Watching the marvelous Blu-ray edition of Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), I was struck by how certain shots foreshadowed the imagery of Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane (1941) released by the same studio, RKO, only four years later: the gothic castle at night with its one glowing window … … the outstretched hand ... read more »

Why Ten Days’ Wonder? I certainly wouldn’t call it one of Chabrol’s masterpieces. That’s a description I’d reserve for Les Bonnes Femmes, Le Boucher, Á Double Tour, La Rupture, The Cry of the Owl, Story of Women, La Cérémonie, or any one of a half dozen others. No, the reason I chose Ten Days’ Wonder ... read more »

Anyone with more than a passing interest in the films of Orson Welles (and not just Citizen Kane) should immediately check out American: Exhibits from the C.F. Kane Museum, described at The Auteurs’ Notebook, where it is temporarily posted, as “a six-part video investigation into the work of Orson Welles by B. Kite.” Kite’s technique ... read more »

Sometimes one role is all it takes – if it’s the right role. Blacklisted Dorothy Comingore didn’t have much of a film career, but she will always be remembered for having played Susan Alexander in Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane – or if not always, for at least as long as film is revered as an ... read more »

The name of the film is Black Magic, it was released in 1949, and it stars Orson Welles in one of his most flamboyant performances as Joseph Balsamo, aka Cagliostro, the hypnotist/charlatan whose schemes in pursuit of wealth and power were a factor in bringing about the French Revolution. I am delighted to report that ... read more »

Maila Nurmi, aka Vampira – actress, comedienne, artist, and horror hostess – was one of the most interesting and extraordinary persons I have ever met. MAILA KNEW EVERYBODY The first thing she asked me was, “Are you a genius?” adding, “I only associate with geniuses.” Taken aback, I realized that if I wanted to keep ... read more »

Perhaps the most famous of all uncompleted film projects is the Orson Welles version of Don Quixote (starring Francisco Reiguera, Akim Tamiroff, and Patty McCormack, above). Like so many of Welles’s projects – from his first short film, The Hearts of Age (1934), to his final films, The Immortal Story, Chimes at Midnight, The Other ... read more »

It’s official now. According to Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker, Bernard Herrmann’s score for Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo “belongs among the great musical works of the century.” And surely, if Herrmann’s Vertigo is among the great musical works of the last century, Herrmann’s highly influential, formally radical, strings-only score for Psycho is there ... read more »

Years ago – when I was a teenage film buff, so to speak – I remember reading someone’s description of Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane as “a perfect film.” “Perfect?” I asked myself, “What about that rubber octopus? I’ve never seen anything so phony looking in my life!” I was thinking, of course, of the rubber ... read more »

In honor of William Shakespeare’s Birthday and the on-going Shakespeare Blog-a-Thon, here is the moving conclusion of Orson Welles’s Chimes at Midnight (aka Falstaff), based on Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, and a bit of Henry V. Once more, as in so many Welles-directed films, a male friendship is betrayed. Once more, director-star ... read more »