Orson Welles's Last Movie

February 16, 2015
Orson Welles (1915–1985), one of cinema’s most acclaimed—and eccentric—actors and directors, spent the last 15 years of his life feverishly working on a film he never completed, a frenetic journey that Karp (Straight Down the Middle) chronicles in this informative but at times overly dense account of art and madness. Like Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane, the film that made Welles famous at age 25, Welles was larger than life in every way. Given the very rare honor of editing the final cut of Kane, he expected such control for the rest of his career and, sadly, never received it, prompting him to leave Hollywood for Europe. In 1970, eager for a comeback—this was the era of “New Hollywood,” led by films like Bonnie and Clyde—Welles arrived with an idea for The Other Side of the Wind, a film centered on an aging director (eventually played by longtime friend John Huston) trying to stage his own comeback; there would be a film within a film. He always strenuously objected to any claims that it was autobiographical. Filmed on locations over the course of years, Welles never shared the script with any of his actors, preferring instead to guide them through long Altman-style improvisations. The funding crises were constant—Welles could not manage money—and to this day the film remains unedited and unreleased, mired in legal battles that include a French vault and the Shah of Iran’s brother-in-law. Karp often gets overly caught up in the minutiae, but his adoration for Welles is obvious, and readers can only hope Wind will one day reach screens.

Starred review from February 1, 2015
What became of The Other Side of the Wind, that crazy movie that took up the last 15 years of the life of Orson Welles (1915-1985)?Karp (A Futile and Stupid Gesture: How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever, 2006, etc.) puts that question to rest with this hilarious and sobering saga of one of the greatest films never finished. Almost from its official start in 1970, the last project by Welles was a shape-shifting obsession, rumored as much for its alleged uniqueness as for its constant and (so far) permanent delay. On the surface, it sounds exciting: an 8' -style story of a troubled director (played by John Huston) trying to finish a movie; a neo-Godard-ian narrative, shot in a variety of formats; a seemingly Cubist editing style, "reducing each take into little bits of film and then creating a new continuity within each scene." It was meant to be both spontaneously brilliant and efficient, proof that the famously "troublesome" director could deliver a film on time and under budget. Instead, shooting ballooned from weeks to years upon years, during which it was cast and recast, shot and reshot, edited and re-edited; people were routinely hired, fired and rehired as they watched their careers consumed in the process. After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the incomplete film-partly financed by the shah of Iran's brother-in-law-officially entered purgatory. Ever since then, family, heirs and financiers have been fighting for control. Luckily, there's nothing unfinished in Karp's retelling. He follows every story, dollar and last legal battle in full detail. Whether the film sees a 2015 release on the anniversary of Welles' birth, as was speculated as of late last year, we at least have Karp to thank for the next best thing.

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Starred review from March 1, 2015

The last 12 years of actor/director Orson Welles's life (1915-85) were spent trying to complete his final film, The Other Side of the Wind, and like many of his later projects, the endeavor was crippled by financial difficulties. The process and the personalities involved have become a legend unto themselves, and journalist/professor (Northwestern Univ.) Karp's conversational tone yet unerring attention to detail make this an essential book on Welles. For while the majority of accounts about the man try to cover his entire career, or consist of critical analyses, Karp has gathered the stories of the surviving members of the cast and crew and coupled them with scrupulous research to paint an intimate, humorous, and staggering tale of one of the great creative minds of cinema and his attempt to simply do what he did best. VERDICT This is easily one of the most enjoyable and informative books about Welles ever published, and the timing couldn't be better, as producers have announced plans to finally release The Other Side of the Wind this year, the centenary of the actor and director's birth.--Peter Thornell, Hingham P.L., MA

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March 15, 2015
Picture Orson Welles, the director of Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, and Touch of Evil, scrounging for money, filming in rented houses, and lying his way onto shooting locations, spending more than a decade trying to get a movie made. The saga of Welles' last (and as yet unreleased) movie, The Other Side of the Wind, is an often-shocking portrait of a great artist on his last creative legs. Karp, who pieced together the story from interviews with some of the people involved in the movie's production (which spanned the 1970s) and various other sources, charts the course of the movie from its early days as Welles' would-be comeback vehicle; through its difficult, on-again, off-again production; to its rather dismal fate as an unfinished might-have-been. The text also charts the course of the end of Welles' life, as his declining health and his frustrations at not being able to get his movie made without begging for money and equipment took their toll on him. A fascinating story, much more than your typical making-of book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)