ambersons<\/strong> is one of the greatest films ever made is a bit rich, given it was recut, reshot, and released in a much shorter version than Welles had ever intended. It was perhaps the most significant act of studio butchery ever committed on a sound film without a director\u2019s approval, and a rather vindictive attempt by the studio\u2019s newest top-level production executives to get rid of a prima donna they feared would either bring them to ruin via esoteric depressing million dollar productions, or establish a new standard in directorial freedom; but Ambersons<\/strong> in its current state is a deeply problematic picture that begs more than a simple set of 500 words punctuated with \u2018it\u2019s a flawed masterpiece\u2019 or \u2018a\u00a0 hint of greatness that resonates even deeper with each viewing.\u2019<\/p>\n

When he began at RKO, Welles was the wonder boy of radio, gifted with a marvelous voice, genuine acting talent, a superb writer and dramatist, and a director with a kind of special arrogance that pushed him to break rules because his unusual choices, when compared to conventional studio hacks, were amazing and outlandish.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll get into the stylistic issues he codified in Kane<\/strong> \u2013 a film that remains amazingly contemporary in spite of being minted in 1941 \u2013 later, but right now, Part I is about Ambersons<\/strong>, which has been available on DVD overseas for a few years now (not to mention prior releases on VHS and laserdisc), but until late January, remained an Amazon.com exclusive deal if one bought Kane <\/strong>from the retailer.<\/p>\n

Now widely available as a standalone DVD, Warner Home Video\u2019s release features a bare bones transfer, but that\u2019s okay; the lack of extras ignited a search for related review materials.\u00a0What\u2019s been uploaded is a lengthy comparative essay of sorts in which Welles\u2019 1942 film is examined in its 88 mins. release version and augmented by observations from Robert Carringer\u2019s commentary track from Criterion\u2019s 1986 laserdisc; then contrasted with A&E 2002 filming of Welles\u2019 original shooting script; and finally closing notes on the 1939 Mercury Theatre radio broadcast. That\u2019s the first review<\/a> [M<\/a>].<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>To contextualize Welles\u2019 dilemma in 1942 \u2013 writing, directing, producing Ambersons<\/strong>, and starring & producing Journey into Fear<\/strong> \u2013 is a review of It\u2019s All True: Based on an Unfinished Film by Orson Welles<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] (1993), the documentary about the documentary Welles was working on in Brazil while Ambersons <\/strong>was being hacked up.<\/p>\n

Paramount released the film as a bare bones DVD in 2004, and the doc contains plenty of rare footage and interviews, plus the lone surviving (and most complete) segment of three tales that were supposed to make up \u201cIt\u2019s All True.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part II of ‘Swell Welles ‘will include a review of Citizen Kane<\/strong> and a handful of related films, and later parts will include Journey into Fear<\/strong>, and Touch of Evil <\/strong>(1958), the latter available only in England on Blu-ray because Universal in North America perhaps believes Welles’ noir classic is undeserving of a Blu-ray release during their 100 year anniversary.<\/p>\n

Really? But Waterworld<\/strong> is<\/em>?<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark R. Hasan<\/strong>, Editor
\nKQEK.com <\/strong>( Main Site<\/a> \/ Mobile Site<\/a> )<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Part 1 of ‘Swell Welles,’ a lengthy comparartive essay on Orson Welles’ Magnificent Ambersons (Warner Home Video) – the 1939 radio show, the 1942 RKO film, and the 2002 A&E teleplay – plus the 1993 documentary It\u2019s All True: Based on an Unfinished Film by Orson Welles (Paramount).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[1138,1137,1139,4212],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-194","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4406"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4406\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}