ORSON WELLES: GENIUS

I promised some friends that I would tell them how the last complete episode of Orson Welles' TV travelogue show turned out. Well, I saw it last week at Steve's and it was, just like the other episodes, a revelation.  Some call it the Jean Cocteau episode, but Cocteau was hardly in it. Mostly it was an interview with a skilled American sculptor who lived in Paris and insisted on wearing a toga instead of pants.

   

Steve rightly summed up Welles' role as that of the listener. The focus was on what the sculptor had to say. Orson spoke only to provoke the man to keep talking. What seemed to interest Welles was not the man's opinions about pants but rather his dignity and good will. As in the other episodes Welles found a subject who represented what was good about mankind and just let the camera roll, trusting that we'd be interested. And we were.

One more thought: Welles was a little more active than I indicated here, though his technique was subtle. With his own voice and demeanor he established a civilized and encouraging tone. Maybe with a different interviewer the man's opinions would have degenerated into a rant, but with Orson they came across as thoughts deserving respect. The film was shot in the aftermath of WWII and I imagine that Welles believed in the healing power of friendly and intelligent conversation.

Interesting, eh?