DVinfo topic of the week - If you could remake...

[Yi Fong Yu]

frank have you seen the original version of magnificent? the potential was there... as for the remake of it... orson welles is dead... i see no reason.

[Jeff Patnaude]

"Lafayette Escadrille". I could do it better for sure. It would be great, a mix of "Waldo Pepper" with a male-commaraderie angle and a WWI backdrop.

or maybe,

"Black Shield of Falworth," redone as original title "Men Of Iron."
No Tony Curtis either. I'd go for the realistic aspect of castle life and sword combat.

Hell, I want to do them both anyway.

Jeff Patnaude

[Frank Vu]

I have. I didn't want to, but after seeing Orson Welles' 'Othello',
I started craving more, so I reluctently rented it. Even butchered, there were moments that provided glimpses of a more relaxed and subtle genius at work than was present in 'Citizen Kane'. Agnes Moorehead was phenomenal.

Anywho, Orson Welles himself wouldn't have wanted anyone to remake it, but I still can't help wonderin'.

[Yi Fong Yu]

yeah i've not gotten to the full major works available on VHS or DVD for orson welles yet (i'm doing a film history study of my own)... but i've bought them or will rent them in the future. orson's citizen kane is a great piece of work but thereafter... i dunno what happened to him. he got fat and lazy about his filmwork. perhaps it was the case of the genius star that shined too bright he burned himself out!

[Keith Loh]

Ever see "Chimes at Midnight" (Falstaff)? I think it's one of the best Shakespeare adaptations. Not widely available and in fact I think any version you're likey to see is based upon a crap, unrestored footage.

[Frank Vu]

I've been dying to see Chimes', but haven't been able to track down a print. I know there are dvds on ebay and some foreign online stores, but i'm wary. Welles said that it was his most complete work and the one he liked the most.

And Orson Welles did get fat and he admits himself he's always been lazy, but he stopped getting real work after a reckless and egotistical rep emerged after he was persuaded to do a doc in south america about the carnival at the behest of RKO and FDR.

While down there, RKO changed ownership and the new heads didn't know why Welles was down there and begin the public denouncing of Welles. Their letterhead that year read "Showmanship Over Genius".

Coupled with the blacklisting from William Randolf Hearst (the guy Kane was partially based on), Welles wouldn't get control over a picture again until 'Touch of Evil' and 'The Trial', two of his best pictures.

I also suggest you check out his performance in 'The Third Man'... One of the best 'supporting' performances ever.

And his book "This Is Orson Welles" by Peter Bogdanovich.

Keith, you wouldn't have a copy of Chimes' wouldja?

[Christopher Reynolds]

Mad Max and/or Road Warrior. Then throw in Ron Perlman!!! (Ron Perlman did the voice over for the Fallout 1 & 2 videogames for the PC) I don't know what Ron Perlman looks like though so I can't say if he would do well in an action flick. But Mad Max & Road Warrior could definately be redone beautifully (The movies were awesome, I'm not bashing them down, but I would want to return to the post apocolyptic setting like Mad Max 1&2 did wonderfully)

[Yi Fong Yu]

hi frank,

you can grab a copy of chimes on ebay easily. i bought my VHS copy for merely $13 delivered. try ebay before all else. as of now i have acquired journey into fear, macbeth, and falstaff (chimes) on VHS. i have citizen kane (which i've seen ad nauseum) and arkadin on DVD. the rest of his major works/catalogue appears to be very available on my netflix subscription que. i'll be waiting until i get to study him.

the brazilian documentary he was supposed to make was partly filmed but never finished. it's all documented in a documentary about orson's documentary titled, "It's All True" released in '93. i've debated about watching it but decided that he didn't even remotely finish it so why waste my time? =). i'm not THAT obssessed about him. i'll let his fiction works stand trial.

and yesh i've seen 3rd man, it's OK. i expect him to be uber good in everything but the movie itself was a big let down until he showed up onscreen. good performance... but it wasn't his film. everyone makes it like it was his movie. even the cover of the criterion edition of the DVD has him on it. i'm just like... wtf? ya know? he barely appears in the movie.

as for othello, didya know that it was orson who first directed black actors to potray roles in othello in harlem theater that first won him acclaim to his genius? he conquered theater, conquered radio (war of the worlds 1 hour broadcast on CD can be bought on ebay or amazon for ~$10 delivered), and conquered cinema before age 30. sorta like alexander the great... except he didn't die. got fat and miserable =).

and on a related note... would anyone know what the last words orson welles uttered before he died? taht'd be interesting to do a biopic on =).

[Frank Vu]

Not a fan, ay? :)

I think it's awful what they did on the third man disk. It's probably one of the biggest reveals in the history of film, and they just blow their wad on the cover. Fools.

I've debated on whether or not so see the SA doc too. There's also a version of his Don Quixote floating around too on dvd. Some dude hacked together the available footage. Haven't decided on that either. I'll probably end up gettin' both.

And it was Macbeth that Welles did in Harlem, or the voodoo Macbeth as it was aptly named. It grew out of the WPA, and it wasn't so much that they were black, but that they'd NEVER acted before. Them some skillz. Folklore also said that one of the actual voodoo docs Welles had flown in put a curse on a critic that gave a poor review and homy died the next day. Now I don't believe in voodoo, but coincidences are often confused with them.

And I don't know Welles' last words, but apparently he did die at his desk, writing a screenplay...that's the way to go.

[Yi Fong Yu]

oops... confused my shakespeare. i stand corrected =). hence i'm not really a fan =). i'm just doing my bit for film history study. i'm a big fan of citizen kane though =).

[Jeff Patnaude]

Ron Pearlman is the actor who played "Hellboy" recently, and who also played the Beast in "Beauty and The Beast" (the TV series.)

[Chris Hurd]

The original Orson Welles concept of Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" shot entirely first-person point of view.

Oops, it was never made in the first place so I guess this doesn't count.

[Christopher Reynolds]

Jeff, after years of loving the Fallout games, I never knew who Ron Perlman really was. I remembered reading somewhere that he actually worked in the video game department and just happened to have a voice quality that fit the bill. I am so naive. Also, Richard Dean Anderson did the voice for another character in the "Fallout" video game. Anyone remember MacGyver? Or Stargate SG-1 for more recent acknowledgment.

Back to subject: In light of this new information, Ron Perlman is obviously a prime choice for a post apocalyptic film.