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an executioner'sx as it swingsoward hehero's owered ead. Avoice-overarratorintervenesnforminghe udience f dis-agreementetweenhe tudio nd he ilm'sstar ver ow o end he tory: You've eenour nding. owwe show ou newritten,produced, nd directed y Bob OrsonWelles' ope. The rux f he oke sclear,

if painfullytale: ather han simple xit,Hope'soverweeninggoand spendthriftways emand omething ore xtravagant,in themanner f Hollywood'sisinherited'boygenius'in retrospect,he okewasonHope ince asanovarovedobe the ast fhisbig-budgetutings t Paramount).ilmaudiencesf he ime were ikelyware hatCitizen anehad been poofedn cartoonswithinmonths f ts release, nd that hezany evue ellzapoppiri1941) ontributeda clever it n which charactertrolls yreplica fKanes nimitableled, emarking,I thought hey urned hat. ntertextual

quipswere form f ndustry evenge,ndthey adbeen oth wift ndplentiful.

Forty ears ater, n Tim Burton's dWoodthe ponymousirector who arlierjealouslygled Kane osternthe ffice fa potential acker discoversWelles orrather n mpersonatingctor) nthronedna gloomily-litooth t the backof MussoandFrank rill. e sidles ver o receiveheblessing f the entertainment ndustry'snow-reigningutcast: Visions re worth

fighting or.Why pendyour ifemakingsomeone lse'sdream. Wood, n obviousstand-in or Burton imself nd,by nfer-ence, his entire filmmaking ohort, sinspired y he xchangendpersistsnhissingularvision.' he historical ransactioninscribednthese wo cenes, rom bject fridicule opatron aint f n independent-minded ew Hollywood,sexceedinglyichin designnd ymbolic eaning. oreover,the process f rewriting elles'smyth nscreen,he utline nd ocial-estheticmpactofhis areer, assed rom he master's wnexertionso successiveenerationsf rdent

auteurs teeped n movie history ndobsessedwith laiming place,howevermarginal, ithin hat radition. hatWelleshimself ashionedhe emplateor ontem-porary egend-mongerings nowhere oreevident han n his 1975 cceptancepeechat an AFI ifetimeribute:There re fewof us left n this onglomerated orld fourswho till rudge tubbornlylong helonely, ocky oad nd this s, n fact, urcontrariety.This onor can ccept nly nthe name f all the mavericks. he occa-sion, bly ehearsednFrank rady's itizenWellesproved obe a telling isasternsofaras the ecipient'sly ublic ppeal or utureproductionunds ent nanswered.

IfWelles's ublic mage nd ater ilms,particularly ouch f Evil,have becomefamiliar ouchstones,itizen ane emainsatthe enter f projectnwhich bligatoryallusions o or quotations rom mericanfilm'smodernist ellspringonstitute vir-tual ite f passageor ost-Sixtiesirectors,a fan lub ncluding uch otherwise is-parate alents s Martin corsese, tevenSpielberg, rancis ord Coppola,OliverStone,Gus Van Sant, nd Todd Haynes.What hey ppropriate r scenicallyecast,in whatmanner nd n what ontext, ashelped efineheir inematicllegiancesndaspirations. hus n Nixon 1995)Stonerecalibrates or n aging ountercultureKane's ritique f mpotent ower, whileVan Sant nd Haynes orce o the urfaceWelles'satent heme f homosocialntriguein MyOwn rivatedaho 1991) nd VelvetGoldmine1998), espectively.t s a case fthe roverbiallephantndblind eers, is-tinct ersonalitiesxtracting spectrum fqualitiesrom hat s after ll notoriously,

self-consciouslypen-endedext. or re ll

homages qually nsightful r earned thewarehouserane hot, or xample,t theend fRaidersf he ost rk 1981)s arge-lygratuitousinceRosebud ndSpielberg'sark re lmost ntitheticalsmetaphors.

Thepoint s that egardlessf how heyare nvoked,nd n contrast o the stensi-bly nalogous itation f The earchers rVertigo, itizen ane and ts director repositionedot s distant atriarchalcons fa vanishedystem ut s representativefvibrant rtistic trugglesgainst rusty on-ventions f style nd narration, truggleswithwhich oungerilmmakersmmediate-ly dentify nd from hich hey eriveoltsof creative mpowerment. elles's ebut,then, anbe said ofunctions a sort f Pri-mal cene or ontemporarymericanine-ma and t s at the east happy oincidencethat corsese,oppola, eorge ucas, rianDe Palma,PeterBogdanovich, onathanDemme, enry aglom, ndWilliam ried-kinwere ll born within hree ears f tsrelease. lthought s highly nlikelyhatKanewas the first ilm iewed y any ofthem, ts mplicit eclaration f esthetic'rebirth' eshes eatly ith he reformistenergies f commercialirectors ollowingthe ollapsef he tudio ystem.

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Fifteenydenly

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byOrson. n addition o a barrage frecent iographies,ritical onographs,ndjournal rticles, surprising umber fInternet ites, ocumentaries, ade-for-cable roductions,ndonefull-scalepecta-clehave een usy ehashing,eviving,ein-terpreting, r merely xploiting Welles'slegacyin a rather kimpy roup f thirty-threemovies isted ya popularwebsite,www.us.imdb.comas referencing itizenKane, wenty-hree eremade fter 990).Without retendingocomprehensiveov-erage, hat ollowss a brief urveyfhigh-lights and owlights in this ntriguingphenomenon.here re more han dozensites evoted o Welles. ome are merelyadvertisements,ncludingne for n unre-leaseddocumentary, itizenWelleswhichalsoplugs -shirts, offee ugs,ndvideos(www.citizenwelles.com).perated ytheWelles state, ww.bway.net/-nipper/home.html as assembled seful nformationnthe

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postsseveral xotic inks o Bernard errmann-related ites. Then there s the haplesswww.fim.tierranet.com/irectors/.wells,Spanish anguage ffair ith nglish ndFrenchranslations.ts News age eportsthat he upcoming idley cott ilm, KO281,will tar dward orton Welles), ar-lon Brando Hearst), nd Madonna Mari-on Davies).Just elow his antasy-leaguecasting all, blurb orCradleWillRocksolemnlyells s that he pening f MarcBlitzstein'sheater iecewas played ith-outclothingr scenery ecause f he pro-hibitiont uffered nowonderthad uchanenthusiasticeception).

By far the most rewarding ite iswww.unknown.nu/mercury/,eaturingstreamingudio atalog f forty-fouradioprograms irected yWellesn 1938-9 orthree ifferent eries he made a total froughlyightyhows).We canundoubtedlylook forward oweighty cademic omesdevotedo hiswork ut or ow he iscov-ery f ubtle ormalrticulationsn story-telling etween adiowork nd films illsuffice. o be sure, ndividualrogramsreunevennqualitynd oooftenWelles laysthe art fCallowouth, role orwhich eevidently ad zerochops. n a CampbellPlayhouse ersion f The MagnificentAmbersons,omplete ith tation reaks

andcommercials,eperformss bothnar-rator ndGergie,he atter n thin, hinyvoice hat efies ympathy. onetheless,hesinuous nterrelating f voice-over om-mentary, iegetchorus, nddramatic ia-log provides n overture o techniquesemployedot nly n the ilmingfAmber-sons ut n ater ilmss well. he director'sfrequently d-libbed ntroductions nditems uch s a bizarre nterview ith hewarden f ing ing, ppendedo TheGlassKey,reworth he rice f dmission.

Negotiatinghe kitteryine etween ic-tional nd nonfiction iscoursess a hall-

mark f Welles's verall areer, rom heWar f heWorldsndKanes News n theMarch hrough for ake1973)ndFilm-ingOthello1978).Notunexpectedly,ecentdocumentaries,ompilations,nd fictionaltreatments ll continue o mine he ruth/illusion hasm n search f unexplored,rsimply iscarded, ngles n the meaningand significance f his art. This ine ofinquirysalreadypparentn RichardWil-son,MyronMeisel, nd BillKrohn's 993reconstruction f t's All True, egueingfrom n nformativealf-hourocumentaryon the cultural olitics urrounding hedirector's outhAmerican isadventureoa turgid, istinctlyn-Wellesiandit f hisBrazilianJagandeiroegment marred yhokey ound ffects nd a terrible usicalscore. This dynamic urfaces gain inMichaelpstein ndThomas ennon's 996PBSdocumentary, heBattle ver CitizenKane.As n other onfiction reatments,earegiven heusual oterie f collaboratorsreciting avorite tories, nterlarded ith

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shopwornewsreel

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excerpts rom he director'song1982BBCinterview.

The worst ffender n the doc-spinoffsweepstakess GaryGraver's traight-to-DVDWorking ith rsonWelles1998),blatant elf-advertisement or he cine-matographer'sow-endareer hat rades nhis oyal f undistinguished ork n lateprojects.t s hard odecidewhich spect fthis lapdash ffort s more unseemly:paradeof second-echelon ctors ellinglargely nfunny roductionnecdotes hile(badly)mitatinghemaster's oice;oftcoreshots f a cavorting ja Kodar,possiblytaken s promotional odder uring he

filming f Ffor ake; r Gary imself, nobviouslyincere et noriginal colytenthe gruffly-lovable-he-was-some-kind-of-a-character chool f remembrance. nlyslightlyess rivialsAroundheWorldWithOrsonWelles1999), DVDcompilingive

roving-reporter raveloguesrom 1955Welles-directedBC televisioneries. heopening nstallment, St. Germain esPres, as a fascinatingff-kilter tructurethat s,unfortunately,bsent n subsequentepisodes.Newspaperolumnist rt Buch-wald s introduced yping story n theoffice f The nternationalerald ribune;tappears o focus n Welles's eregrinationsaroundParis'sLeft ank. Although e isshown ntermittently ounding hekeys,what ollowss either filmicllustrationfBuchwald'story r yet nother xamplefnested arrators. elles akes ver, nter-spersingazz-backedlimpsesf treet ife,voiceoverxposition,nd on-screennter-views with famous or merely ddballdenizens f Parisian ulture. octeau, eBeauvoir, nd dancerJuliette reco recaught n passing. pair f Lettreist oetsperform bookstore eading f nonsenseverse. elf-styled rbanrustic RaymondDuncansgentlynterrogatedn hisphilos-ophy of nonconformism. espite theoverusef

tagedetupsmakingt ook s f

Welles nd his subjectswere n differentlocations,hepiece ristles ith spiralingenergyhat sunmistakablyuthentic.

The two made-for-cableeatures, en-jaminRoss'sRKO281 ndGeorge icken-looper'sTheBigBrassRing both 1999),togetherummarizes they xtend he ur-rent tate f revisionist rsonography.heformer, ased on TheBattle ver CitizenKane ndscripted yJohn ogan, eers nthedirection f rankly our emonizing.sincarnatedyLiev chreiberwho t timesgets hevoiceright ut ittle lse,missingentirelyhe irector'swkwardarriagendchildlikeense f pleasure thisWelles s a

monster, ot imply eedlessgotist utpathologicallyindictiveastard. otonlydoes he bully nd humiliate he delicatedrunkard Herman Mankiewicz JohnMalkovich),he enesisf Citizen ane ndthe assion ith hich t spursuedhrough

OrsonWellesLievchreiber)ndHerman ankiewiczJohn alkovich)eam p omake itizen anen heHBO ictureseatureilm, KO 81photoy tephen.Morley).

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ordeals f nternal nd xternalnterferenceisbluntly ttributed o a sexually-chargeddinner able light y WilliamRandolphHearsta typicallyerrific amesromwell).Leaning eavily n our current ulturalhang-up ith he usinessmachinationsfHollywoodmoviemaking, s spicedbytawdry ossip,he ilmnlists roster fhis-torical ersonagesfrom ouella arsons oGable nd Lombard o LouisB.Mayer towitness parable ocused n outsized,ll-matchedowerddicts.

Ostensibly story bout Welles andHearst,RKO drawsmoralistic arallelsbetweenwo mbitteredmarriages'f on-venience:he ado-masochisticrictionsfWelles-Mankiewicz ersus the sweetlypathetic ttachment f Hearst nd MarionDaviesMelanie riffith). ven ranting isruthless ehaviornd nti-Semitism,earstisconfectedere s a warmer, ore umaneCharlie ane.As nthewider rameworkffictional ilm llusions, isual uotationsand ines f dialogre ifted rom ane henreplantedn dramatic ituationsr charac-ters hat lip heir riginal mport. enceHearst ets opronounce hefateful pi-graph Rosebud hisnickname orMari-on's nether egion); arion ells t Hearst,Youwillnot walk ut on me this ime ;

Hearst xclaimsI'm manwho ould avebeen great but was not. Mankiewiczadmonishesis owriter,You don't ivefuck bout nyone ut yourself, senti-ment ater eprisedn a key iscussionflove on one's own terms. ythe ame

token, veryone's avorite roductionnuggets end heir ay hrough hemise-en-scne: elles tudying tagecoach ithGregg oland;earingpstudio loorboardsfor worm's-

yeamera

ngle. egrettably,a sense f he method ndergirdingrtisticachievements llbut gnored.

Certain ubtextsnd historical ssump-tions liednRKO re trangelyeminiscentof strain f psychobiographyopularizedbywriter awn Brodie, owemployedochannel he unconscious otives f every-one from onald Reagan o, well,Orsonhimself is that you,DavidThomson?).Althoughhe ilmsscarcelymart noughor ambitious nough o make t stick, tssuggestionhatWelles'snitial ontact ithHearst nd his over riggereddeep-seatedoedipal esentments, f not ntirely ew,thegerm f a respectableramatic nter-

prise.Fathers, ons, urrogates, nd sexualbetrayals re at the ore of The BigBrassRing adapted yHickenloopernd filmcritic .X. Feeney rom 1979 script yWelleswith ja Kodar seeFrank rady'sbiographyor grimly umorousccount fthewriting rocessnd ubsequenttring ffailuresn gettingt produced). othavingreadthe original cript, ublished n anobscuredition,t s hard o sayhowmuchof he ilm's trident evisionisms Welles'sdoing r that f his daptors.ntended s abookend oKane, ickenlooperakes his

premise urther ynot only pdating hetale f familial/politicalurmoilnd witch-ing ocationso theAmerican idwest utalsobybuilding webof ssociationsink-ingbiographicaletails ith nner onflictsembeddedn a number fWelles's ilms.Kane-ike VreporterIrene acob), earinga strong esemblanceo CNN's ChristianeAmanpour, nvestigatesheshady ack-ground f ndependentubernatorialandi-date Blake Pellerin WilliamHurt). His

politicalmentor Kim Mennaker NigelHawthorne), disgraced ormer enatorwhoraised ellerin nd hishalf-brotherandmay ave eenhisreal ather'soverdangles secret hat ould ruin he andi-

date's areer. he plot sextremelyonvo-luted,with triple etofblack-and-whiteflashbacksmbiguouslyepictinghe roth-er's sexual orruption nd a Vietnam-eraexchangef dentities hat hields ellerinfrom ilitaryervice.

Once gain, llusionso Welles's euvrelitter he extual andscape:ellerin rideshimselfnbeing wealthyman f he eo-ple ;Mennaker urns cherished anu-script n a fireplace;ellerinuffers love-lessmarriage o a dissolute oman. herearea slew f ow angles ndpseudo-deep-focus hots longwith everal mpressivetracking ovements.ikeRKO 281 BrassRing ngages heknowledgeableiewern agame f potting oth lagrantnd recon-dite eferences. ore uggestively,hePel-lerin nd Mennakerharacters ergen adoubly efractedllegoryf he public/pri-vateWellesian ale, harlie ane r HankQuinlan r Gregory rkadin aunted ydistant amilyrauma ut quallyhe igureof self-immolatingenius, t once seekerand behind-the-scenes anipulator, hohasnever uite ecoveredrom he raumaofCitizen ane. here re oo many onfus-ing abloidwists,oomany hematicooseends, et hemelancholictmospherehatshrouds rass Ring ints t a labyrinthineconnectionetween elles'sove f mper-sonationnd hemortal read oncealed ylinear torytellingurnednside ut.

There srelativelyittle f Welles s the-ater irector n Tim Robbins's radleWillRock1999), footloose econstructionfthe 937WPAFederal heater roject tag-ing of Blitzstein's recht-inspiredaboropera.At ts est t hapes mosaic ortraitof n ncongruousrawhen oliticalabble-

rousingasnot eemed nathemao

popu-lar ntertainment.xcept, f ourse, y hefilm's gitprop illains:he lownish acksofHUAC,he habbiesthow n town, ndNelson RockefellerJohn usack), who

Williamurt tars s politicalandidatelakePellerinnThe ig rass ingadaptedrom1979cript yWellesphotoourtesyhowtime).

LtoR, roducerohn ousemanCary lwes),omposer arc litzsteinHank zaria)ndOrsonWellesAngus acfayden)attle overnmentensorsocollaboraten controversialmusicallay or he ederal heatre rojectnCradleWill ockphotoy emmieodd).

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famouslyackhammersiegoRivera'sRubenBlades)NewYorkmural. n simultaneouslyepresenting,mbodying,ndendorsingan ethics f democratic nsemble ollaboration, radle ets nmotion rather mbitiousgenda hat roves ot lwaysohesiveorfully ealized.n this ontext, ellesAngusMcfayden)spracti-cally evoid fprogressiveeliefs;emanageso diss talin s elit-ist ver hampagnet the 1Clubbuthisvision f people'she-ater s reduced o the boast hat t should pissoff ll the rightpeople. Spouting hedubious ide of a polemical ppositionbetweenheaters a form f religiousallingnd heater s a deter-minate ode f killed abor,Welless ndirectlyhallengedirst yananonymousmmigrantn an employmentine I digditches,pour lag, ct; t makes o difference then y he heater ompa-ny's esident nion rganizerJamie heridan) whobelieves nartist's ork hould e governedy he ame ightsnddemandssindustrialabor.

Somewheren the middle f his rgument tandsWPA heaterguruHallieFlanaganCherry ones),hefilm's ealheroine ndonly haracter ithout rippling ontradictions. ccording oWelles's roducer-partner ohn ouseman n his memoir un-Throughylanagan rged hat the heater s more han privateenterprise;t s also publicnterest hich, roperlyostered, ightcome obe a social nd n educative orce. riter-directorobbinsis at pains odemonstrateot nly he istoricalaliencef his iewbut, y mplication,tspotential or einvigoratingbrain-deadcommercialinema. valiantly topianheatricalinale econcilesthe langingxigenciesf rich nd poor, mmigrant nd WASP,young ndold, traight ndgay. he extension f this eady re-scriptionoencompassinema ecomes vident n a sort f visualtagline s Robbins ansfrom n impromptutreet emonstrationcum funeral' n period ostume o present-day isneyfed imesSquare.heworthy uestion osed y he nding ould eem o be:Is there placefor ocially-consciousrt n our conglomeratedworld'?

If theater irector elles s relegatedoa minor, outish ole,film irector elles nce gain akesenterstagen Cradlestylisticdesign.t commences ith Kane-ikenewsreelueing he eriod'spressing ocial nd political ssues fauxnewsreelslsokick ffRKO281 nd TheBigBrass ing then horeographsspectacularlong-taketeadicamhotmeant o rival he peningmovementfTouch f vilWhile ot s zealous t gleaningisual r verbal efer-ences, ere he racketingfWelles'segacysa catalogf xcitingbut politicallympty ffects oeshimperhaps greater isservice.To be sure, iscommitmentsever trayed ery ar rom hose fNew Deal liberalismndhe evidently ad ittle ruck ith Holly-woodCommunists.ethe was an instinctive opulist nd ardentantiracist hodespite storied rrogance eveledn collaborativeexchanges ith lmost nyone n his path. Cultural istorianMichael enning,n TowardsPeople'sheater: heCulturalol-itics f theMercury heatre, ersuasivelyrgues or he ntersec-tion fWelles'srtistic racticesndPopular ront nitiativesf heThirties.t s hardly urprising, owever,hat uch onsiderationsare mothered y more asily igested ythic ruel f OutcastGenius.' sKimMennakerroclaimsn The ig rass ing:Poster-ity s a whim, shapelessitter f ld bones, hemidden f vulgarbeast. We should e thrilled hat here scurrently multitudefWelles n view, ut ake eed f howmuch emainsn hadow. Thankso obertaitz,ho asorgottenoreollywoodinutiaehanII vernow.

Distribution Sources:Workingith rsonWelles:VD,olor nd lack ndwhite,4mins.Distributedy mage ntertainment,333 soAve., hatsworth,A91311,hone818)07-9100,ww.image-entertainment.com.AroundheWorld ith rson Welles:VD,lackndwhite, 34mins.Distributedy mage ntertainment.RKO 81:VHS, olor,7 mins. istributedyHBOHome ideo.The ig rass ing: Showtimeablecast.CradleWill ock:'/ S, olor, 33mins. istributedy ouchstoneHome ideo.

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