This is Orson Welles

Peter Bogdanovich interviewed Orson Welles on numerous occasions over the period from 1969-1972, recording the interviews on reel-to-reel tape and intending them for a book project, which alas took 20 years to get from planning stage to eventual publication, 7 years after the death of it's subject. It was worth the wait. Welles covers in his expansive, mostly generous and ebullient way his childhood, early creative years in the theater and on radio, and nearly the whole of his career as a director and some of his work as actor. There are personal anecdotes, reminiscences of other great filmmakers, jokes, and of course, sadness and regret at the way in which his career was often marginalized or trivialized, and especially at the ruination of most of his films by producers uninterested in "genius".

Bogdanovich and editor Jonathan Rosenbaum did a brilliant job in putting a shape to the book; it was wise I think that they edited it into a chronological form following Welles' life, rather than in the order that the interviews took place. There is much great material here about obscure and unfinished works like DON QUIXOTE and THE DEEP; politics; some of Welles' predecessors of note, like the similarly tragic Erich von Stroheim; and many of those who have succeeded him with the enfant terrible title, like Jean-Luc Godard. It's nice that editor Rosenbaum was able to keep some of the director's less politically-correct language intact; Welles was a liberal, a progressive and a humanist his whole life - but he was also born almost a hundred years ago, and we can't expect him to always fit our 2009 norms of behavior.

The last 200 pages of this lengthy book are taken up by a nearly day-by-day chronology of Welles' career, a reconstruction of the missing scenes of THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, extensive end-notes, and a detailed index. My copy is the 1992 first edition; the 1998 edition adds an updated introduction by Peter Bogdanovich and excerpts from Welles' memo cocerning the editing of TOUCH OF EVIL - which can also be found on the newest DVD release of that film. Whatever edition you get, if you're a fan of the director at all, you owe it to yourself to have this book. Welles never got around to writing an autobiography - despite being a "one hit wonder" in the eyes of a lot of ignorant people who really ought to have known better, he was still working on what he loved - making films - right up until his death. In the absence of such a book, this will have to do, and will do, very nicely.

Fortunately, Orson Welles had a crucial influence in writing this book. Therefore it might be regarded as a truthful and helpful source in the attempt to approach this artist's view of his universe. It's a privilege and of high benefit to learn more about this great master of motion pictures. JKK

One review mentioned the poor quality of the photographs in this book. Poor isn't the word. Undecipherable is. I have never seen such horribly scanned photos in my life! Now, that doesn't mean this isn't a great fun read and a nice valuable source of information -- because it is. And don't buy the book for the photos anyway, as there aren't that many in there (Thank God!). It just amazes me that there was so much time and effort, not to mention years of interviews, put into a book like this, and then quality control is nonexistent in the photos. How could a publisher not be embarrassed? But if you are an Orson fan, or want to know more about him, I highly recommend this book.

THis book is a must, especially if you are in either Movies or TV.
It's a text for making movies. I've learned more about movie making after I read this book than I have in the entire 40 years I've been in the business.

John MoioThis is Orson Welles

I enjoyed this book very much. It's a good read, informative and entertaining. Fans of Welles will feel that they are sitting in on a conversation between him and Bogdanovich (who asks insightful and pertinent questions, not noticeably obseqious), and that's lots of fun. You learn things about movies and about Welles, and even his evasive responses are interesting.

What nobody has mentioned so far is the photographs. There seems to have been some problem with the printing, and they look, in my copy at least, like 12th-generation photocopies: washed-out, grainy and almost indecipherable. Too bad, because there are a lot of them, some of them historic, and they are just really hard to look at. I don't understand it.