Ray Kelly, our Wellesnet man in Cambridge sends along this exclusive report on Stefan Drossler’s presentation of The Unknown Orson Welles on December 1, 2008 at the Harvard Film Archive
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By RAY KELLY
What was billed as a two hour look at the unfinished works of Orson Welles, stretched into a nearly four-hour presentation. There were about 100 people present, similar to the size of the crowd there the night before for the look at Welles’ TV work (according to the gentleman seated behind me). Stefan Drossler of the Munich Film Museum bookended his presentation with a showing of a 1955 episode of Orson Welles Sketch Book and concluded with the 1983 videotaped pitch Welles’s made for his film version of King Lear.
Early in the evening, Drossler made it clear that some of Welles lost work may truly be lost. For instance, in processing some 1970’s cans of undeveloped footage of Moby Dick revealed only a blue print. The cans are being stored in hopes that a future technology may be able to salvage the footage. The Deep is also fading.
Highlights of the evening included:
THE DEEP – A trailer (similar to the one shown in One Man Band, but much longer) was followed by a color reel of edited footage with sound and music. The footage totaled 18 minutes. Drossler believes it is The Deep, rather than, The Other Side of the Wind, that would have the best chance of being released closest to Welles’s vision. However, it is a low priority for Oja Kodar, who doesn’t want The Deep to compete with OSOTW in the battle to find completion funds. Further, an effort by German and French television to preserve and color correct the footage was nixed by Kodar a few years back over her request for more money. The Munich film Museum has only the work print. The negative of The Deep was apparently destroyed by French customs because of non-payment.
Additionally, dubbing most of the parts in The Deep would be necessary since Welles shot most of the footage with an un-blimped camera. Drossler also noted that Jeanne Moreau had originally acted in The Deep for only a percentage of the profits. However, her experience on the set was not entirely pleasant, since she and Ms. Kodar did not get along. When Welles later asked her to re-dub her lines, Moreau reportedly balked unless payment was forthcoming. Although now Moreau would be willing to help out, her voice is much deeper, so it might need to be dubbed by a younger actress. The other three main actors in the film (Welles, Laurence Harvey, Michael Bryant) are now deceased, so they would also have to be re-dubbed.
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND – According to Stefan Drossler, the Showtime deal fell through last year. I questioned him on this and he said he knew only what Oja Kodar had told him. He said that Kodar was still hopeful something could be worked out. Nearly 35 minutes of TOSOTW was shown including footage with Welles, Peter Bogdanovich, Joseph McBride and Howard Grossman in car; the screening room scene with studio executive Max and Jake’s man Billy (Norman Foster); the party scene with John Huston, Bogdanovich and Susan Strasberg at the AFI tribute special (Huston: “Please dear lady, don’t tell us what you mean by that.”); Jake blowing out the candles on his 70th birthday cake with Lilli Palmer watching; Henry Jaglom and Paul Masursky debating the merits of Jake Hannaford’s movies; the lengthy nude scene with Kodar and Bob Random on the bed; and the car sex scene in the rain. To put it mildly, Drossler is not a fan of TOSOTW. He said he saw the two hour rough cut prepared by Gary Graver and he felt it was “horrible.” He thinks that, “to complete The Other Side of the Wind is maybe not the best idea.” He added, “When you see the rapid editing style for two hours, it is hard to stand.” Further, the film-within-a-film footage has no storyline and even Kodar could not explain it to him. Drossler says that, in his opinion, many of the people associated with the film have exaggerated their importance, whether it was their hands on involvement in the making of the movie or claiming Welles entrusted them with the completion of the film.
Many of the complex, edited scenes we have glimpsed from TOSOTW would be intercut with other complex edited scenes, according to Drossler. For example, the nine-minute car sex scene (between Kojar and Bob Random) would be inter-cut to the people watching it at Jake’s party. Drossler thinks it would be difficult to make the scene work that way. He also is concerned that the some of the TOSOTW footage cut by Welles and the original negative may be altered when dealing with Showtime or others. Munich has been promised the TOSOTW negative and materials only AFTER the film gets a proper release, he said.
DON QUIXOTE – Twenty-five minutes of mostly silent footage was shown. The Munich Film Museum is in possession of an 80-minute silent work print. They have eight minutes of sound footage. According to Drossler, the 10-year legal battle between Mauro Bonanni and Oja Kodar over the footage in Italy drags on. He said the original negative was seized by the Italian police while the two sides remain at odds. Drossler made it clear he has no affection for the Jess Franco assembly.
THE DREAMERS – A 25-minute short comprised of all of the existing test footage Welles shot (by Gary Graver) was in wonderful condition. Welles’s extensive monologue filled in the holes of scenes that were never filmed. A mix of color and black and white footage, it was easy to see why folks like Jonathan Rosenbaum have raved over this.