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Orson Welles, Volume 2: Hello Americansby Simon Callow
Review-a-Day (What is Review-a-Day?)"Callow's work in progress is a monument (he says he'll finish up with a third volume, though given the depth and detail of the first two, I'd guess he has a couple left to write). Doorstop biographies nearly always get mired in chronology and minutiae. Animated by a brisk intelligence, Callow's opus seldom does, although it now totals nearly 1,000 pages. He shapes and interprets his material and with panache places his story in rich context. Moreover, Callow is as indefatigable a researcher as he is stylish a writer....Even more important, Callow is exquisitely sensitive to the force — the seductiveness, the menace, the usefulness — of Welles's immense charm..." Benjamin Schwarz, The Atlantic Monthly (read the entire Atlantic Monthly review) Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:The highly anticipated second volume of Simon Callow's magisterial biography of Orson Welles.
Simon Callow's celebrated first volume of Orson Welles's life concluded with the brash young director unveiling what would prove to be his — and arguably American cinema's — greatest achievement: Citizen Kane. But instead of embarking on an illustrious career in Hollywood, as Callow vividly details in Hello Americans, Welles became increasingly unable to function within the structure of the moviemaking industry. Hello Americans offers readers a critical look at the years after Citizen Kane up to Macbeth (1947), from his difficult and self-defeating temperament to some of the monstrous personalities with whom he was involved. Callow fully illustrates each film of the period — The Magnificent Ambersons, Journey into Fear, The Stranger, The Lady from Shanghai — as well as Welles's off-screen activities — his dedicated but ill-fated attempts to be a radio comedian and stage magician; his fervent desire to revive spectacular theater single-handedly; his newspaper columns; and his political interests, which he pursued passionately. The result is an expertly researched and elegantly written portrait that will remain the final word on this larger than life genius for generations to come. Review:"This scintillating follow-up to Callow's acclaimed The Road to Xanadu traces Welles's career from the triumphant premiere of Citizen Kane to his self-imposed exile to Europe in 1947. It was a pivotal period in the director's life, as his luster as Hollywood's boy wonder dimmed through a series of flawed — if intermittently brilliant — films, from The Magnificent Ambersons to MacBeth, that were snatched from his control and vandalized by frustrated studio executives. Eschewing the clich of misunderstood genius persecuted by Tinseltown philistines, Callow assigns some of the blame to Welles's perpetual distraction with a plethora of projects (including a misbegotten scheme to become a radio comedian), the unfocused grandiosity of his artistic impulses and his directorial 'strategy of simply shooting until the nature of the film finally declared itself.' As he explores the tension between the director's compulsion to make art and Hollywood's need to run a business, the author interweaves fluent critiques of Welles's films and creative processes that are nuanced and perceptive. Callow's is a superbly written account of a magnetic personality and towering talent plagued by internal weaknesses and external friction, one that manages to shape the 'Orsonic tornado' into an engrossing tragicomedy." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"Welles is complex, and Callow... Review:"Much of Welles's work may be flawed, but almost all of it shows evidence of brilliance and invention, as Simon Callow so beautifully tells us." Paul Mazursky, The Wall Street Journal Synopsis:In this second volume of his masterful, highly acclaimed biography, Callow captures the genius of Orson Welles, revealing a life even more extraordinary than the myths that have surrounded it. About the AuthorSimon Callow is an actor, director, and writer. He has appeared on the stage and in many films, including Four Weddings and a Funeral and Shakespeare in Love. His other books include Orson Welles: The Road to Xanadu, Shooting the Actor, and Being an Actor. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
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