Showing posts with label Orson Welles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Orson Welles. Show all posts

Friday, May 1, 2026

On this day in movie and book history - Citizen Kane (1941 and 2002)

 

Citizen Kane


directed by Orson Welles,

written by Herman J. Mankiewicz, Orson Welles,

John Houseman, Roger Q. Denny and Mollie Kent,

was released in the United States on May 1, 1941.

Music by Bernard Herrmann.

 
Cast:
Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead, Ruth Warrick, Ray Collins, Erskine Sanford, Everett Sloane, William Alland, Paul Stewart, George Coulouris, Fortunio Bonanova, Gus Schilling, Philip Van Zandt, Georgia Backus, Harry Shannon, Sonny Bupp, Buddy Swan, Don Ackerman, Loretta Agar, John Alban, Demetrius Alexis, Peter Allen, William Alston, Baudelio Alva, T. Lockwood Arbright, Sam Ash, Michael Audley, Walter Bacon, Harry A. Bailey, Richard Barr, Alva Baudena, Brandon Beach, Charles Bennett, Joan Blair, William A. Boardway, Danny Borzage, Robert Brent, James Brought, Morgan Brown, Harry Burkhardt, William Calkins, Porter Chase, Gene Chervow, J.J. Clark, Dorothy Cleveland, Edmund Cobb, Eddie Coke, Nat 'King' Cole, Tom Coleman, Gene Coogan, Sally Corner, Gino Corrado, Herbert Corthell, Maurice Costello, Irene Crosby, Charles Cross, Thomas A. Curran, Louise Currie, Jack Curtis, Ed Dahlen, Ernie Daniels, Coy Danz, Margaret Davis, Tim Davis, Dona Dax, Marie Day, Petra R. de Silva, Gayle DeCamp, Frances Deets, Carl Deloro, George DeNormand, Eddie Dew, John Dilson, Robert Dudley, Lou Duello, Suzanne Dulier, Art Dupuis, Pauline Easterday, Al Eben, Johnny Eckert, Jack Egan, Carl Ekberg, Richard Elmore, Edith Evanson, Carl Faulkner, Juanita Fields, Bess Flowers, Jack Floyd, Ray Flynn, Monty Ford, Jean Forward, Olin Francis, Louise Franklin, Al Frazier, Guy Gada, Gloria Gale, Captain Garcia, Jack Gargan, Bud Geary, Rudy Germane, Bob Gladman, Renee Godfrey, Jerry Gordon, Peter Gowland, Jimmy Grant, Jesse Graves, Ernest Grooney, Jack Gwynne, Robert Haines, Frank Haney, Harry Harris, Sam Harris, Lew Harvey, Henry Hebert, Edward L. Hemmer, Cliff Herd, Bryan 'Slim' Hightower, Harlan Hoagland, John Huettner, Mitchell Ingraham, Jack Itay, Jack Jahries, Walter James, George W. Jimenez, CeePee Johnson, Clayton Jones, Edna Mae Jones, Harry Jones, Alexander Julian, William Kane, Arthur Kay, Ivy Keene, Kenneth Kendall, E. Kerry, Milton Kibbee, Laura Knight, Alan Ladd, Mike Lally, Carmen Laroux, Perc Launders, Walter Lawrence, Robert Lawson, Bert LeBaron, David Ledner, Adam Linke, J.D. Lockhart, Mary Lorraine, Ellen Lowe, Ludwig Lowry, Buck Mack, James T. Mack, Evelyn Mackert, Teddy Mangean, Herman J. Mankiewicz, Jack Manolas, Joe Manz, Loretta Marsh, Mickey Martin, Clyde McAtee, Major McBride, Lee McCluskey, John McCormack, Frank McLure, Charles Meakin, Hercules Mendez, Jim Merritt, Buddy Messinger, E.G. Miller, Irving Mitchell, Bert Moorhouse, Philip Morris, Jack Morton, Louis Natheaux, Frances E. Neal, Lillian Nicholson, Leda Nicova, George Noisom, Joseph North, John Northpole, Field Norton, William H. O'Brien, Arthur O'Connell, Frank O'Connor, Paddy O'Flynn, Lillian O'Malley, Edward Peil Jr., Gerald Pierce, Thomas Pogue, Russ Powell, J.R. Ralston, Terrance Ray, Jack Raymond, Alton Redd, William Reed, Guy Repp, Jolane Reynolds, Sam Rice, Verne Richards, Suzanne Ridgway, Cyril Ring, Myrtle Rishell, Jack Robbins, Don Roberts, George Rogers, Victor Romito, Benny Rubin, Shimen Ruskin, Edward Ryan, Jack Ryan, Robert Samven, Walter Sande, Jack Santoro, Francis Sayles, Dick Scott, Ruth Seeley, George Sherwood, Brent Shugar, Bruce Sidney, Guy Smith, Roy Smith, Vince Speaker, George Sperry, Sam Steele, Tom Steele, Ralph Stein, Bert Stevens, Landers Stevens, Dimas Sutteno, Jack Taylor, Norman Taylor, Bob Terry, Karl Thomas, Robert B. Tobin, Gregg Toland, Kathryn Trosper, Fred Trowbridge, Glen Turnbull, Gohr Van Vleck, Harry J. Vejar, Tim Wallace, Ken Weaver, Charles West, Larry Wheat, Patrick Whitney, Jan Wiley, Bill Wilkens, Larry Williams, Tudor Williams, Richard Wilson, Vivian Wilson, Roland Winters, Vera Winters, Arthur Yeoman, Louis Young.

Recommended reading:

Citizen Kane

by Orson Welles & Herman J. Mankiewicz.

Published by Methuen Drama.
Published 2002.
Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0413771873
ISBN-13: 978-0413771872

Description:

"A definitive chronicle of the making of the film" – Sheridan Morley, Films & Filming.

"Citizen Kane revolutionized film-making, and the question of its authorship is as important to the cinema as that of Hamlet to the theatre ... Pauline Kael explains how the picture came to be made and concludes that the man most responsible for its creation was not Welles but Herman J. Mankiewicz" – Kenneth Tynan, Observer.

The complete screenplay of one of the world's most famous and controversial films.

This is the complete companion to Citizen Kane - the film that was "designed to shock" (Kenneth Tynan) - one of the best-loved and best-known movies in the history of Hollywood and still the most staggering film debut ever. Not only was this 

Orson Welles's first film as actor and director but most of the cast were also new to the cinema. Yet so controversial was the subject matter that an $842,000 bribe and the concentrated wrath of the Hearst newspaper empire combined in an attempt to strangle its distribution. And the authorship of the film is still a subject of conflict.

Pauline Kael's long essay, "Raising Kane", dissects a maze of Hollywood lore to re-evaluate these and many other fascinating stories about the making of this remarkable film. Her account is followed by the original screenplay, illustrated with stills and frame enlargements.

Saturday, January 31, 2026

On this day in movie and book history - Touch of Evil (1958) and Badge of Evil (1956):


Touch of Evil


directed and written by Orson Welles,

based on the novel Badge of Evil by Whit Masterson,

was released in the United States on January 31, 1958.

Music by Henry Mancini.


Cast:
Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Orson Welles, Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff, Joanna Cook Moore, Ray Collins, Dennis Weaver, Val de Vargas, Mort Mills, Victor Millan, Lalo Rios, Phil Harvey, Joi Lansing, Harry Shannon, Rusty Wescoatt, Wayne Taylor, Ken Miller, Raymond Rodriguez, Arlene McQuade, Dan White, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Marlene Dietrich, Mercedes McCambridge, William Tannen, Joseph Cotton.

Recommended reading - Badge of Evil

Badge of Evil

by Whit Masterson.

Filmed as Touch of Evil (1958), directed by Orson Welles.

Published by Adams Media.

First published 1956.

ASIN: 1440560919

ISBN-10: 9781440560910

ISBN-13: 978-1440560910

Description:

“Orson Welles based his noir masterpiece on this equally fine novel.” – The Washington Post.

Quinlan and McCoy – veteran cops who could smell out a murderer …

A dark, swift-running tale of love and hate and death under the bright California sun.

Assistant District Attorney Mitch Holt suspects the wrong people have been arrested in the murder of Rudy Linneker. But if it wasn't Linneker's daughter and her fiance, who was it? And why do two of the city's most decorated and beloved cops look like they're not shooting straight? If they've planted evidence in this case, what else are they guilty of in the past?

Thursday, January 29, 2026

On this day in movie history - The Battle Over Citizen Kane (1996)


The Battle Over Citizen Kane


documentary directed by Thomas Lennon and Michael Epstein,

written by Thomas Lennon and Richard Ben Cramer,

was released in the United States on January 29, 1996.

Episode from season 8 of the PBS documentary series American Experience.

Narrated by Richard Ben Cramer.

Music by Brian Keane.

Cast:
William Alland, Thomas Anderson, Peter Bogdanovich, Jimmy Breslin, Richard Ben Cramer, Marion Davies, Leonard de Paur, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Richard France, William Randolph Hearst, William Herz, Sam Leve, Norman Lloyd, Nancy Loe, Frank Mankiewicz, David McCullough, David Nasaw, Louetta Santucci, John Tebbel, Ruth Warrick, Orson Welles, Vern Whaley, Gloria Widelock, Robert Wise, Jack Carter, Charles Chaplin, Gary Cooper, Cecil B. DeMille, Maurice Ellis, Joan Fontaine, Myrna Loy, Louis B. Mayer, Louella Parsons, Dick Powell, Ginger Rogers, Rosalind Russell, David O. Selznick, Norma Shearer.

Thursday, October 30, 2025

On this day in radio history - The War of the Worlds (1938)


The War of the Worlds


directed by Orson Welles,

originally broadcast on CBS Radio, on October 30, 1938.

A one-hour dramatization, based on the novel by H. G. Wells.

Written by Howard Koch.

Produced by Orson Welles and John Houseman.

Broadcast from 8 – 9 p.m. (ET)

Announced by Dan Seymour.

Hosted by the radio series: The Mercury Theatre on the Air.

Narrated by Orson Welles.



Cast: Orson Welles, Frank Readick, Kenny Delmar, Ray Collins.

Thursday, July 17, 2025

On this day in movie history - Pulp Cinema (2001)

Pulp Cinema

compilation of classic noir trailers,

produced by David Kalat,

edited by Brian Edwards,

was released in the United States on July 17, 2001.

Cast:

Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Ida Lupino, Vincent Price, Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum, Gloria Grahame, Barbara Stanwyck, Ray Milland, Jack Palance, Glenn Ford, Orson Welles.

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

On this day in movie history - Catch-22 (1970)

Catch-22


directed by Mike Nichols,

written by Buck Henry,

based on the novel by Joseph Heller,

was released in the United States on June 24, 1970.

Music by Richard Strauss.

Cast:
Alan Arkin, Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin, Art Garfunkel, Jack Gilford, Buck Henry, Bob Newhart, Anthony Perkins, Paula Prentiss, Martin Sheen, Jon Voight, Orson Welles, Bob Balaban, Susanne Benton, Norman Fell, Charles Grodin, Austin Pendleton, Peter Bonerz, Jon Korkes, John Brent, Collin Wilcox Paxton, Philip Roth, Bruce Kirby, Jack Riley, Felice Orlandi, Marcel Dalio, Evi Maltagliati, Elizabeth Wilson, Richard Libertini, Liam Dunn, Olimpia Carlisi, Wendy D’Olive, Gina Rovere, Fernanda Vitobello, Seth Allen, Steve ‘Bunker’ de France.