FanFare

[TRAILER] Macbeth (Orson Welles), a medieval Scottish general, is told by three witches he will rise to be king. After learning the prophecy, he's pressured by his ambitious wife, Lady Macbeth (Jeanette Nolan), to murder King Duncan (Erskine Sanford) and seize the throne. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Mar 11, 2024 - 10 comments

[TRAILER] Immediately following World War II, ex-Nazi Franz Kindler (Orson Welles) is living under a false identity as a teacher in a small Connecticut town, and has even married the headmaster's daughter (Loretta Young) as part of his cover. But when one of Kindler's old German associates (Konstantin Shayne) arrives unexpectedly in town, bringing in his wake a sly federal investigator (Edward G. Robinson), Kindler resorts to desperate measures to preserve his secret. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Feb 9, 2024 - 3 comments

An American engineer in Istanbul, Howard Graham (Joseph Cotten), becomes the target of a Nazi assassination due to his involvement in improving the Turkish navy. With the help of police Colonel Haki (Orson Welles), Graham escapes from his hotel to board a ship to safety, leaving behind his wife (Ruth Warrick). On board, he encounters a number of passengers, including the dancer Josette Martel (Dolores del Río). However, the passenger Peter Banat (Jack Moss) is not who he appears to be. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Feb 9, 2024 - 1 comment

A documentary about Orson Welles's unfinished three-part film about Latin America, narrated by Miguel Ferrer. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Jan 27, 2024 - 3 comments

For all his brilliance, Orson Welles was consistently plagued by the inability to secure funding for his own projects, leading to decades' worth of films left unrealized or partially completed. Documentary filmmaker Vassili Silovic follows Croatian actress and screenwriter Oja Kodar, Welles' creative partner and lover during his later years, as she reconstructs Welles' notes and what little surviving footage remains from these abandoned projects from the 1960s to Welles' death in 1985. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Jan 8, 2024 - 3 comments

When a secret marriage is planned between Othello (Orson Welles), a Moorish general, and Desdemona (Suzanne Cloutier), the daughter of Senator Brabantio (Hilton Edwards), her old suitor Roderigo (Robert Coote) takes it hard. He allies himself with Iago (Micheál MacLiammóir), who has his own grudge against Othello, and the two conspire to bring Othello down. When their first plan, to have him accused of witchcraft, fails, they plant evidence intended to make him believe Desdemona is unfaithful. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Nov 9, 2022 - 3 comments

Documents the lives of infamous fakers Elmyr de Hory and Clifford Irving. De Hory, who later committed suicide to avoid more prison time, made his name by selling forged works of art by painters like Picasso and Matisse. Irving was infamous for writing a fake autobiography of Howard Hughes. Welles moves between documentary and fiction as he examines the fundamental elements of fraud and the people who commit fraud at the expense of others.
posted by johnofjack on Oct 17, 2022 - 11 comments

For my 500th FF movie post (I know, right?), I wanted to post a classic. And so, I'm offering up Orson Welles' 1958 classic, Touch of Evil. It has Charlton Heston as a Mexican (I know) and is currently only available in the 95 minute theatrical version which features edits and re-shoots Welles did not approve, but it's still a pretty great swan song for Welles' as a studio filmmaker. The single shot opening scene is jaw-dropping. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Aug 29, 2022 - 14 comments

An unassuming office worker is arrested and stands trial, but he is never made aware of his charges. Orson Welles takes liberties in his adaptation, but constructs an absurd nightmare that is unmistakably Kafkaesque -- grounded by an excellent Anthony Perkins as the befuddled Josef K. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Jul 27, 2022 - 3 comments

When a reporter is assigned to decipher newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane's (Orson Welles) dying words, his investigation gradually reveals the fascinating portrait of a complex man who rose from obscurity to staggering heights. Though Kane's friend and colleague Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotten), and his mistress, Susan Alexander (Dorothy Comingore), shed fragments of light on Kane's life, the reporter fears he may never penetrate the mystery of the elusive man's final word, "Rosebud." [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Jul 21, 2022 - 23 comments

Orson Welles' acclaimed drama follows two generations in a well-to-do Indianapolis family. Isabel Amberson (Dolores Costello) receives a proposal from dashing Eugene (Joseph Cotten), but opts instead to marry boring Wilbur. Time passes, and Wilbur and Isabel's only son, George (Tim Holt), is loathed as a controlling figure in the town. When Wilbur dies, Eugene again proposes to Isabel, but George threatens the union. As George in turn courts the woman he wants to marry, a string of tragedies befalls the family. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Jun 1, 2022 - 8 comments

Fascinated by gorgeous Mrs. Bannister, seaman Michael O'Hara joins a bizarre yachting cruise, and ends up mired in a complex murder plot. [more inside]
posted by Carillon on Apr 16, 2021 - 9 comments

Radio and theater wunderkind Orson Welles (Liev Schrieber) takes on the world of film, producing what may be his greatest film, Citizen Kane, despite the opposition of the film's de facto subject, William Randolph Hearst (James Cromwell). [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Feb 25, 2021 - 4 comments

Follows screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz's tumultuous development of Orson Welles' iconic masterpiece Citizen Kane (1941).
posted by guiseroom on Dec 5, 2020 - 15 comments

Surrounded by fans and skeptics, grizzled director J.J. "Jake" Hannaford returns from years abroad in Europe to a changed Hollywood, where he attempts to make his innovative comeback film. [more inside]
posted by octothorpe on Nov 3, 2018 - 4 comments

The Autobots must stop a colossal planet-consuming robot who goes after the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. At the same time, they must defend themselves against an all-out attack from the Decepticons. [more inside]
posted by bq on Oct 29, 2018 - 22 comments

Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy postwar Vienna only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of his old friend Harry Lime. [more inside]
posted by Sheydem-tants on Dec 29, 2015 - 33 comments

A young mongoose protects his human family from two murderous cobrae. [more inside]
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome on Nov 25, 2015 - 4 comments