Orson Welles

Orson Welles news, related photos and videos, and reviews of Orson Welles performances. According to Wikipedia: George Orson Welles was an American theater and film producer and director, and a theater, radio and film actor. Welles first gained notoriety for his October 30, 1938 radio broadcast of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds. Adapted to sound like a contemporary news broadcast, it panicked a large number of listeners. Welles and his biographers subsequently claimed he was exposing the gullibility of American audiences in the tense preamble to the Second World War. In the mid-Thirties his New York theater adaptations of a voodoo Macbeth and a contemporary Julius Caesar became legendary. Welles was also a practiced magician, starring in troop variety spectacles in the war years. During this period he became a serious political activist and commentator through journalism, radio and public appearances closely associated with Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1941, he co-wrote, directed, produced and starred in Citizen Kane, most often chosen in polls of film critics as one of the greatest films ever made.

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20 Most Anticipated Period Films (Part 1)

Written by jedmed on

From: themovie-fanatic.com

There are probably more than 100 historical movies in various stages of production, and we're only talking about movies to be released this year and the next. The exact figure is probably much higher. Anyway, why do we love watching period movies? Aside from seeing famous figures come to life, we also learn important lessons from the past. Of course, some historical dramas attempt to portray events and people as accurately as possible, while others are very much fictionalized.

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Some highly anticipated period flicks such as Bright Star, Coco Before Chanel and Inglourious Basterds have been shown already, so what other movies will be shown next?

Here's our first batch of 10 most-anticipated historical flicks, right after the jump!
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# 10 - Pirate Radio - (Release date: November 13, 2009)

Timeline: The 1960s in England
Director: Richard Curtis
Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Nick Frost, Tom Sturridge
The Plot: A 1960's comedy about an illegal radio station run by a band of rogue DJs on a ship in the middle of Britain's North Sea. By defying the tastes and laws of the ruling government, the disc jockeys hooked their listeners on pop music and its attendant ideas of love and free will.

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Although the film's producers said the movie is pure fantasy and not a depiction of true events or of any actual radio station, many believed that it is loosely based on Radio Caroline. Radio Caroline is the name of several broadcasting ventures situated in several countries and from ships in territorial or international waters. Its name originated with fashion and society magazine editor Beatrix Miller as early as December 1961, but the first attempt to use the name for radio broadcasting began in 1964. While some of the people involved with this first usage have associated themselves with other ventures of the same name, the original commercial era is financially and legally unrelated to events that followed 1967.

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# 9 - Me and Orson Welles - (Release date: November 27, 2009)

Timeline: The 1930s in New York city
Director: Richard Linklater
Stars: Zac Efron, Claire Danes, Christian McKay
The Plot: NYC, 1937: A week in the life of aspiring actor Richard Samuels (Efron), where he finds himself cast in Orson Welles' staging of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" and falling for an older woman (Danes).

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Orson Welles was voted as the greatest film director of all time in the British Film Institute's poll of Top Ten Directors held in 2002. Noted for his innovative dramatic productions as well as his distinctive voice and personality, Welles is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished dramatic artists of the 20th century. His first two films with RKO: Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons, are widely considered two of the greatest ever made. His other films, including Touch of Evil and Chimes at Midnight, are also considered masterpieces. He was also well-known for a radio adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds which, performed in the style of a news broadcast, reportedly caused widespread panic when listeners thought that an actual extraterrestrial invasion was in progress.

You may also read tMF's update on the Top 50 Hitlist - spotlight on Zac Efron, where we discussed Zac's role in Me and Orson Welles and what maybe his career-defining role.

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# 8 - Season of the Witch - (Release date: March 19, 2010)

Timeline: The 14th century
Director: Dominic Sena
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman, Claire Foy
The Plot: 14th-century knights transport a suspected witch to a monastery, where monks deduce her powers could be the source of the Black Plague.

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At first, the speculation of witchcraft being the cause of the Black Death was minimal and contained to a few scattered cases. But as the death tolls rose and the hysteria grew, more and more people believed beyond a doubt that only black magic and sinister witches could be at fault. Of the almost 300 witch trials that took place, almost all involved women. Most of the women were poor common folk whose only fault was being at the wrong place at the wrong time. A neighbor dying unexpectedly, a crop turning out a bad harvest, or a house or barn catching fire could all result in an innocent person being accused of witchcraft. Even having birth defects and other physical abnormalities could lead to accusations of being a witch.

To see movie stills from Season of the Witch, you can visit this Blogspot site.

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# 7 - The Young Victoria - (Release date: December 18, 2009)

Timeline: 18th century England
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
Stars: Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany
The Plot: A dramatization of the turbulent first years of Queen Victoria's rule, and her enduring romance with Prince Albert.

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The Telegraph's Chris Hastings wrote this article discussing the movie:

The film is already generating a real buzz as it promises a new, more sexed-up portrayal of Britain's longest-reigning monarch. Fellowes is thrilled to be telling the tale of a young girl who was barely 18 when she was crowned. His researches have found her vivacious, fond of parties, and prone to flirting with the gentlemen of the court, including even her ministers.

"People admire Queen Victoria as this very strait-laced figure, but they don't love her," says Fellowes. The film focuses on the romance of her marriage to Prince Albert. Fellowes reflects: "All people see now is her grief, but they know nothing about the love. She and Albert knew a shared purpose and mutual affection. [ read more ]

You can also refer to tMF film focus on The Young Victoria.

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# 6 - Amelia - (Release date: October 23, 2009)

Timeline: The 1930s USA
Director: Mira Nair.
Stars: Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor
The Plot: A look at the life of Amelia Earhart (Swank), the American pilot who disappeared while flying over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 on her history-making flight around the world.

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Amelia Mary Earhart (July 24, 1897 - missing July 2, 1937) was a noted American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many other records, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots. Earhart joined the faculty of the world famous Purdue University aviation department in 1935 as a visiting faculty member to counsel women on careers and help inspire others with her love for aviation.

During an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937 in a Purdue funded Lockheed L-10 Electra, Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island. Fascination with her life, career and disappearance continues to this day.

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# 5 - Clash of the Titans - (Release date: March 26, 2010)

Timeline: 200-300 BC (?)
Director: Louis Leterrier
Stars: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes
The Plot: In a loose adaptation from Greek mythology, Perseus (Worthington) who was born of a god but raised as a man, sets off on an epic mission to combat Hades (Fiennes) before he can seize power from Zeus (Neeson) and unleash hell on earth.

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You may also read tMF's spotlight on Sam Worthington, with some additional discussion on Clash of the Titans.

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# 4 - Sherlock Holmes - (Release date: December 25, 2009)

Timeline: 1890s in England
Director: Guy Ritchie
Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams
The Plot: Detective Sherlock Holmes (Downey Jr.) and his stalwart partner Watson (Law) engage in a battle of wits and brawn with a nemesis whose plot is a threat to all of England.

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Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who first appeared in publication in 1887. He is the creation of British author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Conan Doyle wrote four novels and fifty-six short stories that feature Holmes. The first story, A Study in Scarlet, appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual in 1887 and Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1890, respectively. The character grew tremendously in popularity with the beginning of the first series of short stories in The Strand Magazine in 1891; further series of short stories and two serialised novels appeared until 1927. The stories cover a period from around 1875 up to 1907, with a final case in 1914. Conan Doyle said that the character of Holmes was inspired by Dr. Joseph Bell, for whom Doyle had worked as a clerk at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Like Holmes, Bell was noted for drawing large conclusions from the smallest observations.

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# 3 - The Wolf Man - (Release date: Februaru 12, 2010)

Timeline: 1880s in Britain
Director: Joe Johnston
Stars: Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt
The Plot: Nobleman Lawrence Talbot (Del Toro) returns to his ancestral homeland, where his brother has gone missing and villagers are being killed by a nightmarish beast. The search reunites him with his estranged father (Hopkins) and draws him near to his brother's fiancée (Blunt), however, Talbot's lager concern is the discovery of a side to himself which he never could have imagined existed ...

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ShockTillYouDrop has posted the plot synopsis of The Wolfman:

Inspired by the classic Universal film that launched a legacy of horror, The Wolfman brings the myth of a cursed man back to its iconic origins. Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro stars as Lawrence Talbot, a haunted nobleman lured back to his family estate after his brother vanishes. Reunited with his estranged father (Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins), Talbot sets out to find his brother...and discovers a horrifying destiny for himself.

Lawrence Talbot's childhood ended the night his mother died. After he left the sleepy Victorian hamlet of Blackmoor, he spent decades recovering and trying to forget. But when his brother's fiancée, Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt), tracks him down to help find her missing love, Talbot returns home to join the search. He learns that something with brute strength and insatiable bloodlust has been killing the villagers, and that a suspicious Scotland Yard inspector named Aberline (Hugo Weaving) has come to investigate. [ source: ShockTillYouDrop ]

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# 2 - Shutter Island - (Release date: February 19, 2010)

Timeline: 1954 in the US
Director: Martin Scorsese
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Mortimer, Mark Ruffalo
The Plot: When a psychotic killer (Mortimer) disappears from a mental institution on Shutter Island, a pair of U.S. Marshals (Ruffalo and DiCaprio) race against the clock in order to track her down.

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The author of Shutter Island is Dennis Lehane, the acclaimed author who has written several award-winning novels, including A Drink Before the War and the New York Times bestseller Mystic River, which was later made into an Academy Award-winning film. Another novel, Gone, Baby, Gone, was also adapted into an Academy Award-nominated film.

The following description appears on the book: In 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his partner, Chuck Aule, are sent to Shutter Island to find a mass murderer who has escaped from Ashecliffe Hospital, a fortress-like federal institution for the criminally insane. As an intense hurricane bears relentlessly down on the island, the marshals are forced to piece together clues to a shocking puzzle hidden within Shutter Island, taking them on a dark, twisted journey, where paranoia assumes an air of cool rationality and the line between sanity and madness disappears...

This movie is the latest collaboration between Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio.

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# 1 - Invictus - (Release date: December 11, 2009)

Timeline: 1995 in South Africa
Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon
The Plot: A look at life of Nelson Mandela (Freeman) after the fall of apartheid in South Africa during his first term as president when campaigned to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup event as an opportunity.

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Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, former President of South Africa and the first to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of the African National Congress's armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe. The South African courts convicted him on charges of sabotage, as well as other crimes committed while he led the movement against apartheid. Mandela served 27 years in prison, spending many of these years on Robben Island. Following his release from prison on 11 February 1990, Mandela supported reconciliation and negotiation, and helped lead the transition towards multi-racial democracy in South Africa. Since the end of apartheid, many have frequently praised Mandela, including former opponents. Mandela has received more than one hundred awards over four decades, most notably the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

The film is based on the book Playing The Enemy: Nelson Mandela And The Game That Changed a Nation by John Carlin. The filmakers met with Carlin for a week in his Barcelona home, discussing how to transform the book into a screenplay. Morgan Freeman was the first actor to be cast, as Mandela. Matt Damon was then cast as Francois Pienaar. He was given intensive coaching by Chester Williams, a star of the 1995 team, at the Gardens Rugby Club. Filming began in March 2009 in Cape Town. "In terms of stature and stars, this certainly is one of the biggest films ever to be made in South Africa," said Laurence Mitchell, the head of the Cape Film Commission.

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What's on your mind? Among the list of 10 movies above, which are your favorites? Any particular film you look forward to the most? Why is that? Let us know what you think!

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