I was at first skeptical of the initial viewing based on a feeling from the director/narrator's vocal quality as less then engaging and the fact I know so many people that are not willing to accept an accent even when it's one spoken in English.
It's a sad reality I have come to accept that unless a clean "Queen's English" or a deep American version is utilized in a documentary setting it might not grab an audience that ecoevts as much. This is tantamount to what Orson would rival against in his way, and with his particularly deep, yet lispish and lilting vocal quality to compensate his feelings and exemplify them. He had a voice so readily recognized and hardly ever mimicked, and a physical presence that only got greater as tone went on-- no pun on his weight as it also increased.
But very soon found the humor in his words that kept me watching as well as the material he was digging up to support his story.
Orson Welles had been an icon for me as an artist and writer since early teenage years through the Shadow radio program so unusual of my age to encounter, but suffering insomnia and migraines at that age I liked delving into the stories to sooth me and level out and give my overactive brain a time-out. Years later I discovered his pantheon of films, then his love of magic that lead into the discovery of "F for Fake" and his narration of the "Nostrodomus Prophesies" that was my first foray into the world of the occult. I own the original broadcast of "War of the Worlds" on vinyl and play it sometimes on the anniversary of the broadcast. A lifelong Michigan resident, I was startled to discover that so many of his illustrations made over the soan of his entire life and personal effects are stored in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan and was livened by the fact that when I was first beginning to admire the man I too was an illustrator and walking that path only to waver from it into unkown territory just as he had. The facts and history explored here are some I never knew before and feel much better now knowing(like his political views and gear towards a humanistic approach to life), my already prodigious respect for the misunderstood genius that much more profound in the understanding of such. The point that stands out most is his activism-- if he had been present in the days of the George Floyd incident he would have been front and center leading the charge after apparently having seen such an atrocity already in his own time that I never knew about.
Through archival footage rarely seen( at least by me as a lifelong advocate) and solid research as well as contact with Orson's surviving daughter Beatrice, the director spins a tale of a "bedtime story of life nowadays" told to Orson of the world that he would never see, the world he only envisioned and as it is in reality that we take for granted so many decades after his death.
This is a worthy addition to the roster of Orson Welles films, a sort of "book end" to his achievements that I never expected to happen.
The director weaves a tale of visuals between pictures of old, illustrations in Orson's own hand, film scenes that exemplify that vision, and real life correlations that predict his views in a way that is clearly followed and it is sometjibg of a work of art all on its own.
It's a sad reality I have come to accept that unless a clean "Queen's English" or a deep American version is utilized in a documentary setting it might not grab an audience that ecoevts as much. This is tantamount to what Orson would rival against in his way, and with his particularly deep, yet lispish and lilting vocal quality to compensate his feelings and exemplify them. He had a voice so readily recognized and hardly ever mimicked, and a physical presence that only got greater as tone went on-- no pun on his weight as it also increased.
But very soon found the humor in his words that kept me watching as well as the material he was digging up to support his story.
Orson Welles had been an icon for me as an artist and writer since early teenage years through the Shadow radio program so unusual of my age to encounter, but suffering insomnia and migraines at that age I liked delving into the stories to sooth me and level out and give my overactive brain a time-out. Years later I discovered his pantheon of films, then his love of magic that lead into the discovery of "F for Fake" and his narration of the "Nostrodomus Prophesies" that was my first foray into the world of the occult. I own the original broadcast of "War of the Worlds" on vinyl and play it sometimes on the anniversary of the broadcast. A lifelong Michigan resident, I was startled to discover that so many of his illustrations made over the soan of his entire life and personal effects are stored in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan and was livened by the fact that when I was first beginning to admire the man I too was an illustrator and walking that path only to waver from it into unkown territory just as he had. The facts and history explored here are some I never knew before and feel much better now knowing(like his political views and gear towards a humanistic approach to life), my already prodigious respect for the misunderstood genius that much more profound in the understanding of such. The point that stands out most is his activism-- if he had been present in the days of the George Floyd incident he would have been front and center leading the charge after apparently having seen such an atrocity already in his own time that I never knew about.
Through archival footage rarely seen( at least by me as a lifelong advocate) and solid research as well as contact with Orson's surviving daughter Beatrice, the director spins a tale of a "bedtime story of life nowadays" told to Orson of the world that he would never see, the world he only envisioned and as it is in reality that we take for granted so many decades after his death.
This is a worthy addition to the roster of Orson Welles films, a sort of "book end" to his achievements that I never expected to happen.
The director weaves a tale of visuals between pictures of old, illustrations in Orson's own hand, film scenes that exemplify that vision, and real life correlations that predict his views in a way that is clearly followed and it is sometjibg of a work of art all on its own.