This Is Orson Welles

Valuable mainly to show Welles reasoning behind his films, I was especially interested in his remarks on Touch of Evil; his comments on cutting, camera angles, etc are pertinent and thoughtful. His claim it was an anti-Fascist film is consonant with his ex post facto comments on much that he did and not justified by the material. He claims the studio cut out his black comic bits in Touch of Evil because they were too powerful for the middlebrows who ran the studio. On the contrary, maybe they were distracting from an already sloppy script full of inane dialogue. As we can not see the lost material, maybe Welles did give a coherent reason for the deputy villain's decision to wear a recording device to convict the evil villain. But that would have been hard to do convincingly so deep into the story. I got the feeling Welles said to himself, how the heck can I end this film?

This book compiled by Peter Bogdanovich from interviews he had with Orson Welles is a true gem and a delight to read. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the life of one amazing artist. Among the many amazing things I took away from this read is his opinion of other filmmakers just to mention one.

I bought a paperback copy of "This Is Orson Welles" because I thought it would be easier to carry around than the hardbound version. However, the many historic photos in the paperback look like they were copied off the internet using an ancient dial-up connection. The execution is so bad it is spoiling the experience of reading these fascinating interviews. The clarity is non-existent - you cannot tell who is in the photographs most of the time, except by reading the captions. Given the care which Welles - not to mention Bogdanovich - devoted to camerawork, the publishing quality in the Da Capo Edition I received is both disrespectful and disgraceful.When I ordered it, it said the edition was printed on March 22, 1998. The back page of the copy I received says it was "Made in Delaware " on May 23, 2023 - exactly one day after I ordered it. Since it is in reality a very cheap online copy, and not an actual reprint. I am returning it as being false advertising.I am going to do myself a big favor and order a hardbound copy and HOPE that it, too, is not a shoddy copy.

The book was perfect & I got a great price 😃

I haven't read this yes but have listened to the audio tapes of the interviews Peter Bogdonovich conducted with Welles over many years. I look forward to reading this book!

A wonderful book on Welles! My only complaint is that the print is much too small! You almost need a magnifying glass to read it. There's great stuff here, but the publisher should have put a crowbar in their wallet for more pages so it could be published in a larger font. Reading while holding a magnifying glass kills much of the enjoyment of the experience.

Excellent insights even tho Orson likes to duck and weave a bit about his history. It was enjoyable rather than profound.

I've just started going down the Welles "rabbit hole". I was very eager to receive this book, but was very disappointed in the quality of the printing.It looked as if it had been printed with an old dot matrix printer that was running out of ink. The text is pixellated and soft, and as mentioned in other reviews, the pictures are nearly incomprehensible.

Ordered 2 of the same books in error. Sent one back no quibbles got my money back no problem.V fast response bravo.

This thing is heavy enough to knock someone out with.

Stuck up its own arse.

Worth a read.

Just what I was looking for as a special present. Thank you