Orson Welles
A three day period of peace is decimated by the howling wind and the stinging rain of a senile and wizened Fergal Coen who foretells a bad omen that will plague Highfields; a foreboding and brooding force that can make Satan brown his undergarments. The inhabitants of Highfields dismiss Fergal's foretelling. Their ignorance comes at a cost.
A documentary film detailing the hunt for the holy grail of cinema: the legendary lost director's cut of Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons.
The portrait of the last cowboy Hollywood legend dives into the 65 years of an extraordinary career in Hollywood, highlighted iconic films like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, as well as Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River and Gran Torino all the way to Cry Macho in 2021. It is no small task to cover more than 60 years of cinema history, especially when it is trying to surveyed with such breadth and diversity: TV star, international star, controversial icon, contested director, filmmaker with a capital F, Eastwood has been through it all, experienced it all, and it is first of all this romantic trajectory, this true American pastoral that the documentary wants to tell with all the passion it possibly can.
Captures a 1970 meeting between the movie industry titan Orson Welles and the then-rising star Dennis Hopper, who had just made Easy Rider.
The raft man Manuel Jacaré was swallowed by the sea when Orson Welles was filming It's All True in 1942. The fact evokes memories of the dictatorship of the Estado Novo, of World War II, of Ceará fishermen's struggle for labor rights and housing in their traditional space - target of real estate speculation.
An essay on how could Welles' Touch of Evil and his story about the border between USA and Mexico influence Trump's imagination.
A Roaring Twenties escapade about a small-time crook turned vaudeville theater owner.
A remake of the Orson Welles film The Other Side of the Wind, it evokes the rascality of the Our Gang comedies, and it probes the cliché: "Is the journey more important than the destination?"
Surrounded by fans and skeptics, grizzled director J.J. "Jake" Hannaford returns from years abroad in Europe to a changed Hollywood, where he attempts to make his innovative comeback film.
Orson Welles trained as an artist before he become an actor and director, and continued to draw and paint throughout his career - character sketches, storyboards, set designs, pictures of the people and places that inspired him. These artworks are a sketchbook of his life, and most have never been seen outside his family and close friends. For the first time, award-winning director Mark Cousins has been granted access to this treasure trove of imagery, to make a film about what he finds there - the story of Welles' visual thinking, never before told. An exclusive new perspective on one of the 20th century's greatest creative figures, whose art and life continue to fascinate audiences today.
In the final 15 years of the life of legendary director Orson Welles he pins his Hollywood comeback hopes on the film "The Other Side of the Wind".
The Magic History Of Cinema is an international documentary showcasing magic and movies long continued history and explores how the origins of cinema are closely linked to the conjurors and illusionists of the early 20th century and how those ties continue with todays top filmmakers and magicians.
A short film directed by Orson Welles based on William Shakespeare's play of the same name. While actually completed, it is frequently cited as an unfinished film, though better described as a partially lost film due to the loss of film negatives. A restored and reconstructed version of the film, made by using the original script and composer's notes, premiered at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival alongside Othello as part of the pre-opening ceremonies.
Misunderstood genius, superstar, Hollywood’s fallen angel... Orson Welles left his indelible mark on the 20th century.
A lonely widower stalks his deserted mansion, gloomily contemplating ending his own life. His last word may hold the key to what has sent him down this dark path.
The extraordinary life of Orson Welles (1915-1985), an enigma of Hollywood, an irreducible independent creator: a musical prodigy, an excellent painter, a master of theater and radio, a modern Shakespeare, a magician who was always searching for a new trick to surprise his audience, a romantic and legendary figure who lived only for cinema.
This film was not intended to stand by itself, but was designed as the cinematic aspect of Welles' Mercury Theatre stage presentation of William Gillette's 1894 comedy about a New York playboy who flees from the violent husband of his mistress and borrows the identity of a plantation owner in Cuba who is expecting the arrival of a mail order bride. The film component of the performance was ultimately never screened due to the absence of projection facilities at the venue. Long-believed to be lost, a workprint was discovered in 2008 and the film had its premiere in 2013.
Long-awaited sequel of The Born Defecation (2012). In his spare time Born entertains himself identifying various erotic videos, found without credits on the Internet. What seemed to be just another video in the line happens to be a difficult puzzle...
Abby and Griff, driving into Los Angeles, find themselves in possession of a body and a bag of money. Pursued by the henchman of the mysterious and powerful Mr Colpeper, they enter a downward spiral of futile reaction and bad faith.
Matt Sloan, Aaron Yonda, and other incredible improv-comedians get drunk while playing board games.
Four years in the lives of five high school students and the trials and tribulations they face while falling in love and growing up.
A vintage interview captures the artist reflecting on Citizen Kane and expounding on directing, acting and writing and his desire to bestow a valuable legacy upon his profession. The scene is a hotel room in Paris. The year 1960. The star, Orson Welles. This is a pearl of cinematic memorabilia.
A couple's honeymoon trip aboard a yacht leads to a claustrophobic drama when another vessel runs into their voyage, apparently drifting. Shot in a piecemeal fashion between 1966 and 1969 and plagued with production problems, this film never completed principal photography and never entered post-production. The original negatives are now considered to be lost, and the film only exists in two incomplete workprint versions (one color and one black-and-white), which have received isolated public screenings since 2007.
How the cinema industry does not respect the author's work as it was conceived, how manipulates the motion pictures in order to make them easier to watch by an undemanding audience or even how mutilates them to adapt the original formats and runtimes to the restrictive frame of the television screen and the abusive requirements of advertising. (Followed by “Filmmakers in Action.”)
A haunting visual adaptation of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre radio performance. We are introduced to Ronald Adams: a man who, during a cross country trip, is slowly driven to madness.
An unprecedented film by Academy Award winner Herbert Kline detailing the revolution in art instigated by Cezanne that became Modern Art. Features rare and unique footage of great modern artists in their studios creating and explaining their work with narration and illuminating commentary by Orson Welles. Visits the great collection at The Louvre, the Guggenheim and The Museum of Modern Art. Illustrates the growth and dynamism of Modern Art and each stylistic development: Impressionism, Expressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism, Dada, Surrealism, Pop Art and Conceptualism.
Fulton and Pepe's 2000 documentary captures Terry Gilliam's attempt to get The Man Who Killed Don Quixote off the ground. Back injuries, freakish storms, and more zoom in to sabotage the project (which has never been resurrected).
The spoiled rotten and utterly unlikable rich kid George Amberson becomes horrified when his recently widowed mother rekindles her relationship with the wealthy Eugene Morgan, who she left decades earlier in order to marry George's father. As George struggles to sabotage his mother's new romance, he must deal with his own romantic feelings for Morgan's daughter and the consequences of his meddling as his once great family falls into ruin due to his machinations...
What if other life was out there? Join us as we try to answer that most-asked question.l With millions of stars the possibility is more than that, it is a very high probability! Follow Pioneer 10 as is flies by our largest planet, the massive giant Jupiter, and learn the message Pioneer 10 carries as it leaves our solar system.. just in case!
A Huey P. Newton Story is a 2001 film directed by Spike Lee. It is a filmed performance of Roger Guenveur Smith's one-man show of the same name. Smith sits in a chair on a stage and tells about the past, mostly dealing with Huey P. Newton's life and times.
Moby Dick is an unfinished film by Orson Welles, filmed in 1971. It is not to be confused with the incomplete (and now lost) 1955 film Welles made of his meta-play Moby Dick—Rehearsed, or with Moby Dick (1956 film), in which Welles played a supporting role. The film consists of readings by Welles from the book Moby Dick, shot against a blue background with various optical illusions to give the impression of being at sea. It was made during a break in the filming of The Other Side of the Wind. There is some ambiguity about what Welles intended to do with the footage, and how he was going to compile it. It remained unedited in his lifetime.
In 1956, Orson Welles directed 'Tragedy of Lurs', an episode of the television series 'Around the World' that was inspired by the murder of a British family near the Dominici farm. The film was unfinished, but the French director Christophe Cognet recovered his materials and reconstructed the documentary.
Lon Chaney, the silent movie star and makeup artist, renowned for his various characterizations and celebrated for his horror films, becomes the subject of this documentary..
Blake Pellarin is on the campaign trail to become president of the United States. While making a stop in St. Louis, a chance encounter brings his past back to haunt him.
An Englishman with amnesia tries to discover why he is at the center of a Latin American coup.
A film essay about Brazil discovered through Orson Welles' eyes during the shooting of It's All True.
A shot-for-shot remake of Orson Welles first effort at cinema, filmed entirely on New Year's Eve 1996 in downtown Providence, Rhode Island.
George Hickenlooper filmed five pages (two scenes) from Orson Welles' screenplay of "The Big Brass Ring" in 1997 in the hope of attracting interest in the project. The feature film version was released in 1999.
"Portraits and excerpts from Brazilian films from all times. Actors, directors and images that affirm cinema."
Orson Welles' archives of unfinished/never released movies and the last years of his life from the perspective of Oja Kodar (life and artistic partner of Orson Welles in his last years).
Documentary about the battle between Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst over Welles' Citizen Kane (1941). Features interviews with Welles' and Hearst's co-workers also as a relative complete bio of Hearst.
A documentary about Orson Welles's unfinished three-part film about South America.
"Working with Orson Welles" is a low-budget production put together by Gary Graver, who worked as a cameraman for Welles in the last 15 years of his life.
George Abitbol, the classiest man in the world, dies tragically during a cruise. With his last breath, he whispers: “Shitty world.” The director of an American newspaper, wondering about the meaning of these intriguing final words, asks his three best investigators, Dave, Peter and Steven, to solve the mystery… (16 French actors dub scenes from various Warner Bros. films to create a parody of “Citizen Kane,” 1941.)
Don Quijote de Orson Welles is a 1992 cut of Orson Welles's unfinished Don Quixote, edited by director Jesús Franco. Franco had collaborated previously with Welles and was asked to create a finished version of Welles's Quixote footage.
A two-and-a-half hour documentary retrospective on the career of Orson Welles.
During a party at movie director Danny's home, a group of friends and actors people are reunited to converse about love and relationship. Orson Welles is the "judge" of these conversations.
The Autobots must stop a colossal planet-consuming robot who goes after the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. At the same time, they must defend themselves against an all-out attack from the Decepticons.
A dramatization of the heroic jangada voyage, from Fortaleza to Rio de Janeiro, undertaken by four impoverished fishermen to file grievances in person to their President.
This documentary examines the dozens of Yiddish-language talking films made in the United States and Europe between the release of The Jazz Singer in 1927 and the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939.
Orson Welles was a big fan of magic and in this television broadcast develops a number of traditional tricks
Neil Hollander sailed a ten-meter sailboat nearly 25,000 miles meeting and working alongside those men who still earned their livings using sailboats. This book recalls the authors' experiences with eight surviving craft, all representative of distinct cultures or geographic locations.
In this three-minute short, Welles sits in his chair behind his typewriter where he sends a message out to his dying friend Bill Cronshaw. In the short, Welles reads a passage from the journal of Charles Lindbergh.
Tucked away in his castle, a hypochondriac inventor plays generous host to a revolving cast of wacky guests. But to pay off his mounting debts, he must sell either a powerful businessman or a rich gypsy on his latest creation: a laser skywriter.
One million people. One voice: stop the nuclear arms race. The largest peace demonstration in history, a magical day when even the police were on the side of the marchers.
Burt, a clever ex-con, has changed his identity and has managed to land a job as a deputy in small town in upstate New York. On the 4th of July, while the drunken Sheriff Paisley is busy with the local parade and festivities, Burt quietly steals a million dollars in cash from the cellar safe in the local rich old widow's house. Unsuspected, Burt makes plans to live the rest of his life in the lap of luxury in a far off place with his attractive girlfriend, local hash house waitress Jeanette. But when a crisis of conscience hits him like a wave of ice cold water, he starts to think twice about his dastardly deed, and how that purloining of the old lady's money is wrongly affecting his friends as well as innocent locals. But will Burt do the right thing?
The planning and implementation of the first flight to the moon, narrated by Orson Welles.
In March 1982, two wildlife photographers became stranded on South Georgia Island in the southern Atlantic Ocean during the Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina.
On april 24 1982 when Orson Welles was invited to Paris to receive the Légion d'honneur from François Mitterand a lively filmed interview took place in the french Cinémathèque.
The eleventh AFI Life Achievement award is given to John Huston.
A baby sitter is stuck watching over a young brat on Halloween night who keeps playing vicious pranks on her. To add to her trouble the boy's deranged father has escaped from an asylum and is planning on making a visit.
Footage shot for Orson Welles' unfinished and unreleased film project, edited into a short documentary.
Broadcast live via satellite around the world on January 31 1982, this special produced by the US Department of Information protesting the then recent imposition of martial law in Poland
The Dreamers is an unfinished and unreleased film project directed and produced between 1980 and 1982 by Orson Welles, based on the short story by Karen Blixen. Footage shot for Orson Welles' unfinished and unreleased film project, edited into a short documentary.
The famed dancer encounters various characters in a busy day at work on a movie studio lot.
Orson Welles explains the creation process of a unique motion picture, a first of its kind, with contributions from the diverse range of worldwide talents who made it possible.
Biography Documentary hosted by Leslie Megahey, published by BBC broadcasted as part of BBC Arena series in 1982 - English narration Two-part film profile of Orson Welles, looking at his life and career in theatre, radio and particularly film. Part 1. With Jeanne Moreau, John Huston, Peter Bogdanovitch, Robert Wise, Charlton Heston, and a detailed interview with Welles himself. This part deals with his work up to Touch of Evil. Part 2. Second of a two-part profile of Orson Welles, looking at films including The Trial, Chimes at Midnight, The Immortal Story and F for Fake and discussing his many unfinished projects, including The Other Side of the Wind and Don Quixote.
A rich, beautiful couple give birth to deformed alien twins who, when their heads are together, are the smartest kids on the planet.
Hosted by Orson Welles, this documentary utilizes a grab bag of dramatized scenes, stock footage, TV news clips and interviews to ask: Did 16th century French astrologer and physician Nostradamus actually predict such events as the fall of King Louis XVI, the rise of Napoleon, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy? And are there prophecies that have yet to come true?
An uproarious version of history that proves nothing is sacred – not even the Roman Empire, the French Revolution and the Spanish Inquisition.
In 1981, Welles gave a 90-minute question-and-answer session at the University of Southern California after a screening of The Trial. He had his cinematographer Gary Graver film the session with a view to editing highlights of the footage into the projected film. Graver observed, "A lot of people were there in the audience that day who are successful filmmakers now",[1] as well as several noted film critics such as Joseph McBride and Todd McCarthy.[2] However, Welles never got round to editing the raw footage. Its only use in Welles' lifetime was by BBC journalist Leslie Megahy for his 1982 Arena documentary on Welles; specifically, the documentary features a young man asking Welles whether he would agree he has been persecuted by The Establishment and the capitalist system, and Welles being somewhat bemused by the question.
Enthralled with tales of the Great North Forest conveyed to him by friendly carrier pigeon Pippo, young chipmunk Glikko leaves the safety of his comfortable cage to explore the world. Stars Jim Backus and Orson Welles.
Living on the edge of the woods, a young boy (Joseph Cory) dedicates himself to finding a magical rock. Narrated by Orson Welles.
Life and times of Nikola Tesla, famous scientist whose inventions were stolen, but whose greatest contribution to mankind remain a mystery to this day.
Focuses on the performance of various elite athletes during the PanAmerican Games held in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1979. Athletes showcased in the documentary include USA team swimmer of Puerto Rican origin Jesse Vassallo; legendary Cuban track and field athlete Alberto Juantorena; Mexican diver Carlos Girón; American diver Greg Louganis; and the Puerto Rico national basketball team, among others. At the end of the film, the athletes expressed their hopes of being "a step away" from the 1980 Olympics Games; however, these hopes were shattered by the political crisis and the eventual USA-led boycott to the Olympic Games held in Moscow in 1980.
The Late, Great Planet Earth is the title of a best-selling 1970 book co-authored by Hal Lindsey and Carole C. Carlson, and first published by Zondervan. The book was adapted in 1979 into a movie. The Late, Great Planet Earth is a treatment of literalist, premillennial, dispensational eschatology. As such, it compared end-time prophecies in the Bible with then-current events in an attempt to broadly predict future scenarios leading to the rapture of believers before the tribulation and Second Coming of Christ to establish his thousand-year (i.e. millennial) Kingdom on Earth.
A Hollywood agent persuades Kermit the Frog to pursue a career in Hollywood. On his way there he meets his future muppet crew while being chased by the desperate owner of a frog-leg restaurant!
A documentary about surrealist artist Salvador Dali, narrated by Orson Welles.
A story of how World War II affected the lives of a German family and an American family, both of whom had sons and fathers fighting in the war.
Mysterious Castles of Clay is a 1978 film about a termite colony; filmed in Kenya by film-makers Joan and Alan Root, and narrated by Orson Welles.
Review the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb by Howard Carter in 1922 with archival photographs and reviews the highlights of the treasure trove with anecdotal stories and conjecture about the Boy King's life and death.
Speculative "documentary" about alien visitations on Earth, UFO sightings and how aliens are responsible for pretty much every conspiracy theory, paranormal encounter and cryptozoological sighting in history. (Also Jesus. No, really.)
For the Man of the Year Award, Welles recited Earl Fultz's poem there are no Heroes Anymore.
A movie made for closed circuit television to be played in Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Orson Welles explains the rules of various gaming,. Depictions of the talent and amenities at the hotels are also shown.
A Woman Called Moses is a television miniseries based on the life of Harriet Tubman, the escaped African American slave who helped to organize the Underground Railroad, and who led dozens of African Americans from enslavement in the Southern United States to freedom in the Northern states and Canada. Narrated by Orson Welles, the production was broadcast on the NBC television network on December 11 and 12 1978. Tubman was portrayed by Emmy Award winner and Academy Award nominee Cicely Tyson.
Filming Othello is a 1978 documentary film directed by and starring Orson Welles about the making of his award-winning 1952 production Othello. The film, which was produced for West German television, was the last completed feature film directed by Welles.
It's Christmas Eve 1944 in the small town of Bedford Falls, New York. A despondent and suicidal Mary Bailey Hatch is praying for guidance on what to do about an incident no fault of her own which threatens her name and the community standing of her longtime family business, the Bailey Building and Loan, which she took over after the passing of her father. What Mary does not know is that most in town, including her husband George Hatch and their children, are also praying for her. All the prayers are heard by Joseph, God's gatekeeper of prayers. As there are no other angels available on such a busy day, Joseph assigns Clara Oddbody, angel second class (i.e. she has yet to receive her wings), to Mary's case, which he reluctantly does as Clara has never been assigned a case on her own in the two hundred years she's been in heaven for good reason.
Orson Welles reads the poem especially for this film by Larry Jordan, which is dedicated to the late Wallace Berman, and is made possible by a grant from The National Endowment Of The Arts.
Explores the history of the woolen textile industry from earliest times until the present day.
A luxury liner carries Jewish refugees from Hitler's Germany in a desperate fight for survival.
An unreleased 9 minute trailer for F for Fake directed by Orson Welles as promotional reel for the film's American release.
A celebration of 50 years of NBC broadcasting in radio and television, since first going on the airwaves on 15 November 1926.
The Arts Project of the Work Projects Administration (1935-1942) was a USA government agency established to support writers, theater people, painters, sculptors, and photographers.
Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression.
Orson Welles — with contributions from scientists George Wald, Carl Sagan, and others — examines the possibility and implications of extraterrestrial life. In examining our perceptions of alien 'martians' from his "War of the Worlds" broadcast, to then-modern explorations of Mars, this film from NASA provides a unique glimpse at life on earth, and elsewhere in the universe.
Rikki is a young mongoose who is adopted by a human family after nearly drowning in the river. He returns the favour by protecting them from two murderous cobra.
Animator Robert Clampett presents a history of "Termite Terrace," the little shack on the Warner Brothers studio lot which in the 1930's and 1940's housed the animation unit which gave birth to Porky Pig, Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny. Includes color and black-and-white home-movie-type footage shot at the time showing such animation greats as Clampett, Tex Avery and Chuck Jones. Also featured are nine complete Warner cartoons.
Documents the lives of infamous fakers Elmyr de Hory and Clifford Irving. De Hory, who later committed suicide to avoid more prison time, made his name by selling forged works of art by painters like Picasso and Matisse. Irving was infamous for writing a fake autobiography of Howard Hughes. Welles moves between documentary and fiction as he examines the fundamental elements of fraud and the people who commit fraud at the expense of others.
Ten people are invited to a hotel for a weekend getaway by a Mr. U. N. Owen, who mysteriously isn't in attendance. When the group gets together for their first dinner, a record is played in which Mr. Owen accuses each guest of committing various unpunished crimes, which sets off a series of murders in the hotel.
1974 American documentary film directed by Herbert Kline, narrated by Orson Welles. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Tells the story of the Battle of Sutjeska which occurred in Nazi-occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1943.
An animated version of the Allegory of the Cave taken from Plato's Republic, book VII.
Orson Welles' Great Mysteries was a British television series The series was an anthology of different tales. Each episode was introduced by Orson Welles, who was the only regular actor in the series. In the opening titles, Welles would be shown in silhouette as he walked through a hallway towards the camera, smoking a cigar and outfitted in a broad-brimmed hat and a huge cloak, the outfit itself being a nod to his having provided the voice of The Shadow in the radio program. When he actually appeared on-screen to introduce the episodes, his face would be all that would be shown, in extreme close-up and very low lighting.
A young businessman goes to a magic expert to learn hardness and skill with his cynical and greedy collaborators. He becomes a very good tap dancer, but will he be able to get free of his old boss?
Young Jim Hawkins finds himself serving with pirate captain Long John Silver in search of a buccaneer's treasure, in this short adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale.
“Our modern technology has achieved a degree of sophistication beyond our wildest dreams. But this technology has exacted a pretty heavy price. We live in an age of anxiety, a time of stress. And with all our sophistication we are in fact, the victims of our own technological strength. We are the victims of shock … of future shock.” No, this isn’t a quote from a Huffington Post column on the Facebookization of modern communication. Nor is it pulled from an academic treatise on the phenomenologies of post-industrial existence. This statement was made by Orson Welles in the 1972 futurist documentary Future Shock, and, unlike some of the more dated elements of 1970s educational films, Future Shock remains shockingly current in verbalizing the concerns and anxieties that come along with rapid societal and technological change. (Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive)
Jeanne Moreau, filmed by Jacques Rozier, meets with Jerry Lewis, Barbet Schroeder and Orson Welles, among others.
Orson Welles plays the head of a witches' coven in the town of Lilith, where he needs the powers of Pamela Franklin to raise his son from the dead.
Lecturer and broadcaster Sheridan Whiteside has been invited to dinner at the home of a pompous small-town bigwig. But he stays rather longer than anyone expects.
Don Quixote is an unfinished film project produced, written and directed by Orson Welles. Principal photography took place between 1957 and 1969. Test footage was filmed as early as 1955, second-unit photography was done as late as 1972, and Welles was working on the film intermittently until his death in 1985.
A philosophy professor is investigating the sudden demise of one of his students, who had mental problems.
Uplifting modern day parable about mankind getting along together. Narrated by Orson Welles. Animation directed by Sam Weiss.
A young woman named Noah lives alone in New York. She is a disturbed flower child, who retreats into her past, yearning for lost innocence. She recalls her childhood, searching for a "safe place." As a child she met a magician in Central Park who presented her with magical objects: a levitating silver ball, a star ring, and a Noah's ark. She is romantically involved with two totally different men. Fred is practical but dull. Mitch is dynamic and sexy, her ideal fantasy partner. Neither man is able to totally fulfill her needs.
Malpertuis is the name of an old, rambling mansion which is in reality a labyrinth where characters from Greek mythology are imprisoned by the bedridden Cassavius (Welles). He manages to keep them (as well as his nephew and niece) prisoners even after his death, through a binding testament. As Jan, the nephew, (Carrière) unravels the mystery, he discovers that he cannot escape the house because Malpertuis is far more significant than he was led to believe.
Sentinels of Silence is a 1971 short documentary film on ancient Mexican civilizations. The film was directed and written by Mexican filmmaker Robert Amram, and is notable for being the first and only short film to win two Academy Awards.
This television commercial for Eastern Airlines, The Wings of Man (1971; narrated by Orson Welles), was, according to Fulton, "estimated to have been seen by over four hundred million people and is considered the longest running commercial in the history of television."
Drama describing the story of the building of Saint Peter's Cathedral, Vatican, Rome.
The world is divided into factions, on opposite sides of issues; each side is, of course, right. And so the gap between the people grows, until someone challenges the absolutist view of what's "right."
In October 1970, at his Hollywood home, Welles recorded voice-overs for short stories intended for use on special screens at the Sears chain stores. Numerous 16mm films were sent to Sears, but only one film was preserved; however, as it was not complete, it could not be used. In 2003, the Munich cinémathèque museum restored the film, which narrates a Ring Lardner short story. The missing parts were filled in from a radio play recorded in 1946.
A network of older spies from the West recruits a young intelligence officer with a photographic memory to accompany them on a mission inside Russia. They must recover a letter written by the CIA that promises American assistance to Russia if China gets the atomic bomb.
Documentary, narrated by Orson Welles, about the legendary race horse Nijinsky, one of the greatest and most successful race horses in history and after his retirement from the racetrack in 1970 an important sire of thoroughbred horses.
An Evening with Orson Welles is a series of six short films created in 1970 by Orson Welles, for the exclusive use of Sears, Roebuck & Co. Welles produced the recitations of popular stories for Sears's Avco Cartrivision machines, a pioneering home video system. Five of the films are regarded as lost; footage from one, The Golden Honeymoon, is known to exist.
After defeating France and imprisoning Napoleon on Elba, ending two decades of war, Europe is shocked to find Napoleon has escaped and has caused the French Army to defect from the King back to him. The best of the British generals, the Duke of Wellington, beat Napolean's best generals in Spain and Portugal, but now must beat Napoleon himself with an Anglo Allied army.
An account of the adventures of two sets of identical twins, badly scrambled at birth, on the eve of the French Revolution. One set is haughty and aristocratic, the other poor and somewhat dim. They find themselves involved in palace intrigues as history happens around them. Based, very loosely, on Dickens's "A Tale of Two Cities," Dumas's "The Corsican Brothers," etc.
Jeff Dillon decides to revisit the scenes of his impoverished youth, and learns sadly that "you can't go home again".
The devious general Cethegus plays the Byzantine and Gothic forces against each other for his own gain.
Mario, a young philanderer, receives 13 antique chairs in a bad state by inheritance and decides to sell off them to get some money. Afterwards he gets to know that one of them contains documents worth a lot of money. So he begins an adventurous trip to regain possession of the chair. On the way he meets many strange people who would like to help or to swindle him.
In January 1943 the German army, afraid of an Allied invasion of the Balkans, launched a great offensive against Yugoslav Partisans in Western Bosnia. The only way out for the Partisan forces and thousands of refugees was the bridge on the river Neretva.
Comedy adventure based on a Jules Verne novel about the ups and downs of jewel thieves in the wilds of Africa circa 1900. George Segal is the appealing hero-heel and Ursula Andress is visually stunning as the lady in the proceedings. Orson Welles has a small role.
"Around the World with Mike Todd" serves as a summarization of the Todd's career, and his role in producing 'Around the World in 80 Days'. Numerous behind-the-scenes footage from the film.
One Man Band, also known as London and Swinging London is an unfinished short film made by Orson Welles between 1968 and 1971. The film started life as a part of a 90-minute TV special for CBS, entitled Orson's Bag, consisting of Welles' 40-minute condensation of The Merchant of Venice, and assorted sketches around Europe. This was abandoned in 1969 when CBS withdrew its funding over Welles' long-running disputes with US authorities regarding his tax status, and Welles continued to fashion the footage in his own style.
In 1960s Paris, an American boxer stumbles upon an international fascist conspiracy that aims to create a new world order.
This classic Greek tale tells how a noble youth accidentally marries his own mother, kills his own father and ends up paying a terrible price for invoking the wrath of the Gods.
Excerpts and fragments from different interviews with Orson Welles making a statement to journalists in fluent French about his career and his conception of life.
An aged, wealthy trader plots with his servant to recreate a maritime tall tale, using a local woman and an unknown sailor as actors.
A Roman noble, Cethegus, tries to start a war, setting the Ostrogoths and their Queen, Amalasuntha, against the Byzantine Emperor Justinian; Cethegus wants to swoop in after they have destroyed each other and create a new Roman Empire from their combined kingdoms; however, he does not factor into his plans the vagaries of love and the personal integrity of the people in both kingdoms.
Alan, after quarreling with his girlfriend Sheila, becomes intrigued by Anna, a mysterious widow who's searching for a sailor she had known many years before. Alan and Anna begin the search on board a yacht bound for Greece, but they don't find the sailor. After a stop in Africa, Louis de Mozambique joins the party and suggests that the sailor may never have existed other than in Anna's mind.
The film was due to be a one-hour adaptation of an Isak Dinesen story of the same name, from her collection Winter's Tales (1942). It would have starred Oja Kodar as a young French aristocratic widow during the 1870 Franco-Prussian War.
Sir James Bond is called back out of retirement to stop SMERSH. In order to trick SMERSH, James thinks up the ultimate plan - that every agent will be named 'James Bond'. One of the Bonds, whose real name is Evelyn Tremble is sent to take on Le Chiffre in a game of baccarat, but all the Bonds get more than they can handle.
An epic presentation of the turbulent days leading to the Russian Revolution. Based on the classic work by John Reed, this important documentary makes use of rare footage and little-known information, stirringly narrated by Orson Welles.
Advertising golden boy Andrew Quint is fed up with his fabulously successful life. In very dramatic fashion, he quits his job to return to writing for a small literary magazine. He wants to leave his former life behind, going as far as saying good-bye to his wife and mistresses. He finds, however, that it's not so easy to escape the past.
Orson Welles pitches to potential investors his vision of a largely improvised bullfighter movie about an existential, James Dean type troubadour who sets himself apart from other matadors. In front of an audience of wealthy arts patrons, Welles pontificates on the state of cinema, the filmmaking process, and the art of bullfighting.
A depiction of the conflict between King Henry VIII of England and his Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas More, who refuses to swear the Oath of Supremacy declaring Henry Supreme Head of the Church in England.
Near the end of World War II, Gen. Dietrich von Choltitz receives orders to burn down Paris if it becomes clear the Allies are going to invade, or if he cannot maintain control of the city. After much contemplation Choltitz decides to ignore his orders, enraging the Germans and giving hope to various resistance factions that the city will be liberated. Choltitz, along with Swedish diplomat Raoul Nordling, helps a resistance leader organize his forces.
Orson Welles' unfinished adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic Treasure Island.
The career of Shakespeare's Sir John Falstaff as roistering companion to young Prince Hal, circa 1400-1413.
Young Marco Polo travels to China to help Kublai Khan fight against rebels, headed by his own son, with a new invention: gunpowder.
Life story of King Edward VIII from his birth until abdication in 1936. Talks of life in Victorian England, life in the Royal Navy, and travels as Prince of Wales. In-depth look into the abdication Crisis of 1936. Includes interviews with His Royal Highness The Duke of Windsor and The Duchess of Windsor. Also has many films of the former King from his early childhood through his short reign.
A biography of Winston Churchill, shown through re-creations and actual film footage and told by Orson Welles.
Wealthy passengers fogged in at London's Heathrow Airport fight to survive a variety of personal trials.
This consists of four short films by different directors. Rosselini's 'Chastity' deals with an attractive air hostess who receives the unwelcome attentions of a middle aged American. Godard's 'New World' illustrates a post-apocalypse world the same as the pre-apocalyptic one but for an enigmatic change in attitude in most people, including the central character's girlfriend. In Pasolini's 'La Ricotta' (Curd Cheese), a lavish film about the life of Jesus Christ is being made in a poor area. The impoverished people subject themselves to various indignities in the name of moviemaking in order to win a little food. The central character is hoisted up on a cross for filming, and dies there. Finally comes Gregoretti's 'Free Range Chicken' in which a family of the materialist culture inadvertantly illustrate the cynical, metallic voiced doctrine of a top sales theorist.
Made as part of the omnibus film RoGoPaG, this short is a hilarious religious farce. At the Cinecittá film studio a director (played by Orson Welles) begins shooting a film dealing with Christ's cruxification. Among the cast is a Jesus who has sex with boys in the bushes, and a peasant who plays one of the thieves crucified alongside Jesus - the actor literally dies on the cross, but not of inflicted wounds, but of indigestion caused by too much cheese.
Who is Jesus, and why does he impact all he meets? He is respected and reviled, emulated and accused, beloved, betrayed, and finally crucified. Yet that terrible fate would not be the end of the story.
Orson Welles in a specially commissioned film for Tempo examines bullfighting.
Orson Welles stars in this familiar Old Testament tale about the Philistines and the Israelites. When the Philistines attack, the Israelites are hopeless against the fierce giant Goliath and don't know what to do. King Saul takes the advice of the prophets and sends an adolescent shepherd, David, into battle to conquer the oversized Philistine. David is victorious and becomes the King of Israel.
Amidst intrigue and cannibalism, a mad and homosexual king, searching for immortality, finds himself caught up between two women. Based on William Shakespeare's unfinished play.
Two close friends, arrogantly and without remorse, kidnap and murder a young boy. They are caught and put to trial where their larger-than-life defense lawyer blames the Establishment for their actions.
Mark Conrad, a habitual drunk and troublemaker with a shady past, is expelled by Hong Kong police after one too many bar fights. He's sent to Macao on the Fa Tsan, a ferry owned by Captain Hart. Conrad's papers are out of order and Macao refuses him entry. Unable to go ashore, Conrad is a permanent passenger on the ferry with Hart, who detests him. It's all one long, lazy voyage for Conrad until one fateful trip when an encounter with a typhoon and pirates forces Conrad to choose between an aimless drifter's life and becoming a man again.
In this film, ten European countries (France, Italy, Greece, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and Turkey) are photographed from low-flying aircraft against an evocative soundtrack, revealing the features of their ancient capitals, historical heritage and remarkable landscapes in a new dimension.
1958 documentary film by Orson Welles. It was funded by ABC TV. Around 30 minutes long, it follows a similar style to F for Fake and The Fountain of Youth.
Einar, brutal son of Ragnar and future heir to his throne tangles with Eric, a wily slave, for the hand of a beautiful English maiden.
Ben Quick arrives in Frenchman's Bend, MS after being kicked out of another town for allegedly burning a barn for revenge. Will Varner owns just about everything in Frenchman's Bend and he hires Ben to work in his store. Will thinks his own son, Jody, who manages the store, lacks ambition and despairs of him getting his wife, Eula, pregnant. Will thinks his daughter, Clara, a schoolteacher, will never get married. He decides that Ben Quick might make a good husband for Clara to bring some new blood into the family
In Fort Lamy, French Equitorial Africa, idealist Morel launches a one-man campaign to preserve the African elephant from extinction, which he sees as the last remaining "roots of Heaven." At first, he finds only support from Minna, hostess of the town's only night club, who is in love with him, and a derelict ex-British Army Major, Forsythe. His crusade gains momentum and he is soon surrounded by an odd assortment of characters: Cy Sedgewick, an American TV commentator who becomes impressed and rallies world-wide support; a U.S. photographer, Abe Fields, who is sent to do a picture story on Morel and stays on to follow his ideals; Saint Denis, a government aide ordered to stop Morel; Orsini, a professional ivory hunter whose vested interests aren't the same as Morel's; and Waitari, leader of a Pan-African movement who follows Morel only for the personal good it will do his own campaign.
A couple is conflicted when they are offered a chance at youth. Based on John Collier's short story “Youth from Vienna”.
When a car bomb explodes on the American side of the U.S./Mexico border, Mexican drug enforcement agent Miguel Vargas begins his investigation, along with American police captain Hank Quinlan. When Vargas begins to suspect that Quinlan and his shady partner, Menzies, are planting evidence to frame an innocent man, his investigations into their possible corruption quickly put himself and his new bride, Susie, in jeopardy.
In effect, modern cow town Spurline is run by Virgil Renchler, owner of the Golden Empire Ranch. One night, two of Virgil's henchmen go a little too far and beat a "bracero" ranch hand to death. Faced with an obvious cover-up and opposition on every hand, sheriff Ben Sadler is goaded into investigating. His unlikely ally: Renchler's lovely, self-willed and overprotected daughter. Will Ben survive Renchler's wrath?
Shot in the mid-1950s in Mexico City, during the postproduction of Touch of Evil. It’s set in a movie theater, features child actress Patty McCormack as herself, Francesco Riguera as Quixote, and Akim Tamiroff (perhaps Welles’s favorite character actor) as Sancho Panza, and is fully edited by Welles.
In 1841, young Ishmael signs up for service abroad the Pequod, a whaler sailing out of New Bedford. The ship is under the command of Captain Ahab, a strict disciplinarian who exhorts his men to find Moby Dick, the great white whale. Ahab lost his his leg to that creature and is desperate for revenge. As the crew soon learns, he will stop at nothing to gain satisfaction.
Orson Welles and People was a 1956 pilot for a projected documentary series by Orson Welles, which is now believed to be lost. The pilot was a portrait of Alexandre Dumas, entitled "Camille, the Naked Lady and the Musketeers". It was filmed in just one day in October 1956, at a Poverty Row studio in Hollywood using the $5,000 fee that Welles had earned from his guest appearance on I Love Lucy. Welles used photo stills and drawings to illustrate the programme. He hoped that future episodes would profile Winston Churchill and P. T. Barnum.
Claiming that he doesn't know his own past, a rich man enlists an ex-con with an odd bit of detective work. Gregory Arkadin says he can't remember anything before the late 1920s, and convict Guy Van Stratten is happy to take the job of exploring his new acquaintance's life story. Guy's research turns up stunning details about his employer's past, and as his work seems linked to untimely deaths, the mystery surrounding Mr. Arkadin deepens.
Orson Welles' Sketch Book is a series of six short television commentaries by Orson Welles for the BBC in 1955. Written and directed by Welles, the 15-minute episodes present the filmmaker's commentaries on a range of subjects. Welles frequently draws from his own experiences and often illustrates the episodes with his own sketches.
Three stories of murder and the supernatural: A museum worker is introduced to a world behind the pictures he sees every day. When two lifelong friends fall in love with the same woman and she is killed, they are obvious suspects. Is their friendship strong enough for them to alibi each other? When a young politician is hurt by the arrogant Secretary for Foreign Affairs Lord Mountdrago, he uses Mountdrago's dreams to get revenge.
Moby Dick—Rehearsed is a two-act drama by Orson Welles. The play was staged June 16–July 9, 1955, at the Duke of York's Theatre in London, in a production directed by Welles. Welles used minimal stage design. The stage was bare, the actors appeared in contemporary street clothes, and the props were minimal. For example, brooms were used for oars, and a stick was used for a telescope. The actors provided the action, and the audience's imagination provided the ocean, costumes, and the whale. Welles filmed approximately 75 minutes of the production, with the original cast, at the Hackney Empire and Scala Theatres in London. He hoped to sell the film to Omnibus, the United States television series which had presented his live performance of King Lear in 1953; but Welles stopped shooting when he was disappointed in the results. The film is considered lost.
Orson Welles' 1955 documentary on the Basque Country and its people.
In 1955, Orson Welles directed and hosted a mini series for British television. He leads us through a few famous places of Europe with his inimitable touch. In Paris he introduces us to famous artists such as Juliette Gréco or Jean Cocteau who lived in the Saint Germain Des Pres quarter. In London we meet the Chelsea Pensioners, in Spain we attend a Madrid Bullfight and visit the Basque country (Basque Country 1&2). Somewhere between a home movie and a cinematic essay, these short films have been described by French critics as the missing link in Welles' work.
The film follows the life of Napoleon from his early life in Corsica to his death at Saint Helena. The film is notable for its use of location shooting for numerous scenes, especially at the French estates of Malmaison and Fontainebleau, the Palace of Versailles, and sites of Napoleonic battles including Austerlitz and Waterloo.
Major Jim "Lance" Lansing, an American ex-pilot of the U.S. Air Corps, returns to Scotland after the war and finds much trouble in the glen where he settles because of the high-handed activities of the local laird, Sandy Mengues, a wealthy South American who, with his daughter Marissa, has returned to the land of his forefathers. Led by Lansing, the people eventually prevail upon Mengues to restore peace to the glen, but not before a brief and unconvincing fight between Lansing and Dukes, the Mengues foreman. Written by Les Adams
Witty narration follows the history of Versailles Palace; founded by Louis XIII, enlarged by autocratic Louis XIV, whose personal affairs and amours, and those of his two successors, are followed in more detail to the start of the Revolution, after which the story is brought rapidly up to date. A huge cast plays mainly historical persons who appear briefly.
Orson Welles, taking a break from the filming of "Othello," is driving in the Irish countryside one night when he offers a ride to a man with car trouble. The man relays to Welles a strange tale of an encounter he had once before at the same isolated location.
Magic Trick is a short film made in 1953 by Orson Welles, for use in a show by magician Richard Himber. It involves Welles on-screen interacting with Himber off-screen as the two play a card trick, and would have been projected life-size (in black and white) during Himber's touring stage show in the 1950s.
When a wealthy business man is found dead reporter Philip Trent is sent to investigate. Against the police conclusions, he suspects the assumed suicide is really a murder, and becomes highly interested in the young widow and the dead man's private secretary.
Paolino is having an affair with Assunta Perella while her husband, Captain Perella, is away. Disaster strikes when Assunta becomes pregnant just as her husband suddenly returns. In order to avoid his wrath, Paolino plans for Captain Perella to spend the night with her so he thinks the child is his. [Based off Wikipedia]
When a secret marriage is planned between Othello, a Moorish general, and Desdemona, the daughter of Senator Brabantio, her old suitor Roderigo takes it hard. He allies himself with Iago, who has his own grudge against Othello, and the two conspire to bring Othello down. When their first plan, to have him accused of witchcraft, fails, they plant evidence intended to make him believe Desdemona is unfaithful.
Series of rushes about cripples appearing in a Bible epic who are cured by a starlet playing Saint Anne.
Two vignettes from the German tour of Welles's stage show. Lost
In the time of the crusades, a Saxon youth is forced to run away from England. He goes with his loyal retainer who brings along a British long bow. The two go all the way to China where they become involved in intrigues in the court of Kubla Kahn.
In 1500, Duke Cesare Borgia hopes to marry his sister (widowed by poison) to the heir apparent of Ferrara, which impedes his conquest of central Italy. On this delicate mission he sends Andrea Orsini, his sister's lover and nearly as unscrupulous as himself. En route, Orsini meets Camilla Verano, wife of the count of Citta' del Monte (Borgia's next intended conquest); and sentiment threatens to turn him against his deadly master, whom no one betrays twice...
In postwar Vienna, Austria, Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, arrives penniless as a guest of his childhood chum Harry Lime, only to learn he has died. Martins develops a conspiracy theory after learning of a "third man" present at the time of Harry's death, running into interference from British officer Major Calloway, and falling head-over-heels for Harry's grief-stricken lover, Anna.
The film is about an unemployed banker, Henri Verdoux, and his sociopathic methods of attaining income. While being both loyal and competent in his work, Verdoux has been laid-off. To make money for his wife and child, he marries wealthy widows and then murders them. His crime spree eventually works against him when two particular widows break his normal routine.
A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.
Beautiful half-breed Pearl Chavez becomes the ward of her dead father's first love and finds herself torn between her sons, one good and the other bad.
In 1918, Elizabeth MacDonald learns that her husband, John Andrew, has been killed in the war. Elizabeth bears John's son and eventually marries her kindly boss. Unknown to her, John has survived but is horribly disfigured and remains in Europe. Years later, on the eve of World War II, Elizabeth refuses to agree to her son's request to enlist and is stunned when an eerily familiar stranger named Kessler arrives from abroad and becomes involved.
This is a two-reel short appealing for financial support from Americans to assist in the feeding and resettlement in Palestine of 1.5 million European Jews who in 1946 were "incredibly, alive." Orson Welles' magnificent narration stirs one's soul.
A man working for the War Crimes Commission suspects that an important Nazi official has folded himself into a quaint Connecticut town.
Musical based on the 1873 Jules Verne novel, Around the World in Eighty Days, with a book by Orson Welles and music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It involves an around-the-world adventure by Phileas Fogg. The expensive musical extravaganza opened on Broadway in May 1946 but it closed after 75 performances. Welles shot motion picture sequences that were integrated into Around the World. The film is lost.
During World War II, all the studios put out "all-star" vehicles which featured virtually every star on the lot--often playing themselves--in musical numbers and comedy skits, and were meant as morale-boosters to both the troops overseas and the civilians at home. This was Universal Pictures' effort. It features everyone from Donald O'Connor to the Andrews Sisters to Orson Welles to W.C. Fields to George Raft to Marlene Dietrich, and dozens of other Universal players.
It's All True is an unfinished Orson Welles feature film comprising three stories about Latin America. "My Friend Bonito" was supervised by Welles and directed by Norman Foster in Mexico in 1941. "Carnaval" (also known as "The Story of Samba") and "Jangadeiros" (also known as "Four Men on a Raft") were directed by Welles in Brazil in 1942. It was to have been Welles's third film for RKO Radio Pictures, after Citizen Kane (1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). The project was a co-production of RKO and the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs that was later terminated by RKO.
An American ballistics expert in Turkey finds himself targeted by Nazi agents. Safe passage home by ship is arranged for him, but he soon discovers that his pursuers are also on board.
A multi-studio effort to show the newsreel audience the progress of the Hollywood war effort.
The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.
Newspaper magnate, Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-meaning, tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event.
A family setting out for a new life across the sea is shipwrecked on a deserted island. The family members collaborate to create a home for themselves in the jungle environment.
The Citizen Kane Trailer is a four-minute, self-contained "making of" featurette, made by Orson Welles, released in 1940 to promote the feature film Citizen Kane. Unlike standard theatrical trailers of the era, it did not feature a single second of footage of the actual film itself, but was a wholly original pseudo-documentary, considered by numerous film scholars such as Simon Callow, Joseph McBride and Jonathan Rosenbaum to be a standalone short film, rather than a conventional "trailer", and to represent an important stage in the development of Welles's directorial style.
In 1939, Orson Welles staged a version of "The Green Goddess" in New York, which was preceded by a short film prelude – this was two years before the release of his debut feature film, Citizen Kane. The footage is now believed lost.
A propaganda film made during the Spanish Civil War in support of the Republican government against the rebellion by Gen. Francisco Franco's forces who were backed by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The film would have been seen by those making it as a documentary.
A colonial scene in the U.S. An old lady sits astride a bell while a man in blackface, wig, and livery pulls the bell rope. From an upper door emerges an old man, dressed as a dandy, who tips his hat to the woman as he walks down stairs grinning. Others leave the same door and walk down the same stairs: a shabby man, a cop, and, several times, the same dandy. The man in blackface hangs himself; the dandy continues to smile. A bell tolls, a grave beckons. In the dark, the dandy plays the piano. Is he Death? (IMDb) The Hearts of Age is the first film made by Orson Welles. The film is an eight-minute short, which he co-directed with William Vance in 1934. The film stars Welles' first wife, Virginia Nicholson, as well as Welles himself. He made the film while attending the Todd School for Boys, in Woodstock, Illinois, at the age of 19.
Twelfth Night is a 1933 American Pre-Code short color film, notable as the very earliest surviving film directed by Orson Welles, then aged 17. It is a recording of the dress rehearsal of Welles's own abridged production at his alma mater, the Todd School for Boys, where he had returned to direct this adaptation of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night for the Chicago Drama Festival in 1933. The play won first prize at that year's festival, presented as part of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, A Century of Progress Exposition.
Orson Welles unfinished movie made in Brazil, about four rafterman that leave their village to go to the capital in search for their rights.
An interpretation of the Edgar Allan Poe story that uses clips from Citizen Kane and A Propos De Nice.
A Rolls Royce Silver Cloud drove him to airports; the British film industry kowtowed to his power; the great Hollywood studios fawned at his feet.Sir Alexander Korda, one of the world's most flamboyant movie tycoons, rose from obscurity in rural Hungary to become a legendary filmmaker. With him were his brothers, Zoltan and Vincent, all living charmed lives in circles that included H. G. Wells, Sir Lawrence Olivier, Marlena Dietrich, Vivien Leigh, and Merle Oberon, who was soon to be Alex's wife. But along with Alex's flair for success was an equally powerful impulse for destruction.
