Intro to History of Film

Orson Welles

Readings :

Mandatory movie for this learning unit:

  • Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1940)

Orson Welles

Born in May 6, 1915 at Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Born in May 6, 1915 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Orson Welles was the son of Richard Head Welles, a wealthy industrialist and Beatrice Ives Welles. He was considered to be a Wunderkind – and infant prodigy.

Some examples of his precocity: At the age of 2 he could already read. At 7 he was able to recite by heart any speech of Shakespeare’s King Lear, and could play violin and piano.

Welles’ mother died when he was 19. The trauma was such that he never played any instrument again.

Unlike most of the infant prodigies, who used to lose energy at young age, Welles was extremely active all his life.

In 1937, he founded the Mercury Theater, which is especially important because this theater produced, in addition to Welles, a couple of interesting names for the film history. Two of these names are Joseph Cotten and Everett Sloane, whom you can also see in “Citizen Cane”, the mandatory movie for this learning unit.

In 1938, Orson Welles became overnight famous when he produced and directed the Radio Broadcast show “The Invasion from Mars”, based in H. G. Wells’s novel “The War of the Worlds”. Of course, always with his Mercury Theater troop.

This program opened him Hollywood’s doors. He signed his first contract with the RKO, the company that produced his first movies.

One year later, in 1940, he released “Citizen Kane”. This was the only movie of his first period he had total control over.

That changed soon. He was never able to edit his next movie: The Magnificent Ambersons” (1942) – also a very sensitive movie about the decline of a wealthy family.

And he had to interrupt his 3rd Movie “It’s all true”. He was called back from South America, where he was shooting the movie because of his troubles with the producers.

It needs to be emphasized that the reason for such troubles were not the contents of his movies – he had absolute freedom in this regard – but his inability to keep deadlines and manage the budget.

After those bad experiences with the industry, he was declared PERSONA NON GRATA in Hollywood.

Welles seemed to love troubles, though. In his biography you can read: “The greatest danger for an artist is to find himself in a comfortable position”.

American Phase

  • “Citizen Kane” (1940)
  • “The Magnificent Ambersons” (1942)
  • “The Stranger” (1946)
  • “The Lady from Shangai” (1948)
  • “Macbeth” (1949)
  • “Touch of Evil” (1958)

European Phase

  • “Othello” (1951)
  • “Mr. Arkadin” (1955)
  • “The Trial” (1962)
  • “Chimes at Midnight” (1965)
  • “The Immortal Story (1968)

Stylistic and Thematic Elements

  • Creation of unscrupulous and damned characters who don’t obey any given moral code
  • Prismatic narration
  • Deep-focus
  • Chiaroscuro effects
  • Long Sequence Shots

Touch of Evil, opening scene

Lady from Shanghai

Literature

Callow, Simon:
“Orson Welles. The Road to Xanadu”. Viking Penguin, 1996.
Conrad, Peter:
“Orson Welles: The Stories of his Life”. Faber and Faber, 2003
Cowie, Peter:
“The Cinema of Orson Welles”. Da Capo Press, 1973.
Sarris, Andrew:
“You Ain’t Heard Nothing Yet: The American Talking Film History & Memory, 1927-1949”. Oxford University Press, 1998.