Hey folks, Harry here with news on the status of the incompleted state of Welles' film THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND - at least according to Peter Bogdanovich. This is very exciting. In other news - Kubrick's FEAR AND DESIRE is coming to DVD - I just got a preview copy of it today - after SXSW - I'll check it out and let you know how it is. Damn I've had a great 3 film run with JERSEY GIRL, HELLBOY and LOVE ME IF YOU DARE! Ok, here's the report...
Harry,
Sunday afternoon I had the great pleasure of seeing Peter Bogdanovich in Cleveland, Ohio (specifically at the downtown branch of the Cleveland Public Library). He showed various film clips (from NOTORIOUS, RED RIVER, and THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, as well as an interview with John Ford) and told stories from his conversations with Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, Howard Hawks, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, and others. The event lasted a bit over two hours, but the amount of information that was packed into that time was considerable, and of great value to both filmmakers and fans alike. Bogdanovich was an articulate and entertaining speaker and did very convincing impressions of Welles, Hitchcock, Ford, Hawks, Cary Grant and John Wayne. Although he talked about many interesting things, THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND, the last film directed by Orson Welles, made me sit up a bit straighter in my seat. The film was shot intermittenly between 1970 and1976, much of it in Bogdanovich's home, and has been sitting on a shelf, unedited, in Paris (that's France Harry, not Texas) for almost 30 years. There are many legal entanglements concerning the ownership and rights of the film, which is why it's gone unreleased and practically unknown. On the bright side, Bogdanovich said that there is a company recently involved (intentionally unnamed by Bogdanovich) that is making strides toward sorting out the legal mess, and they are closer now than anyone has ever been to getting the film off the shelf and on its way to an editing room. According to Bogdanovich, 45 minutes of the film is already cut together and "It's a great film." Here's hoping.
-DeVore
