Orson Welles...A 20th Century Icon

Television chat shows these days are not what they used to be. They seem to be bereft of

intellectual characters or even political heavyweights. Oh sure those people still exist out

there but program planners would prefer to feed us with Pop Stars, Athletes and especially

Movie stars that are never short of a comical smutty behind the scene story that always

gets a good laugh.

Perhaps if the intelligentsia were invited on to these shows, programmers might worry

that the shows were being used as a political platform and say things that shouldn't be

said now that we live in different times.

So I couldn't resist re-posting up this youtube video of the great Orson Welles who dropped

in on The Dick Cavett Show back in 1970. And in the interview he recalls how unimpressed

he was at a gathering upon first meeting Hitler.

He also mentions two comical meetings with Britain's War time leader Sir Winston Churchill.

Youtube yploaded by The Dick Cavett Show.

Orson Welles....A 20th Century Icon.

"THERE HAS NEVER BEEN ANYONE...EVER...AS INTERESTING, BROADLY KNOWLEDGABLE,
MYSTERIOUS, RIVETING AND TALENTED AS ORSON WELLES."   (Jupiter Le Grand)

"WHY CAN'T AMERICANS HAVE TALK SHOWS LIKE THIS AGAIN."  (Ariadita Pramestu)

"WATCHING THIS I REALIZE HOW FAR WE HAVE FALLEN."   (Phillipe Cook)

"CANT HELP BUT ADMIRE THE PACE. NO RUSHING... JUST A SMOOTH FLOW OF CONVERSATION."
( Scram004)        Youtube comments.



Well I've often asked myself the same question. Why can't late night
chat shows be like they used to be instead of the tv output we get
today where they bring them on like cattle while we watch and wait
to see which so called celebrity can get the most laughs with
some smutty episode from their time on a film set.

With the general decline in films today, Hollywood moguls must be
quaking in their boots after Korea's victory for the top prize at this
year's Oscars.
The fact is that today's actors don't seem to have the gravitas and
intellect that many of yesterday's actors had.
Just watching many of the re-runs of The Parkinson Shows are a joy
to watch, with actors like Peter Ustinov, Rex Harrison, Fred Astaire,
Richard Burton, John Betjeman, James Cagney, Spike Milligan,
Shelley Winters, David Niven, Lauren Bacall, Peter O'Toole,
Richard Harris, Peter Sellers, Dirk Bogarde, Shirley MacClaine,
Jack Lemmon Bing Crosby, Bob Hope as well as
Dick Cavett, and the great man himself,  Orson Welles.
The list was endless.


And that one man who had a lifetime battle with Hollywood was the great
Orson Welles, a giant of the 20th century who was also an incredible
witness to history.
Here we see him from a 1970 recording of The Dick Cavett Show
in which he reminisced of his meetings with such historical figures
like Adolph Hitler, General George Marshall and Winston Churchill.
Of course many would be surprised to hear about his dining at the
same table as Adolph Hitler back in his early days when Hitler
had only just formed the Nazi Party.
Welles recalled to Dick Cavett that he could remember nothing about
Hitler, saying that there was nothing there, no personality whatsoever.
And towards the end of the video Welles recalls the times he met up
with Winston Churchill, probably the most amusing part of the whole video.

If I was ever to refresh and update a list of all my top favourite classic
movies, then at least five of Orson Welles's movies would easily be
in the top 15. Those being.........

1.  CITIZEN KANE
2.  A TOUCH OF EVIL
3.  THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI
4.  CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT
5.  F FOR FAKE

We sometimes think of 'THE THIRD MAN' (1949) directed by
Carol Reed as being a Welles film when in fact he only had a cameo role
in it. But even in that brief role he stole the show and is credited for spouting
one of cinema's greatest lines in a movie.........


"YOU KNOW WHAT THE FELLOW SAID - IN ITALY, FOR
THIRTY YEARS UNDER THE BORGIAS, THEY HAD WARFARE,
TERROR, MURDER AND BLOODSHED, BUT THEY
PRODUCED MICHELANGELO, LEONARDO DA VINCI
AND THE RENAISSANCE.
IN SWITZERLAND, THEY HAD BROTHERLY LOVE, AND
HAD FIVE HUNDRED YEARS OF DEMOCRACY AND
PEACE - AND WHAT DID THAT PRODUCE? THE CUCKOO CLOCK."


ABOVE VIDEO KINDLY UPLOADED BY THE DICK CAVETT CHANNEL