This Is Orson Welles by Orson Welles, Peter Bogdanovich, Jonathan Rosenbaum Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of This Is Orson Welles
Book Review: Rosebud Reigns Supreme in Filmdom
Summary: 5 Stars
As one who had just completed a viewing of Ciitzen Kane on DVD(featuring the excellent audio commentary on the film by Roger Ebert & Rudy Behlmer) I turned to Frank Brady's excellent biography.This is Orson Welles completes my examination of this giant of film directorship. Over several years and in many locals the Falstaffian Welles shares his thoughts on film, his own movies and life with his devoted student Peter Bogdonovich
(himself a talented director best known for "The Last Picture Show'). If you want to know what Welles really thinks and believes this book is the Rosetta Stone for your investigation!
As Truffaut was able to discuss his life and films with Sir Alfred Hitchcock so does Peter B. do the same thing for Welles.
After all the reading and studying of Welles the man emerges as a titanic force of nature whose undisciplined genius is a wonder to behold. Any fan of Welles or Cinema should add this excellent book to your library. Well Recommended!
Book Review: The man, the plan, the life.
Summary: 5 Stars
As the cover quip suggests, this IS a treasure trove of insights.
I have been totally inspired by this man's conviction and boundless enthusiasm. His conception of theatre is unique and phenomenal, I dont think we will ever see his like again, not with the dumbing down of the world and aesthetics, etc.
I understand the rawness and points of many a play thanks to this man. His voice is hypnotising and authoritive.
Can genius like this ever see the light of day again?
Book Review: Touch of Genius
Summary: 5 Stars
Of all books about Orson Welles, this one gives us the closest understanding of his genius. It contains a collection of interviews given to Welles by his good friend, Peter Pogdanovich. We are given a personal tour of Welles' thoughts and motivations behind some of his greatest or most notorious works, without the pompous guesswork of an independant biographer. At the same time, Pogdonavich acting as interviewer lends an air of honesty, as Welles isn't as free to reinvent history as he might have been if this were simply an autobiography. However, this interview format makes for a rough chronology, as conversations jump all over the place. The book does give some basic dates and highlights of Welles' life and careers, but the reader is still expected to know a little about Welles. You might want to suppliment this volumne with another Welles biography. What entertained me the most was Welles' genius for story, which he not only used in such mastery on stage, radio, and film, but also in telling us of his own personal stories. I didn't realize the extent of Welles' accomplishments, which include some of theater and radio's finest moments, as well as film. Before making Citizen Kane at the ripe age of 26 (or 23?), Welles had a fuller, more distinguished life than most people manage to squeeze into a lifetime. Most importantly, this book can give a film fan some general insight to all those great "lost masterpieces", the films in which Welles often lost control over (which basically are the majority of his films). He explains his original visions and where the studios altered his work. Watching these films with this book as my guide, I noticed more of his touch and his genius than I would have without it. A great book and gift to filmmakers everywhere.
Book Review: Welles considers this book his definitive biograpy.
Summary: 2 Stars
We are told on the back cover that Welles considers this his difintive biography and the way in which he would want to be remembered. This is a sad statement, when you consider that there is no mention by Welles of either of his daughters, Christopher and Rebecca. One has to refer to the chronology at the back of the book to find that these people actually existed. It seems that Welles treated them in the same way as everything he cared about, he left. Admiration for Hitchcock, he finished his films.Book Review: Words 10, Pictures 3
Summary: 4 Stars
I enjoyed this book very much. It's a good read, informative and entertaining. Fans of Welles will feel that they are sitting in on a conversation between him and Bogdanovich (who asks insightful and pertinent questions, not noticeably obseqious), and that's lots of fun. You learn things about movies and about Welles, and even his evasive responses are interesting.
What nobody has mentioned so far is the photographs. There seems to have been some problem with the printing, and they look, in my copy at least, like 12th-generation photocopies: washed-out, grainy and almost indecipherable. Too bad, because there are a lot of them, some of them historic, and they are just really hard to look at. I don't understand it.