THE AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE PRESENTS CLASSIC ORSON WELLES FILMS AT THE AERO THEATRE
HOLLYWOOD - The American Cinematheque presents Classic Orson Welles Films at the Aero Theatre (January 4 - 8, 2006). Where do you begin with Orson Welles, a man with a talent and imagination so prodigious that he spanned radio, films, television, books, theater and excelled in them all? From his first film masterpiece CITIZEN KANE - more often than not, described as one of the best movies ever made - to his checkered career fighting for funding to realize his directorial vision, Welles stands alone, holding a special place in the pantheon of cinematic greats. Welles himself (in F FOR FAKE) made the self-deprecating remark, "I began at the top and have been working my way down ever since," - referring to the popular misconception that his post-KANE career somehow never delivered on his initial promise. In reality, Welles delivered again and again on that promise, in such dazzling and unexpected ways that audiences, critics and other filmmakers are still trying to catch up. How else can one describe a career that encompasses such films as THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI, OTHELLO, TOUCH OF EVIL, THE TRIAL, MACBETH, an astonishingly rich legacy of television (including "The Fountain Of Youth"), as well as legendary "unfinished" films such as THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND and DON QUIXOTE? Although he had to jump through bigger and bigger hoops to secure financing for his movies, dealing with an industry used to mediocrity, somehow he managed to create and put his art in the public eye for over four decades. A brilliantly dramatic actor, always delivering a droll performance with seemingly little effort, he was a genius director, capable of creating works that were simultaneously tragic, elegiac, lyrical, satirical, playfully surreal and pulpy, miraculously managing to integrate all these traits into a style that is immediately recognizable as "Wellesian." This is a rare opportunity to see some of Welles' classics on the big screen in restored versions. All screenings are at the Max Palevsky Theatre at the Aero Theatre (1328 Montana Ave) in Santa Monica.
Wednesday, January 4, 2006: Aero Theatre
The Wednesday, January 4th program begins at 7:30 PM with a screening of Orson Welles' most famous film CITIZEN KANE (1941, Warner Bros., 119 min). Orson Welles was only 25 when he directed this masterpiece, and it remains one of the most phenomenal motion pictures ever made. Trailblazing in so many aspects, from Gregg Toland's complex camera and lighting to Bernard Herrmann's score to one of the finest ensemble casts (including Welles, Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloane and Agnes Moorehead Endora from "Bewitched") ever assembled. The film chronicles the life of a William Randolph Hearst-esque multi-millionaire newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles) with the reporter tyring to figure out the meaning of his last word, "Rosebud." With an Academy Award-winning script by Welles and Herman Mankiewicz.
Saturday, January 7, 2006: Aero Theatre
The Saturday, January 7th program is a 7:30 PM Double Feature. First up is TOUCH OF EVIL (1958, Universal, 111 min.). Orson Welles' hallucinatory, off-kilter masterwork stars Charlton Heston in one of his finest roles, as a Mexican policeman trapped on the wrong side of the border, where a corpulent, corrupt cop (Welles) tries to stop him from digging into the past. Janet Leigh co-stars as Heston's newlywed wife, menaced by leather-clad Mercedes McCambridge and her gang of juvenile delinquents. Co-starring Akim Tamiroff, Marlene Dietrich, Joseph Calleia. We're screening the restored version, reconstructed in 1998 according to Welles' original notes.
Next on the same bill is THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (9148, Columbia, 87 min.). The camera is the star in one of director Orson Welles' most phantasmagorical films, a dazzling noir thriller about a seaman, a crippled lawyer and his homicidal wife pursuing each other through a "bright, guilty world" of infidelity, deception and murder. The hall of mirrors climax is riveting. With Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth and Everett Sloane.
Sunday, January 8, 2006: Aero Theatre
The Sunday, January 8th program begins at 6:00 PM with a new 35 mm print of MACBETH (1948, Paramount, 107 min.). This painstakingly restored (to its original form) version, was spearheaded by the UCLA Film & TV Archives preservation officer Robert Gitt. The film had been cut by 21 minutes, re-recorded to "Americanize" the dialogue, and then rarely shown. Gitt tracked down the missing footage and original, Scottish-accented soundtrack, plus the Jacques Ibert overture and exit music. Critic Stanley Kauffman wrote about the restoration: "Whatever the details of Gitt's job, Welles' MACBETH is now a bold, exciting, innovative film." The innovations cannot be overstated. Longtime Welles collaborator Richard Wilson considered MACBETH "the greatest experimental American film ever made under the Hollywood studio system," and the restored footage includes a reel-long take. The studio was driven mad by the many retakes the ten-minute sequence required. Eight parts Welles to two parts Shakespeare, MACBETH was shot around Salt Lake City and features low-budget grandiosity, plus Welles in an intense, towering performance as the tormented Scots king, "one of the best elements of the film, thrilling and a bit poignant ... In every one of the big moments, Welles rises to the heroic." (Kauffman) (Program notes courtesy James Quandt/Cinematheque Ontario.)
Wednesday, January 4, 2006: Aero Theatre
The Wednesday, January 4th program begins at 7:30 PM with a screening of Orson Welles' most famous film CITIZEN KANE (1941, Warner Bros., 119 min). Orson Welles was only 25 when he directed this masterpiece, and it remains one of the most phenomenal motion pictures ever made. Trailblazing in so many aspects, from Gregg Toland's complex camera and lighting to Bernard Herrmann's score to one of the finest ensemble casts (including Welles, Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloane and Agnes Moorehead Endora from "Bewitched") ever assembled. The film chronicles the life of a William Randolph Hearst-esque multi-millionaire newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles) with the reporter tyring to figure out the meaning of his last word, "Rosebud." With an Academy Award-winning script by Welles and Herman Mankiewicz.
Saturday, January 7, 2006: Aero Theatre
The Saturday, January 7th program is a 7:30 PM Double Feature. First up is TOUCH OF EVIL (1958, Universal, 111 min.). Orson Welles' hallucinatory, off-kilter masterwork stars Charlton Heston in one of his finest roles, as a Mexican policeman trapped on the wrong side of the border, where a corpulent, corrupt cop (Welles) tries to stop him from digging into the past. Janet Leigh co-stars as Heston's newlywed wife, menaced by leather-clad Mercedes McCambridge and her gang of juvenile delinquents. Co-starring Akim Tamiroff, Marlene Dietrich, Joseph Calleia. We're screening the restored version, reconstructed in 1998 according to Welles' original notes.
Next on the same bill is THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (9148, Columbia, 87 min.). The camera is the star in one of director Orson Welles' most phantasmagorical films, a dazzling noir thriller about a seaman, a crippled lawyer and his homicidal wife pursuing each other through a "bright, guilty world" of infidelity, deception and murder. The hall of mirrors climax is riveting. With Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth and Everett Sloane.
Sunday, January 8, 2006: Aero Theatre
The Sunday, January 8th program begins at 6:00 PM with a new 35 mm print of MACBETH (1948, Paramount, 107 min.). This painstakingly restored (to its original form) version, was spearheaded by the UCLA Film & TV Archives preservation officer Robert Gitt. The film had been cut by 21 minutes, re-recorded to "Americanize" the dialogue, and then rarely shown. Gitt tracked down the missing footage and original, Scottish-accented soundtrack, plus the Jacques Ibert overture and exit music. Critic Stanley Kauffman wrote about the restoration: "Whatever the details of Gitt's job, Welles' MACBETH is now a bold, exciting, innovative film." The innovations cannot be overstated. Longtime Welles collaborator Richard Wilson considered MACBETH "the greatest experimental American film ever made under the Hollywood studio system," and the restored footage includes a reel-long take. The studio was driven mad by the many retakes the ten-minute sequence required. Eight parts Welles to two parts Shakespeare, MACBETH was shot around Salt Lake City and features low-budget grandiosity, plus Welles in an intense, towering performance as the tormented Scots king, "one of the best elements of the film, thrilling and a bit poignant ... In every one of the big moments, Welles rises to the heroic." (Kauffman) (Program notes courtesy James Quandt/Cinematheque Ontario.)
Comments