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03 August 2007

"There was not something Falstaffian about Welles, there was everything. As a young man he conquered all that came before him (at Shrewsbury a knight meekly surrenders to the old man, awed by his leftover reputation). Welles grew fat and in debt, took jobs unworthy of him, was trailed by sycophants and leeches, yet was loved by good women and honored by those who could see him clearly". Watch 'Chimes At Midnight', you'll thank me.
Orson Welles is my BF.
posted by SassHat 03 August | 19:27
Thanks indeed, matteo; that was extraordinary.
posted by kat allison 03 August | 19:35
fittingly, there is no official US release of this masterpiece on DVD but on Amazon and eBay you can find a very cool Brazilian edition, a good print with good sound.
posted by matteo 03 August | 22:00
Wells shot Citizen Kane when he was 26. The man was possessed with vision. Twenty-six! What was I doing at 26? ugh, I feel so inadequate, sometimes. Falstaffian is a really good analogy, IIRC from reading Falstaff all those years ago.
posted by Zack_Replica 03 August | 22:14
Twenty-six! What was I doing at 26?

Well . . . at least you won't be doing commercials for shitty wine when you're 56.

posted by jason's_planet 03 August | 22:53
That was extraordinary. Looking at the prices though, this will be on my wishlist for a while.
posted by lysdexic 03 August | 23:04
jason's_planet - well, I'm halfway through a bottle of wine right now, and feeling all 'Orson Wells' about it. Chat-en-oeuf (1/3 of the way down the page. it's nice!) It's got a cat on it! And a egg! hic!
posted by Zack_Replica 03 August | 23:34
I keep hoping the Criterion Collection will do a release of Chimes. They've had a smattering of Welles releases in the last few years, so maybe something will happen. Though I'm of two minds as to whether the film should be restored or not. Part of its charm is that it looks and sounds about 50 years older than it actually is, at least in the print that Facets used for their vhs release back in the day. I'd hate to lose that (see the utterly sterile remastering of his Othello that came out in the early 90s).

There's also a fun game you can play with Chimes: whenever an actor with a non-major role is speaking listen closely. Does the voice sound...familiar? Like Welles maybe? Most of the actors in smaller parts spoke little or no English, so Welles overdubbed them himself in a few cases (at least one of the peasants in the scene where Falstaff and Shallow are trying to assemble a company of soldiers). You can also find this in Mr. Arkaddin and The Trial.
posted by Lentrohamsanin 04 August | 08:40
Oh, I see Ebert mentions this towards the end.
posted by Lentrohamsanin 04 August | 08:45
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