my_daroga | obediently yours... orson welles picspam!

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obediently yours... orson welles picspam!

His clean-cut ugliness has created a new standard of masculine attractiveness.
--1938 newspaper article

I've been threatening to do this for awhile, and as my current obsession shows no signs of abating, I feel the time has come to inflict it upon you. It's not that Welles' appearance is, by itself, the focus of my interest; but the fact he was a hottie doesn't hurt. But what makes it even more alluring is the genius there, too, and the incredibly sad story of a man who had boundless potential who was thwarted his entire life--though of course, he produced works for theater, radio and film that have stood the test of time. Far from a has-been who reached his peak at too young an age and could never recover his boyish genius (that was the story I always heard), he rather fell prey to the vagaries of Hollywood finance. In fact, he kept fighting and producing, in any way he could, and as anyone who takes a look at 1974's F for Fake must admit, he had his touch well into his final years. I think one of his biggest problems was choosing mediums that required the participation and finance of too many people. The cost of failure was too high--anyone who didn't tow the line didn't get the money.

Anyway, I'm about to start babbling, so on to the photos. I'm afraid they lean heavily towards the younger Welles, but that doesn't mean he wasn't still attractive later. But for me, that lay mainly in the twinkle of his eye, hard to capture in still frames.

During "War of the Worlds"

Just in case you thought he looked any different as a kid.

Welles was always trying to popularize Shakespeare.

The scan I made isn't very good, but this expression cracks me up. It looks like he's saying "No, I'm an adult! Look, I have a pipe!"

His hair. Is curly. I'm shallow.

This is my favorite. See icon.

I don't know what this is from, but it looks exciting.

This one reminds me a lot of Johnny Depp as Ed Wood, appropriately enough.

From "The Third Man," one of my favorite films and favorite scenes.

A similar effect, sans smirk.

F for Fake.

Chimes at Midnight.

I hope you enjoyed that. I may have gotten a little carried away.

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Wow. I'm breathless. Are you really systematically going through all his movies?

The library just told me that The Magnificent Ambersons awaits; I want to watch Chimes at Midnight first, though.

Yes, I am. I'm not sure I'll hit every one he had a part in just to raise cash, but we'll see.

Man, I'm already thinking of photos I left out.

Oh, my! He's prettier than I remember. Admittedly, I haven't seen very many of his movies, but still ... That bottom lip. Woah. You've definitely piqued my curiosity.

Haha! Success! And yes, the bottom lip is a killer. What have you seen?

Standard stuff!

Citizen Kane, of course. Hilariously, or sadly, enough, I always remember him in The Muppet Movie (I know, I know, don't throw tomatoes -- I was young). Treasure Island, I vaguely remember watching Catch-22 and that he was in it, but mostly I remember there was a lot of desert and then I fell asleep.

Hmmm ... I really should get to watching some of his stuff because I'm realizing that I remember watching the movies, I don't really remember the movies themselves. I was addicted to old movies when I was young, so watched alot but in my dotage I'm drawing a blank.

The mind is a fragile thing, true. Besides which, I watched a lot of old movies when I was young, thought I liked them, then watched them again and realized I hadn't really understood them and liked them still more.

I'd definitely see The Third Man, both for him and the atmospheric postwar Vienna setting (amazingly lit, btw). Though he had no hand in writing/producing/directing. He's still great. I forgot he was in Catch-22, and now that you remind me, I'm giggling. He's also great in Touch of Evil, although not hot. And he actually made that one. Then there are those he made but isn't in, or isn't the lead, like The Magnificent Ambersons and The Trial (with Anthony Perkins as K).

hmmm unusual, I have never seen a film involving Orson Welles, not even 5 minutes of one. Generally I've seen at least half of a film by any classic famous actor.

Especially since he was in a bunch of stuff just to raise money to do his own projects. I'm sure you've heard his voice in something, though. Like the animated Transformers movie from 1985? Unicron?

I was two when that came out. I had a transformer in the 80s (it was broken) but I never saw any of the programmes.

Well I didn't see it when it came out. I just thought it might be one of those things someone made you watch at some point.

Nah, I think transformers only just came back into fashion over here so I missed it the first time round and not into retro cartoon at the moment.

TBH the only thing I know about Orson Welles is the bit on Family Guy where peter gets in trouble for taping over the renta videos "It was his sled that he had as a kid! there i saved you from two long boobless hours!"

I think he is covered by my aversion to anything critically aclaimed

You're missing out on so much. Ah well. I have an aversion to anything popularly acclaimed, so I guess I am, too.

Popularly acclaimed isn't an issue in terms of movies (music is different) but critical acclaim is. the instant a critic praises a movie (except Jonathan Ross on Neil Gaiman movies) it gets added to our 'films to avoid at all costs lists' and the instant they slate a film it gets added to the 'must book tickets now' list. Its the same with Best Movie Oscars, if its not a musical the winner of the best movie will be terrible 97% of the time :p

I assume that if the vast majority of people like something, it's not going to have much in it for me (though I am sometimes wrong). I also assume that critics should have no bearing on my opinion at all, and so critical opinion means nothing to me. Either way. If it did, half the movies on my best-of list would be off it, but it would be a different half depending on whether I listened to critics or hated them.

The Oscars are similarly meh. Some I like, some I don't. I don't see how one can even compare, say, "Lawrence of Arabia" with "Gladiator" in terms of quality, but I do like Amadeus and Silence of the Lambs and LOTR is okay as were many others.

Then there are the movies that critics hated so much at the time that it ruined the director's career, but that people think are quite good now, looking back. Or vice versa. Besides which, at any given time critics are going to disagree with each other, sometimes on a predictable basis (X likes this, so Y will hate it).

My filtering goes like this-

1 Did critic recommend it? Yes (End) No (go to 2)
2 Did friend recommend it? Yes (Go to 4) No (Go to 3)
3 Did the ad look good? Yes (Go to 5) No (End)
4 Is the friend female (Go to 5) Male (Go to 6)
5 Did the description include words like emotion/chickflick/tearjerker? Yes (End) No (go to 6)
6 Did the description include words like zombie/explosions/awe inspiring special effects/geek comedy? Yes (go to 7) No (End)
7 Is the movie a sequel with actors replaced? Yes (go to 8) No (Go to 9)
8 Does the film include Oded Fehr, Edward Atterton or other sex-on-legs? Yes (go to 9) or No (End)
9 Go to cinema

Though I will watch anything that I don't have to actively pay for or make an effort over.

See I liked Gladiator, in terms of sheer spectacle and Oliver Reed's best performance since he danced down the steps on Parkinson shitfaced and waving two litres of vodka and orange. But yeah it wasn't a 'best film'. Neither was Titanic (barf). SOTL was awesome (mmmmmmmm Hannibal) and LOTR ruled but it won all the 'proper' oscars for effects and stuff too.

We should, emphatically, NOT go to the cinema together. ;) We will end up fighting and hating each other and it would be very very sad. We could, however, sit around watching PotParadise and other proven, hardy perennials and thereby avoid any unpleasant friction.

Because, you see, while my criteria are difficult to map, there is a bit which says "are the zombies/explosions/awe inspiring special effects included for a thematic purpose, heightening the character development/social commentary/artistic merit of the film, or included for the purpose of zombies/explosions/awe inspiring special effects? If the latter, END."

It's a wonder I find any enjoyment in life.

Going to the cinema with me is a chore for anyone, I always want to see the same thing over and over and over.

I think we probably could find movies we'd both enjoy for different reasons, for example two of my favorite movies are Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Muriel's Wedding, both are considered to be emotional, intelligent looks at life and can be enjoyed on a cerebral level by many people, *I* like them for the camp and the sequins and the ABBA, but I can still enjoy them or at least converse with people who enjoy them on a cerebral level.

Brazil, Twelve Monkeys, Donnie Darko... they aren't *just* special effects, they're also very clever. Trust me I don't usually like zombies for zombies sake, unless Oded Fehr is involved. I like characters, I like a plot that isn't held together by spit, I like amazing acting. So I love Cloverfield but hate Godzilla (modern version), I love Dark Knight but hate Batman Forever. I also like bad guys and explosions and pretty shiny distracting colours.

I guess I'm just wierd cos my favorite movie off the Best Picture list is actually Driving Miss Daisy and that has no effects, or campness, or singing.

Tell me your ten favoritest films and I can probably name something I could enjoy in about half of them,

I didn't mean to imply we wouldn't like anything similar, or that I hate everything you like (or vice versa). Just that it would be hard to do. I do like Twelve Monkeys and Donnie Darko, though not Brazil but that's complicated (I like the first half, think there are structural problems, etc).

But it's not weird not to have a conclusive "formula" for liking movies. Mostly it's a gut reaction that we then rationalize.

Last time I chose my top 10, it was these: All About Eve, Blow-Up, Harold and Maude, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Lawrence of Arabia, Mulholland Drive, Peeping Tom, Phantom of the Paradise, Pride and Prejudice (1995), Sweet Smell of Success

I don't think Blow-Up would be on there anymore, but I'm not sure what to replace it with yet.

All About Eve - Not seen it, sounds like the kind of classic movie I could knit to.

Blowup - read it on wiki, would probably compare it to that X Files ep. Not my type of thing.

Harold and Maude - Definitely sounds like my kind of film.

Hedwig - How have I still not seen this?!? there are few films that are any more my kind of film.

Lawrence of Arabia - men in eyeliner, shiny cinematography.

Mulholland Drive - Lynch, so would watch, probably wouldn't pay for without viewing though. Still fighting through Twin Peaks.

Peeping Tom - No.

POTP - :D

Pride and Prejudice - Darcy. Pond. May not really pay attention to the rest cos I don't like Austen but that enough for me to watch it.

Sweet Smell of Success - Tony Curtis so no.

Blow-Up: I can't imagine how this is like any XF episode. Most of it is a photographer walking around his huge studio flat.

You'd love Hedwig.

What says no about Peeping Tom? It's like Psycho, with better psychology. Plus, the critics hated it and ruined Michael Powell's career.

I dislike Tony Curtis, except in SSS he plays a total tool, so I'm okay with it. In Some Like It Hot, he's in drag, so I'm okay with that, too.

Probably bad wiki descriptions then. I like Psycho because I like to giggle at chocolate sauce in the shower.

Yeah Tony Curtis in drag is just tolerable.

You probably wouldn't like Blow-Up, to be honest. It's very slow. And I don't know about Peeping Tom, because it is in color and there is little blood, but it is my favorite serial killer movie of all time because the villain is also the protagonist and it's also about movies.

Thank you for reminding me how much I like Orson Welles.

We all need a little push once in awhile.

When I was a kid, I knew him only from those "sell no wine before its time" commercials. I just thought he was some fat advertizing guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpj0t2ozPWY

Before my time, so I only know the drunk outtakes for those commercials. Dear god, that man could be drunk.

No one would finance his films (or rather, financing always seemed to fall through) so he basically did any job that would raise capital for him to finance his own stuff.

From reading Charlton Heston's bio, it certainly seemed Orson was terribly unrealiable during movie shoots. Wouldn't show up for days, no one could find him, various troubles.

Also a fun thing I remember him from was the Nostradamus documentary he hosted and narrated. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081109/
It's from 1981, and even though I knew at the time JFK had been assassinated, of course, I'd never seen the Zapruder film footage. Seemed they showed Kennedy's head exploding a lot in that film. Horrifying and weird when I first saw it. Also, the end of the world was supposed to happen around 1999 or something.

I haven't got that far in the bio I'm reading, but it seems both like and unlike him; so far, he's often late but never misses anything he's in charge of. I'm only in 1940, though.

Maybe the world did end. You just don't know it.

Mostly Heston was talking about Touch of Evil, from the late 50s. I haven't read Heston's bio in years, but I think Welles was troublesome during the re-shoots and the editing, and eventually the studio had to take the movie from him and do stuff on their own. Still a good movie though.

Oh, I'm sure, that's when they worked together. I'm just saying I haven't got there yet. So I'm not sure of all the details, but they did re-release it a few years ago with Welles' notes worked into a new cut that is, from all accounts I've read, much preferable. (I haven't seen the original release, only the new one.)

I actually haven't seen the new cut, since I haven't seen the movie since the 80s. Gots to gets me my hands onz a copy.

And perhaps I should get my hands on the old, so as to make an informed decision. But I have little doubt the new is better.

Nice thoughts about OW, Ms. D. He was a pure genius. Actually, I took the 'expression' pic above as him getting pissed at someone as if to say "Do it like I said!" heh

Your reading is probably more accurate.

Wow that was highly enjoyable!

I forgot to tell you I got your postcard, which is currently on the fridge. Thanks. :D

I'm glad! And you're welcome.

Hey! I was gonna reply to a reply you made on my journal but you all kinds of deleted it. Anyway, I'm going to tie your obsession to my obsession, Mad Men. While watching the Nixon v Kennedy election results roll in, everyone gets drunk, and the following exchange occurs:

Paul: You're not going to call me Orson Welles again.
Joan: You know you love that.

Yeah. Anyway, the actor's name is Michael Gladis:

Definitely a resemblance, y/y?

Also, came up with an idea for your Twilight fic yesterday. Hopefully it hasn't already been done. Basically, the Cullens aren't actually vampires, but Bella thinks that they are, and they're all, like, wtf is wrong with this crazy girl. Hmm. Actually, that could end up getting all serious and sad. Well. I can come up with something crackier.

Yeah, I got shy after posting, but I didn't intend that to mean you couldn't respond, if you had something to say--I just didn't want to you feel obligated. And felt weird, but not about *you* seeing it. If that makes sense.

Oh, I can totally see the resemblance. And I am going to watch that--we're just waiting for everyone in the house to be in the same place and stuff.

That fic sounds awesome, totally. But you are free to try to be crackier. The way I see it, Twilight it already so full of crack I'm not sure you need to be. And I wouldn't know if it had already been done, because I don't read TW fic.

It makes sense. I can't really relate, but I offer comfort. [offer]

Yay!! I'm glad you're going to watch it. But what will I do if you don't like it?? Ahh!! I am a bundle of nerves in anticipation.

Well, I just keep having this urge to fix Twilight. Like, I see potential, and I just want to get in there and do things right. I kind of actually want to write something more serious that would take place after BD, where, like, people die for realz. And, dude, haha. I started reading a bit of twific a couple of weeks ago, and I totally thought of you during this one. It's basically just pwp, but the Edward characterization is intriguing. Par example:

My beautiful Bella began unbuttoning her pale blue shirt. At first all I could was sit there totally dumbstruck. Then in the next second I had her flipped under me.

“NO, it is my job to take it off.” I growled.

---

“Are you hiding yourself from me Isabella?” I could tell from the sound of his voice that he was coming closer.

“I wouldn’t say I was hiding really”

The next thing I knew, Edward had yanked away the blanket and was staring at me with liquid gold in his eyes.

“I thought I told you to never cover yourself in front of me.”

---

“Look Edward, I was just…”

“Don’t. Say. Anything.” He ground out.

“But, I was only…”

“No.”

He turned me around in his arms and stood up.

“Put your legs around my waist” he ordered.

I automatically did what he asked of me. My legs wound themselves around his wide hips and my ankles locked together in the small of his back. Before I could take another breath Edward had me pushed up against the back of his bedroom door.

“You think that guy was attractive Bella?” he questioned me in a harsh tone.

“No, not at all” I gasped. His hands were grasping my ass and pulling my lower body flush against his.

“Are you sure about that?” he asked as he ground himself between my legs.

“Yes, yes I’m sure. I don’t find anyone but you attractive.”

“Then don’t ever say something like that again. Even the mere thought of you being with someone else makes me sick” he said as his tongue began to lick at my collarbone.

Sorry for the sheer amount of quotage. I wanted you to get the full effect. The fic is here (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4145652/1/No_More_Boundaries). It made me wonder if a lot of people think of Edward this way? Like, I'd always seen that side of the Edward character as something to avoid, not something to build up and pretend is hot. Eww.

Yay!! I'm glad you're going to watch it. But what will I do if you don't like it?? Ahh!! I am a bundle of nerves in anticipation.

Well I can't promise to be obsessed. That is beyond my control. But I also can't think of a tv show where several people have said, "This is well written" that I've been like "You're all liars!" Not that I've seen all of them. But yeah. I have hopes.

I still haven't posted about BD because... I don't know what to say. That hasn't already been said. Still, I'll try to think of something.

That fic (the bit you quoted) is amazing. I just went to FFN and 92 pages of reviews? What? This is sexy? Out of context, I could see this being better written and making an actual comment about those tendencies in Edward and Bella's tendency to take it and how messed up that is. But it's not, haha! Here's a review: "Oh I love this useually Edwards always so uptight but in this story he's GREAT!" Yes, because this is a preferable alternative to uptight.

It really does explain a lot about the success of these books, if the domination stuff really is what's getting some women.

Oh, it's okay to say what's already been said. Here. I'll prompt you. Ready?

Renesmee Carlie.

Okay, that should be enough to get you going for a little bit.

Yeah, that fic kind of made me want to throw up a bit. Like, really? That's what you get off on? Edward being abusive and controlling? Mmmkay...

It kind of explains girls who say things like "At least when my boyfriend hits me, I know that he cares." Yeah. I've heard that before.

Usually, though, the fics keep Edward all sweet and fluffy and harmless.

Have you ever heard of a 1980s-vintage book called Flicker (http://www.amazon.com/Flicker-Novel-Theodore-Roszak/dp/155652577X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221157277&sr=1-1) by Theodore Roczak? It was out of print for ages, but is now back. It's leaps and bounds above The Da Vinci Code in the "secret conspiracy theory of Western civilization" department. A Gnostic sect has been secretly operating since the 11th/12th century, and their latest plan to Disrupt Civilization comes about through the movies. A German expressionist film director is one of their boys, and he is secretly inserting subliminal messages into films through the "flicker" effect (that the eye can't see things which occur faster than 1/24th of a second.)

Anyway, some great "real people fic" sightings in it, including a very drunk, old, and fat Orson Welles, and his longtime lover.

Oh, cool. I'll have to find that. And speaking of his lover, I can't wait until you see "F for Fake," if you're going to.

I wish I had a picture of our friend's baby, who we always say looks like Orson Welles...but older, fatter Orson Welles.

Wait--the baby looks like old Orson Welles? That's awesome. You need to get a photo of him with a cigar, or a wine bottle.

Every time I look at baby!Welles (with the dog) I crack up. S. asked if it was photoshopped.

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