Orson Welles Remembered: Interviews With His Actors, Editors, Cinematographers And Magicians

by Peter Prescott Tonguette (Author)

5 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0786427604

ISBN-10: 0786427604

Why is ISBN important?

Paperback

$23.00 - $35.00

Other Sellers

from

Other Sellers

See all 1 versions

Used: Good | Details

Sold by HPB Inc.

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

$3.99 delivery: July 22 - 29

Fastest delivery: July 21 - 26

Temporarily out of stock.
Order now and we'll deliver when available. Details

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Available at a lower price from other sellers that may not offer free Prime shipping.

FREE delivery

Available at a lower price from other sellers that may not offer free Prime shipping.

With a career spanning almost five decades, Orson Welles became--and in many ways still is--one of entertainment's biggest names. His temperamental vitality, his humor and his general theatricality contributed volumes to the American stage and movie screen. His concepts of lighting and staging brought a new era to American productions. Welles influenced an entire generation of directors. These interviews conducted between 2003 and 2005 record the reminiscences of 30 individuals who worked with Orson Welles in a professional capacity. Beginning with 1937 and his work in Mercury Theatre, it follows a selected few of many who were part of Welles's life up to his sudden death in October 1985. Including actors, editors, cinematographers, camera assistants and magicians, the work presents a rounded view of Welles's career and, to some extent, his personal life. Each interview is presented in question and answer format with occasional commentary inserted for context or clarification. Projects discussed include Welles's most notable (Citizen Kane and War of the Worlds) as well as others like Heart of Darkness and The Cradle Will Rock which never quite reached fruition.

Special offers and product promotions

Amazon Business: Make the most of your Amazon Business account with exclusive tools and savings. Login now

Editorial Reviews

Review

The new generation of Orson Welles scholars is led by Peter Prescott Tonguette. His impressive, indefatigable, and wide-ranging scholarship turns up a wealth of fresh insights and information into Welles's always-astonishing career. In this captivating book of oral history, Tonguette shows engaging modesty in letting his interviewees take center stage while expertly guiding their recollections into areas of Welles research that most urgently need exploration, including unfinished films and projects, theatrical adventures and misadventures, and the filmmaker's lifelong avocation as a magician. Orson Welles Remembered is a treasure-house for anyone interested in Welles and a fertile resource for future scholarship on the life and work of this great and multifaceted artist. --Joseph McBride, author of What Ever Happened to Orson Welles?: A Portrait of an Independent Career (2006), Orson Welles (1972/1996) and Orson Welles: Actor and Director (1977)

Peter Prescott Tonguette is the most vigorous and painstaking of the younger Welles scholars, and his Orson Welles Remembered is invaluable for its information, especially about such late, unfinished projects as The Dreamers and The Magic Show. --Jonathan Rosenbaum, author of Discovering Orson Welles

Peter Tonguette's lively gathering of recent interviews with Welles associates will be welcomed by fans and scholars alike. The Editor's enthusiasm is evident on every page, from his clarifying annotations to his shared reveries. Tonguette elicits fond memories (and some new revelations) from over two dozen figures who worked with Welles in theatre, radio, film, and television; special attention is devoted to the later decades of Welles' career. Orson Welles Remembered modestly yet rewardingly complements the earlier volumes of interviews with Welles himself by Bogdanovich and Estrin. It thereby manages to fill a gap of which we were not previously aware--a credit to the ingenuity of the project. --Scott Newstok, Department of English, Rhodes College.

About the Author

Peter Prescott Tonguette was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1983. His writing on Orson Welles has appeared in numerous publications throughout the world. This is his first book.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ McFarland & Company (March 7, 2007)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 216 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0786427604
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0786427604
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.53 x 0.52 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,842,870 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,679 in Film & Television
- #4,378 in Video Direction & Production (Books)
- #4,648 in Movie Direction & Production

Customer Reviews:
5 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		43%
4 star		57%
3 star 0% (0%)		0%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Bruce Merrill

A series of interviews arranged chronologically

Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2015

Verified Purchase

A series of interviews arranged chronologically, from the Mercury theater to Welles' last day, on the Merv Griffin show. Most notable is the case that one quarter of the material here covers Welles as a magician, being remembered by fellow magicians, a facet of OW which is generally neglected. There is almost as much on _The Other Side of the Wind_. Also of note is that many here, who are great admirers of Welles, speak of his difficulty with completing his numerous projects, for various reasons. So, this is not a point which is made only by his detractors.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Wiseacre33

An excellent insight to a complicated genius.

Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2008

Verified Purchase

From his breakout first film, Citizen Kane, through the remainder of his tumultuous career, this book captures the experiences of Orson Welles's collaborators in dealing with the sometimes frustrating but at all times fascinating aspects of his storytelling genius (including mine! See chapter 11).

Although it never directly answers the age old question of "what happened to this wunderkid of Hollywood that he could never fulfill the promise of his first film", it does offer all the insights you would expect from the people that worked closest to him. And as the pieces become woven together, a portrait emerges of a man so complicated and driven, yet warm and endearing, so haunted and persecuted, yet unwavering and perservering, that you long for such an artist to re-emerge in Hollywood that would dare to swim against the tide of the modern "blockbuster" status quo and return filmmaking to the status of art that it, too, had once promised to be.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Martin Grams, Jr.

Orson Welles and Magic

Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2007

I have always been a fan of Orson Welles on radio and television. Having collected a ton of radio broadcasts on CD and audio cassette and having watched most of his movies, I appreciate the genius of his work. I picked up a copy of this book recently and am amazed at the amount of research put into it. An aspect of Welles rarely discussed is his magic career. At the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention this September in Aberdeen, Maryland, I plan to attend the presentation about Orson Welles and his magic career so I can watch rare footage and films with Welles, and get an even deeper insight to his trickery. Book comes recommended.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

Donald A. Newlove

TOP WELLES TREASURE

Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2007

I have fifty or sixty books by or about Welles, a big collection of his films, and have written my own book about him, THE WELLES REQUIEM, as yet unpublished, and now happily confess to revising what I thought I knew about him, especially about his hands-on mode of filmmaking. For me the most important part of this truly stimulating, wonderful book are the parts about Welles in the cutting room. He himself personally did not cut film! He hired people to do that and told them what he wanted and then came back a day or a week later. Most revealing is the cutter for CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT who tells how Welles did not direct the battle scenes and did not do the cutting or assemblage. I won't reveal the "secrets" about that but they alone made this book worthwhile. Aside from that, this is truly personal about Orson and he is here talking with you straight into your face and gripping your shoulder and feeding you Chinese take-out. Any lover of Welles, no matter how deeply versed in his life-story, can not help but be lifted to the Wellesian heavens by this one-on-one face-to-face meeting with Orson Welles. Congratulations to young author/editor Peter Prescott Tonquette!

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

V. F. Perkins

So well remembered

Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2014

Anyone who cares about film and the great movie-makers will be grateful for this book and want to keep it within easy reach. It is informative, funny, touching - a treasurable product of committed research.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Pages with related products. See and discover other items: film producing

Orson Welles Remembered: Interviews With His Actors, Editors, Cinematographers And Magicians

Buy used: $23.00

Buy new: $35.00

Special offers and product promotions

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Product details

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Buy used:

$23.00

Buy new:

$35.00