The Silver Screen Oasis

In the Spring of 1955, Welles - now a grand old man of 39 - after filming MR. ARKADIN aka CONFIDENTIAL REPORT, made six 15-minute episodes of a television program for the BBC, Orson Welles' Sketch Book. To the best of my knowledge, they have not been compiled on VHS or DVD, though portions have appeared as special features.

This is Welles being Welles: Storyteller-Actor.

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Oooh, fantastic, Mr. ChiO! Thanks for posting these.

I think I saw one of those sketches long ago -- thanks for posting them, ChiO.

This site has transcripts of five of the six episodes, if anyone would want to read them: Wellesnet.

This is a clip of Welle's 1937 screen test for Warner Brothers. Didn't work out for him.

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I've donated to, and hope to attend, the REAL Woodstock celebration. Be sure to watch the trailer.

Now, that rascally Dewey better not schedule his best line-up that day at the Roxie. He's been forewarned.

Why does this feel so ghoulish?

perhaps it is the inclusion of clothing? It always bothers me just a little bit when certain more personal belongings go on the auction block, especially if you know that the person or their spouse recently died.

That he kept the wig from Chimes at Midnight is cool. To own it though seems kind of icky to me.

To own that camera though would be awesome!

Thanks for sharing this Kingrat and I wished I had seen that at the festival - and I do agree that the HALL OF MIRRORS is one of the MAIN HIGHLIGHTS of that particular movie and many people do tends to forget the AQUARIUM Scene as well. Plus, one other scene that I consider on the pivotal scale is SHARKS - here's the YOU TUBE below.

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Borrowing a comment from YOU TUBE LAND ... this person said it perfectly

Fantastic! My favorite Welles monologue -- "Then the beasts to to eating each other.In their frenzy, they ate at themselves.You could feel the lust of murder like a wind stinging your eyes, and you could smell the death, reeking up out of the sea. I never saw anything worse... until this little picnic tonight...."

To me, this is one of my favorite parts of this movie!

Visually stunning. A fine movie.

...not wisely, but too well.

Last night I saw the restored OTHELLO (1952) at the Gene Siskel Film Center. What was that salty discharge from my eyes as the pre-title sequence washed over me?

This is the most visually stunning film in Welles' career of making visually stunning films. The bars! O, the bars and cross-bars and the crosses everywhere (including Desdemona's hair). Separation, imprisonment and a glimpse of what lies beyond. The shadows! Foreboding and hints of human substance. The mirrors! Does anyone else make such incredible use of mirrors? Intense self-examination, reflection of depth, distortion of reality.

Charles Foster Kane. Hank Quinlan. Othello. Three men bound together.

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I missed Woodstock in 1969 and I'll miss the Woodstock in 2014.

I'll whine at Dewey over a cocktail.

Too Much Johnson is now available to view and/or download free, from the National Film Preservation Foundation. Here is the sixty-six minute work print. And here is a thirty-four minute edit.

Yesterday, 10 October 2015, was the 30th anniversary of Orson Welles' passing. There is a nice article marking the occasion on the Wellesnet site, which includes the following video compilation of news reports of the day:

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Rest in peace, Mr. Welles.