Orson Welles needed money. That’s how this story begins. Back in 1946, Welles was putting the finishing touches on an ambitious stage production of Around the World in 80 Days—a musical!—and funds were running dry. So he called studio boss … Continue reading THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI
You cannot capture a man’s entire life in two hours,” Herman J. Mankiewicz says. “All you can hope is to leave the impression of one.” The movie Mankiewicz refers to is Citizen Kane—arguably one of the most well-known movies ever made—but … Continue reading MANK
Before he was a filmmaker, Peter Bogdanovich was a critic and historian par excellence. Coming of age as the first wave of Hollywood filmmakers were being put out to pasture, Bogdanovich sat at the feet of the men who made … Continue reading THE GREAT BUSTER: A CELEBRATION
The legacy of Orson Welles looms large in the history of cinema. So large, even Welles himself fell into its blackness. “The word genius was whispered into my ear—the first thing I heard—while I was still mewling in my crib,” … Continue reading A Matter of Persistence: Orson Welles
Let us raise our cups. Standing as some of us do on opposite ends of the river, and drink together. … To the movies. To good movies. To every possible kind.” —Orson Welles’ AFI Life Achievement Award acceptance speech, Feb. … Continue reading One Last Toast to the Wunkerkind: Dispatches from the 2018 Telluride Film Festival
By its very nature, cinema is a collaborative art. As Orson Welles said, “A writer needs a pen, an artist needs a brush, but a filmmaker needs an army.” To whom then does a movie belong? In his 1954 essay, … Continue reading HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT
I always thought that the goal in movies was to extinguish disbelief. —Peter Bogdanovich Continue reading Born On This Day — July 30, 1939
Directing is really creating an atmosphere, a particular kind of atmosphere and usually one that is very peculiar to the director. It doesn’t necessarily have to be. Some directors have no personality and it shows. But one way or another, … Continue reading In Their Words — Tuesday, July 30, 2013
I’m not bitter about Hollywood’s treatment of me, but over its treatment of D.W. Griffith, Josef von Sternberg, Erich von Stroheim, Buster Keaton, and a hundred others. —Orson Welles Continue reading In Their Words — Thursday, January 31, 2013
Michael J. Cinema 
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