FilmTalk - 70th Anniversary screening of The Magnificent Ambersons + 2nd Orson Welles Feature‏

[Marc Sober]

FILMTALK viewing and discussion group

Saturday, May 26, 10:30AM 

Wheeler Auditorium
Enoch Pratt Free Library
400 Cathedral St.
Baltimore, MD 21201

The Magnificent Ambersons

70th Anniversary Screening

Orson Wellesï؟½ adaptation of Booth Tarkingtonï؟½s 1919 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel marked the young directorï؟½s second acknowledged masterpiece, two years after the groundbreaking Citizen Kane. The Magnificent Ambersons achieved this status despite the fact that the film was taken out of Wellesï؟½ hands, had 45 minutes edited out and destroyed. A final scene was directed by others to wrap the story up (this ending, while abrupt was true to the original novel). Several of Wellesï؟½ colleagues from his Mercury Theater company and Citizen Kane participated in the production -- Agnes Moorehead and Ray Collins as the aunt and uncle of George Amberson Minafer (Tim Holt), the central character. Joseph Cotton plays Eugene Morgan. Anne Baxter, in one of her first big roles, plays Morganï؟½s daughter Lucy, Georgeï؟½s love interest. Bernard Hermann wrote the beautiful score, future director Robert Wise edited, and master cinematographer Stanley Cortez shot this landmark film.

(Directed by Orson Welles, 1942, US, 88 minutes, black & white, Not Rated)

For more information, see:

• Movie Review Query Engine
• Turner Classic Movies
• Original 1939 Campbell Playhouse radio production
  (by Wellesï؟½s Mercury Theater)

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 and, at 2PM:

The Trial

Orson Welles' cult adaptation of Franz Kafka's existential classic

Josef K. (Anthony Perkins) awakes one morning to find himself arrested by the police and accused of an unspecified crime. He has no idea who has accused him, what heï؟½s alleged to have done, or how to defend himself and becomes increasingly paranoid as all around him turn out to be suspicious and untrustworthy. Like Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil and Chimes at Midnight, Orson Wellesï؟½ troubled-but-fascinating adaptation of Franz Kafkaï؟½s novel The Trial is yet another example of the director being free to pursue his vision without outside studio interference, allowing him to, in Nathaniel Thompsonï؟½s words, ï؟½run wild with visual dï؟½cor, sound manipulation, and experimental compositions, resulting in one of his most difficult but rewarding creations.ï؟½
The Trial features a stellar European cast (Jeanne Moreau, Elsa Martinelli and Romy Schneider), and Welles himself appears as The Advocate. Though some critics questioned the casting of Tony Perkins (just two years removed from playing Norman Bates in Psycho) as an aggressive and defiant K., Welles retorted ï؟½I think everybody has an idea of K. as some kind of little Woody Allen. Thatï؟½s who they think K. is. But itï؟½s very clearly stated in the book that he is a young executive on the way up.ï؟½ In many ways, this K. mirrors Welles himself ï؟½ an ambitious man struggling against the authority, conformity and arbitrary rules of the Hollywood Studio System.
Not only was The Trial a difficult undertaking for Welles (financial problems forced him to pay cast and crew out of his pocket and to relocate from Yugoslavia to Paris; and the studio later tacked on a heavy-handed opening narration for television broadcast), but a difficult film to find. For years it has only been available through muddy or scratched prints and washed-out public domain videos, and the remastered Milestone edition DVD has gone out of print. Fortunately, the Pratt Library has a good 16mm print of this rarely seen cult film thatï؟½s considered one of the most hauntingly stylized concoctions of Welles' career and arguably his most Hitchcockian movie.
(Directed by Orson Welles, 1963, 119 min.)

 

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Don't forget - you can park at the garage on Franklin St., between Charles & Cathedral for the

whole day on Saturday for $4 and not have to worry about feeding meters!  You can see the

films all the way through, fulfill all your library needs, and also have some time to enjoy other

downtown attractions.
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For more information, contact:

Marc Sober  

Humanities Dept.

The Enoch Pratt Free Library
400 Cathedral St.
Baltimore, MD 21201
ph: (410)396-5487