Bright Lucifer

Last updated
Bright Lucifer
Written by Orson Welles
CharactersBill Flynn, Jack Flynn, Eldred Brand
Original languageEnglish
Genre Horror

Bright Lucifer is an unproduced 1930s era semi-autobiographical horror play, and the first written by Orson Welles as a single author. It has, to date, never been professionally staged.

Contents

History

Welles first began writing Bright Lucifer in 1932, while he was writing the play Marching Song at a friend's summer home in Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin. [1] :224 [2] He was still developing the text in September 1934 (having moved to New York to play the part of Tybalt in Katharine Cornell's transferred production of Romeo and Juliet), telling John Houseman that he was working on a script “about the devil” when they first met in December. He had intended to premiere the play at a proposed theater festival at his old school in the summer of 1935 (though this never came about; due to difficulties with the 1934 summer festival the event was not repeated), and continued to work on the script with an eye to producing it as late as 1938. [3]

An amateur presentation was given of the script by a community group in Wisconsin on September 27, 1997, 12 years after Welles's death, at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center in Madison, Wisconsin. [2]

Characters

Plot

After the disappearance of Jack's wife (in the wake of a sexual affair and drug abuse scandal), he has abandoned his career in Hollywood (where he specialised in "creature features" - playing the monster in B-movie horror films) and is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He has arranged for a retreat to recover in the family cabin (on a north woods Indian reservation) with his brother (Bill - a tabloid newspaper editor) and his brother's young ward (Eldred - a strange, young asthmatic), his brother's wife (Martha) due to arrive a few days later. As the play opens the three males have been fishing, and tensions are already high. Outside the cabin an American Indian funeral is ongoing, and "devil drums" ceaselessly beat throughout. The twisting story unfolds to encompass whisky, murder, God, the Devil, a monster costume, insanity, and the hysterical desecration of a corpse. The entire play taking place over two nights, and is set entirely in the cabin in the woods.

Themes

Gothicism

The play is a lurid gothic horror, mixing high art with grand guignol; the Chicago Tribune referred to the play as a combination of Henrik Ibsen, Eugene O'Neill, Weird Tales and The Twilight Zone. [2]

Father-figures

Welles was orphaned at the age of 15, and was adopted by Dr. Maurice Bernstein - a lover of his mothers'. This relationship directly reflects that of Eldred and Bill, and biographers have speculated on the autobiographical nature of the depiction. [4] [5]

Homoeroticism

A notable aspect of the play, considering the era in which it was written, is the homoerotic undertone which runs throughout (not to mention the implied Hebephilia of the Bill/Eldred relationship). [5]

As a precursor to other Welles works

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Cagney</span> American actor and dancer (1899–1986)

James Francis Cagney Jr. was an American actor and dancer. On stage and in film, he was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orson Welles</span> American actor and filmmaker (1915–1985)

George Orson Welles was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boris Karloff</span> English actor (1887–1969)

William Henry Pratt, known professionally as Boris Karloff and occasionally billed as Karloff the Uncanny, was an English actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film Frankenstein (1931), his 82nd film, established him as a horror icon, and he reprised the role for the sequels Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Son of Frankenstein (1939). He also appeared as Imhotep in The Mummy (1932), and voiced the Grinch in, as well as narrating, the animated television special of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966), which won him a Grammy Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cain and Abel (comics)</span> DC Comics characters

Cain and Abel are a pair of characters from DC Comics based on the biblical Cain and Abel. They are key figures in DC's "Mystery" line of the late 1960s and 1970s, which became the mature-readers imprint Vertigo in 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dean Stockwell</span> American actor (1936–2021)

Robert Dean Stockwell was an American actor with a career spanning seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he appeared in Anchors Aweigh (1945), Song of the Thin Man (1947), The Green Years (1946), Gentleman's Agreement (1947), The Boy with Green Hair (1948), and Kim (1950). As a young adult, he had a lead role in the 1957 Broadway and 1959 screen adaptation of Compulsion; and in 1962 he played Edmund Tyrone in the film version of Long Day's Journey into Night, for which he won two Best Actor Awards at the Cannes Film Festival. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama for his starring role in the 1960 film version of D. H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers.

<i>Arsenic and Old Lace</i> (play) Play by Joseph Kesselring

Arsenic and Old Lace is a play by American playwright Joseph Kesselring, written in 1939. It has become best known through the 1944 film adaptation starring Cary Grant and directed by Frank Capra.

<i>The City of the Dead</i> (film) 1960 British film by John Moxey

The City of the Dead is a 1960 supernatural horror film directed by John Llewellyn Moxey and starring Christopher Lee, Venetia Stevenson, Betta St. John, Patricia Jessel and Valentine Dyall. The film marks the directorial debut of Moxey. It was produced in the United Kingdom but set in America, and the British actors were required to speak with North American accents throughout.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph McBride (writer)</span> American journalist

Joseph McBride is an American film historian, biographer, screenwriter, author and educator. He has written books on a variety of subjects including notable film directors, screenwriting, the JFK assassination, and a memoir of his youth.

<i>Man in the Shadow</i> (1957 American film) 1958 film by Jack Arnold

Man in the Shadow is a 1957 American CinemaScope crime Western film directed by Jack Arnold and starring Jeff Chandler, Orson Welles, Colleen Miller and Ben Alexander.

The Devil, appears frequently as a character in literature and various other media, beginning in the 6th century when the Council of Constantinople officially recognized Satan as part of their belief system. In Abrahamic religions, the figure of the Devil, Satan personifies evil. In music, the Devil is referenced across both classical and popular music. Connecting the devil to certain music can be used to associate the music with immorality, either by critics or by the musicians themselves. In television and film, the Devil has a long history of being used and often appears as an extremely powerful, purely evil, antagonist. He also may appear working behind the scenes, in disguise, or in secrecy to influence a story in the forefront. In narrative works, the Devil is often associated with concepts such as the Antichrist, Hell and the afterlife, and the apocalypse. Especially in media from the early 1900s, creators might have been compelled to portray the Devil with another name or in a non-classical fashion to skirt censorship laws that discouraged showing the Devil as a character. Occasionally the Devil appears not as an entity but rather is used as a name for something that is very sinister or malevolent in a narrative such that the characters feel it is the Devil.

<i>Frankenstein: The True Story</i> 1973 film by Jack Smight

Frankenstein: The True Story is a 1973 British made-for-television film loosely based on the 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley. It was directed by Jack Smight, and the screenplay was written by novelist Christopher Isherwood and his longtime partner Don Bachardy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Zugsmith</span> Director, producer and screenwriter (1910–1993)

Albert Zugsmith was an American film producer, film director and screenwriter who specialized in low-budget exploitation films through the 1950s and 1960s.

Charles Higham was an English author, editor and poet.

<i>Journey into Fear</i> (1943 film) 1943 film by Norman Foster

Journey into Fear is a 1943 American spy film noir directed by Norman Foster, based on the 1940 novel by Eric Ambler. The film broadly follows the plot of the book, but the protagonist was changed to an American engineer, and the destination of his journey changed from France to the Soviet Union—reflecting the changes in the war situation since the original Ambler book was written. The RKO Pictures release stars Joseph Cotten, who also wrote the screenplay with Orson Welles. The Mercury Production was also produced by Welles, again uncredited.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johan Harstad</span> Norwegian author

Johan Harstad is a Norwegian novelist, short story writer, playwright and graphic designer. He lives in Oslo.

Zachariah is a fictional character portrayed by Kurt Fuller on The CW Television Network's drama and horror television series Supernatural. An angel, he first appears in the fourth season and helps manipulate the series protagonist Sam Winchester into releasing Lucifer onto the Earth. In the fifth season, he attempts to convince Dean Winchester into serving as the human vessel for the archangel Michael to start the apocalypse. The opportunity to play an angel initially excited Fuller because he thought that it would give him the chance to break away from his streak of playing villains. Despite the character turning into an antagonist halfway through his appearances, the actor was very proud of the role. Critical reception for the character has been positive, with his sinister humor being of particular note. Kurt Fuller later reprised the role in the show's 300th episode "Lebanon" in season 14, playing the Zachariah from an alternate timeline created by the disappearance of John Winchester in 2003.

<i>The Doctor and the Devils</i> 1985 British film by Freddie Francis

The Doctor and The Devils is a 1985 gothic horror film directed by Freddie Francis and starring Timothy Dalton, Jonathan Pryce, Stephen Rea, Julian Sands, Patrick Stewart and Twiggy. It is based upon the true story of Burke and Hare, who in 1828 Edinburgh, Scotland, murdered at least 16 people and sold their bodies for anatomical dissection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick McGilligan (biographer)</span> American historian

Patrick McGilligan is an Irish American biographer, film historian and writer. His biography on Sir Alfred Hitchcock, Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light, was a finalist for the Edgar Award. He is the author of two New York Times Notable Books, and he lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is also noted for his biography on Clint Eastwood, Clint: The Life and Legend, which the author described as "a left-wing book." In addition to Hitchcock and Eastwood, he has written biographies on Robert Altman, James Cagney, George Cukor, Fritz Lang, Oscar Micheaux, Jack Nicholson, Nicholas Ray, Orson Welles and Mel Brooks. He is also an editor of Backstory, which features interviews of Hollywood screenwriters and is published by the University of California Press.

<i>Marching Song</i> (play)

Marching Song is a play about the legend of abolitionist John Brown, written in 1932 by Orson Welles and Roger Hill. It is most notable for its narrative device of a journalist piecing together a man's life through multiple, contradictory recollections—a framework that Welles would famously employ in his 1941 film, Citizen Kane. Although the play has never been professionally performed, an abridged version of Marching Song was presented in June 1950 at the Woodstock Opera House in Woodstock, Illinois, a world-premiere benefit production by the Todd School for Boys. Rowman & Littlefield will publish the play in August 2019.

<i>Batman: Gotham by Gaslight</i> 2018 animated film directed by Sam Liu

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight is a 2018 American adult animated superhero film produced by Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, featuring an alternate version of the DC Comics character Batman. It is the 31st film of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies. It is directed and produced by Sam Liu and written by James Krieg, loosely based on the standalone graphic novel of the same name by Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola.

References

  1. McGilligan, Patrick (2015). Young Orson. New York: Harper. ISBN   978-0-06-211248-4.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Wilmington, Michael. Digging Welles, The Chicago Tribune. 5 October 1997.
  3. Naremore, James. The Magic World of Orson Welles, University of Illinois Press, 12 Jun 2015. pp.22-26
  4. McGilligan, Patrick "Young Orson" HarperCollins 2015
  5. 1 2 3 4 Callow, Simon "Orson Welles, Volume 1: The Road to Xanadu" Random House, 8 Jun 2011