Orson Welles bibliography

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This is a bibliography of books by or about the director and actor Orson Welles.

Contents

Books by Orson Welles

The Citizen Kane Book (1971) Citizen-Kane-Book-FE.jpg
The Citizen Kane Book (1971)

Shakespeare studies

Scripts and screenplays

Plays

  • Welles, Orson. Miracle à Hollywood, et À Bon Entendeur . Paris: Gallimard, 1952. (two plays, [The Unthinking Lobster, and Fair Warning], only published in French)
  • Welles, Orson. Moby Dick—Rehearsed . London: Samuel French, Inc., 1965. ISBN   0-573-61242-0 (play).
  • France, Richard (ed.), Welles, Orson. Orson Welles on Shakespeare: The W.P.A. and Mercury Theatre Playscripts. New York: Greenwood Press, 1990. ISBN   9780313273346 (scripts of 1930s Welles abridgments of Macbeth, Julius Caesar and Five Kings)
  • Tarbox, Todd (ed.); Hill, Roger and Welles, Orson. Marching Song: A Play . Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2019. ISBN   978-1538125526 (first publication of an unperformed play, written in 1932)

Radio plays

  • Welles, Orson. His Honor—The Mayor. New York: The Free Company, 1941. (script of radio play broadcast April 6, 1941)

Screenplays

Novels and short stories

Interviews

Conversations

Artwork

Books about Orson Welles

Biographies

Studies of Citizen Kane (1941)

Studies of other individual Welles films

Too Much Johnson (unfinished, 1938)

  • Studer, Massimiliano. Alle origini di Quarto potere. Too Much Johnson: il film perduto di Orson Welles. Milano: Mimesis editore, 2018. (about the unfinished film Too Much Johnson). In Italian language

It's All True (unfinished, 1942)

  • Benamou, Catherine L. It's All True: Orson Welles's Pan-American Odyssey. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007. (about the unfinished film It's All True)

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

  • Carringer, Robert. The Magnificent Ambersons: a Reconstruction. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993. ISBN   0-520-07857-8
  • Perkins, V. F. The Magnificent Ambersons. London: BFI, 1999.

The Stranger (1946)

  • Strobel, Ricarda. Propagandafilm und Melodrama: Untersuchungen zu Alfred Hitchcocks "Lifeboat" und Orson Welles' "The Stranger". Berlin: Eissenschaftler-verlag, 1984. (in German)

Othello (1952)

  • Del Ministro, Maurizio. Othello di Welles. Rome: Bulzoni, 2000. (about Othello)(in Italian)
  • Mac Liammóir, Micháel. Put Money in Thy Purse: The Making of Orson Welles's Othello. London: Methuen, 1952. (revised edition in 1978)

Don Quixote (unfinished, 1955-73)

  • Cobos, Juan, and Esteve Riambau. Don Quijote: páginas del guión cinematográfico de Orson Welles. Madrid: Asociación de Directores de Escena de España, 1992. (about the unfinished film Don Quixote)(in Spanish)
  • Sciortino, Sigismondo Domenico. Don Chisciotte e il Cinema (dell')Invisibile. Rome: La Camera Verde, 2013. (about the unfinished film Don Quixote)(in Italian)

Touch of Evil (1957)

  • Comito, Terry (ed.). Touch of Evil. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1985. (screenplay with literary criticism)

The Trial (1962)

  • Trias, Jean-Phillipe. Le Procès d'Orson Welles. Paris: Cahiers du cinéma / CNDP, 2005. (about The Trial)(in French)

Chimes at Midnight (1965)

  • Gellert Lyons, Bridget (ed.) Welles, Orson. Chimes at Midnight. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1988.
  • Riambau, Esteve. Las cosas que hemos visto: Welles y Falstaff. Luces de Gálibo, 2015. (in Spanish)

The Deep (unfinished, 1967-70)

  • Kovačić, Duško and Rafaelić Daniel. Orson Welles in Hvar(in Croatian)

F for Fake (1973)

  • Thieme, Claudia. F for Fake and the Growth in Complexity of Orson Welles' Documentary Form. New York: Peter Lang, 1997.

The Other Side of the Wind (unfinished, 1970-6; posthumously completed, 2018)

  • Gosetti, Giorgio (ed.). The Other Side of the Wind. Locarno, Switzerland: Cahiers du cinéma/ Locarno Film Festival, 2005. ISBN   9782866424329
  • Karp, Josh. Orson Welles's Last Movie: The Making of The Other Side of the Wind. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2015. ISBN   9781250007087
  • Yates, Michael. Shoot 'Em Dead: Orson Welles & The Other Side of the Wind. Morrisville, North Carolina: Lulu, 2020.
  • Studer, Massimiliano, Orson Welles e la New Hollywood, il caso di The Other Side of The Wind, Mimesis Edizioni, 2021. (in Italian)

Studies of multiple Welles films

Studies of Welles's theatre work

Studies of Welles's radio work

Memoirs prominently featuring Welles

Other

Written fiction featuring Welles as a character

Graphic novels

Novellas

Novels

Operas

Plays

Related Research Articles

<i>Citizen Kane</i> 1941 drama film by Orson Welles

Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film directed by, produced by, and starring Orson Welles. Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz wrote the screenplay. The picture was Welles's first feature film.

<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">André Bazin</span> French film critic (1918–1958)

André Bazin was a renowned and influential French film critic and film theorist. He started to write about film in 1943 and was a co-founder of the renowned film magazine Cahiers du cinéma in 1951, with Jacques Doniol-Valcroze and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mercury Theatre</span> Former independent repertory theatre company in New York City

The Mercury Theatre was an independent repertory theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and producer John Houseman. The company produced theatrical presentations, radio programs and motion pictures. The Mercury also released promptbooks and phonographic recordings of four Shakespeare works for use in schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Rosenbaum</span> American film critic

Jonathan Rosenbaum is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for The Chicago Reader from 1987 to 2008, when he retired. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has contributed to such notable film publications as Cahiers du cinéma and Film Comment.

<i>Othello</i> (1951 film) 1951 film by Orson Welles

Othello is a 1951 tragedy directed and produced by Orson Welles, who also adapted the Shakespearean play and played the title role. Recipient of the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival, the film was distributed by United Artists when it was released in the United States in 1955. Othello was filmed on location over a three-year period in Morocco, Venice, Tuscany and Rome as well as at the Scalera Studios in Rome.

<i>The Battle Over Citizen Kane</i> 1996 documentary film by Thomas Lennon and Michael Epstein

The Battle Over Citizen Kane is a 1996 American documentary film directed and produced by Thomas Lennon and Michael Epstein, from a screenplay by Lennon and Richard Ben Cramer, who also narrates. It chronicles the clash between Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst over the production and release of Welles's 1941 film Citizen Kane, which has been considered the greatest film ever made.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orson Welles filmography</span>

Orson Welles (1915–1985) was an American director, actor, writer, and producer who is best remembered for his innovative work in radio, theatre and film. He is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time.

Don Quixote is an unfinished film project written, co-produced and directed by Orson Welles. Principal photography took place between 1957 and 1969. Test footage was filmed as early as 1955, second-unit photography was done as late as 1972, and Welles was working on the film intermittently until his death in 1985. The film was eventually edited by Jesús Franco and was released in 1992, to mixed reviews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orson Welles discography</span>

This is a comprehensive list of all of the commercially released recordings made by Orson Welles. Welles is heard on many recordings that were not intended for commercial release and for which he was not compensated.

While every attempt has been made to provide a complete listing of Welles's commercial recordings in the order of their release, it would be folly to assume that such a list could ever be compiled with certainty.

Twelfth Night is a 1933 American Pre-Code short color film, notable as the very earliest surviving film directed by Orson Welles, then aged 17. It is a recording of the dress rehearsal of Welles's own abridged production at his alma mater, the Todd School for Boys, where he had returned to direct this adaptation of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night for the Chicago Drama Festival in 1933. The play won first prize at that year's festival, presented as part of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, A Century of Progress Exposition.

Othello was a 1951 production of William Shakespeare's play of the same name, which was produced, directed by and starring Orson Welles in his first appearance on the London stage.

<i>Citizen Kane</i> trailer 1940 American film

The Citizen Kane trailer is a four-minute, self-contained, "making of" promotional short film by Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre, released in 1940 to promote the film Citizen Kane. Unlike other standard theatrical trailers of the era, it did not feature any footage of the actual film itself, but was a wholly original pseudo-documentary piece. It is considered by numerous film scholars such as Simon Callow, Joseph McBride and Jonathan Rosenbaum to be a standalone short film, rather than a conventional trailer, and to represent an important stage in developing Welles's directorial style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raising Kane</span> 1971 essay

"Raising Kane" is a 1971 book-length essay by American film critic Pauline Kael, in which she revived controversy over the authorship of the screenplay for the 1941 film Citizen Kane. Kael celebrated screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, first-credited co-author of the screenplay, and questioned the contributions of Orson Welles, who co-wrote, produced and directed the film, and performed the lead role. The 50,000-word essay was written for The Citizen Kane Book (1971), as an extended introduction to the shooting script by Mankiewicz and Welles. It first appeared in February 1971 in two consecutive issues of The New Yorker magazine. In the ensuing controversy, Welles was defended by colleagues, critics, biographers and scholars, but his reputation was damaged by its charges. The essay and Kael's assertions were later questioned after Welles's contributions to the screenplay were documented.

Sources for <i>Citizen Kane</i> 1941 film

The sources for Citizen Kane, the 1941 American motion picture that marked the feature film debut of Orson Welles, have been the subject of speculation and controversy since the project's inception. With a story spanning 60 years, the quasi-biographical film examines the life and legacy of Charles Foster Kane, played by Welles, a fictional character based in part upon the American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst and Chicago tycoons Samuel Insull and Harold McCormick. A rich incorporation of the experiences and knowledge of its authors, the film earned an Academy Award for Best Writing for Herman J. Mankiewicz and Welles.

Screenplay for <i>Citizen Kane</i> Screenplay

The authorship of the screenplay for Citizen Kane, the 1941 American motion picture that marked the feature film debut of Orson Welles, has been one of the film's long-standing controversies. With a story spanning 60 years, the quasi-biographical film examines the life and legacy of Charles Foster Kane, played by Welles, a fictional character based in part upon the American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst and Chicago tycoons Samuel Insull and Harold McCormick. A rich incorporation of the experiences and knowledge of its authors, the film earned an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Herman J. Mankiewicz and Welles.

<i>Its All True: Based on an Unfinished Film by Orson Welles</i> 1993 film

It's All True: Based on an Unfinished Film by Orson Welles is a 1993 documentary film about Orson Welles's ill-fated Pan-American anthology film It's All True, shot in 1941–42 but never completed. Written and directed by Richard Wilson, Bill Krohn and Myron Meisel, the film is narrated by Miguel Ferrer. It was named the year's Best Non-Fiction Film by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and its filmmakers received a special citation from the National Society of Film Critics.

The following is a list of unproduced Orson Welles projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, American actor and filmmaker Orson Welles had worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage or were not completed satisfactorily during production. Welles's reliance on self-production meant that many of his later projects were filmed piecemeal or were not completed. Welles financed his later projects through his own fundraising activities. He often also took on other work to obtain money to fund his own films.

Legacy of <i>Citizen Kane</i>

Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film directed by, produced by, and starring Orson Welles. Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz wrote the screenplay. Citizen Kane is frequently cited as the greatest film ever made.

References

  1. Kelly, Ray (March 31, 2016). "Simon Callow talks about 'Orson Welles, Volume 3: One-Man Band'". Wellesnet. Retrieved 2015-05-08.
  2. Lebo, Harlan. "Citizen Kane: A Filmmaker's Journey". Macmillan Publishers. Retrieved 2015-10-30.
  3. Written in Spanish; the English translation of a portion of Gómez's autobiography was subsequently made available online on Gómez's company website in 2013
  4. Thomas, François (1998). "Orson Welles et le remodelage du texte shakespearien'". Actes des Congrès de la Société Française Shakespeare (16): 171–182. doi: 10.4000/shakespeare.290 . Retrieved 2007-09-19.