From Publishers Weekly
Using shooting scripts, shooting schedules, internal studio memos, private correspondence to and from Welles, and the director's interviews and public lectures, Heylin re-evaluates the circumstances under which Welles produced the six movies he made for Hollywood studios, from 1941's Citizen Kane through 1958's Touch of Evil. The depth of Heylin's research on Welles's consistent workaholic approach to his art, especially his examination of a 58-page memo Welles wrote to Universal after it dismantled Touch of Evil, aids Heylin in arguing against the claim put forth in other Welles bios that his work declined after Citizen Kane due to his own egotism and excess. Heylin's is the most well-researched and evenhanded refutation of this line of thought published to date, and shows in detail how Welles "was undone by real people, with real motives"—most notably Columbia studio head Harry Cohn, who cut The Lady from Shanghai from 155 to 86 minutes. Heylin (Bootleg: The Secret History of the Other Recording Industry; Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited; etc.) persuasively argues that Welles did indeed make masterpieces after Citizen Kane, but that audiences never got to see them because of continual intervention from Hollywood studio bosses who "had no idea what [Welles] was doing, and why he was taking so long to do it." 12 b&w photos. (Feb.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Orson Welles' travails within the Hollywood studio system, which all but demolished his career as one of cinema's most brilliant directors, are the stuff of legend. Executives pulled the plug on many ambitious projects, and the problematic state of many that were realized, recut, and with scenes by studio hacks added, have contributed to the widely accepted view that Welles had a fear of completion. Heylin's meticulously researched defense of Welles confirms that the primary obstacles were external. He explicates the changes wrought on nearly all Welles' films in detail, from the mangled masterpiece The Magnificent Ambersons to Welles' final American release, Touch of Evil, and he examines the budgetarily hindered works Welles made in European exile, too. He doesn't absolve Welles--he notes his habit of disappearing for days at critical junctures--but in light of the personal animosity he shows studio heads displaying toward Welles, it is hard to have anything but sympathy for the director. A fascinating encapsulation of one great example of the perdurable struggle between art and commerce. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Razor Magazine
"A definite page-turner . . . should be on the shelf of any fan of Welles or American cinema."
Book Description
Revealing the facts rather than the myths behind Orson Welles's Hollywood career, this groundbreaking history fills in the gaps behind the drama of one of the most well-known American filmmakers. Exploring why Welles's films, as released, never matched his youthful masterpiece Citizen Kane, this historical investigation delves into the enemies that hounded him, his unwaning faith in his audience, and the brilliance of his films—before they were butchered by the studios. Based on shooting scripts, schedules, internal memos, interviews, articles, lectures, and personal correspondence, this work creates a concrete picture of his struggles and successes. This heartbreaking tale brings to life the intelligent, perceptive, and passionate man who, for all his failings as a person, was utterly uncompromising in his art.
About the Author
Clinton Heylin
Despite the System: Orson Welles Versus the Hollywood Studios FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Did Orson Welles's filmmaking career decline steadily from his youthful masterpiece, Citizen Kane, to the wine advertisements he starred in during his last years? Welles's failures have long been laid at his own doorstep, blamed on an excess of appetite and ego. But Welles did make masterpieces after Citizen Kane - Hollywood just never let anyone see them. Between 1940 and 1958 he made six films for the studio system - Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Stranger, The Lady from Shanghai, Macbeth, and Touch of Evil. But Hollywood took four of them away from him at the editing stage and completely reconfigured them." Clinton Heylin's book finally reveals the facts, rather than the myths, behind Welles's Hollywood career. Based on shooting scripts and schedules, internal memos, interviews with key players, correspondence with and by Welles, and his own conversations, articles, and lectures, Heylin fills in the gaps and steers the reader toward an understanding of how Welles was undone not by his demons, but by real people with real motives. In addition, Despite the System shows what each of Welles's Hollywood films could have been had Welles had his own way.
FROM THE CRITICS
Budd Schulberg - The New York Times
While Heylin's prose is only workmanlike, with an occasional lapse in grammar, we aren't looking for Lionel Trilling here. We're looking at the most meticulous champion Orson Welles has ever had. For those of you who are scholars of Welles, amateur or pro, or simply wondering what in the world happened to him after his astonishing debut with ''Citizen Kane,'' this is the book for you.
Publishers Weekly
Using shooting scripts, shooting schedules, internal studio memos, private correspondence to and from Welles, and the director's interviews and public lectures, Heylin re-evaluates the circumstances under which Welles produced the six movies he made for Hollywood studios, from 1941's Citizen Kane through 1958's Touch of Evil. The depth of Heylin's research on Welles's consistent workaholic approach to his art, especially his examination of a 58-page memo Welles wrote to Universal after it dismantled Touch of Evil, aids Heylin in arguing against the claim put forth in other Welles bios that his work declined after Citizen Kane due to his own egotism and excess. Heylin's is the most well-researched and evenhanded refutation of this line of thought published to date, and shows in detail how Welles "was undone by real people, with real motives"-most notably Columbia studio head Harry Cohn, who cut The Lady from Shanghai from 155 to 86 minutes. Heylin (Bootleg: The Secret History of the Other Recording Industry; Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited; etc.) persuasively argues that Welles did indeed make masterpieces after Citizen Kane, but that audiences never got to see them because of continual intervention from Hollywood studio bosses who "had no idea what [Welles] was doing, and why he was taking so long to do it." 12 b&w photos. (Feb.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Undeniably the creator of a great oeuvre (e.g., Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, and Touch of Evil), director Orson Welles is invariably regarded as a genius manqu because of the films he never got to finish. In fact, he is almost as well known for the films he did not complete. Heylin, the author of several books about the music industry (e.g., Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited), argues that Welles was the victim of interference and downright hostility from the Hollywood studios dating back to 1941's Kane. Drawing on archival records, including studio memos and interviews, Heylin analyzes Welles's major films and details what he considers the ongoing betrayal of the director's work by supposed friends and foes alike. In his view, all the major films would have been near masterpieces in their original form but were sabotaged by heavyhanded editing and the quest for economy at the expense of quality. The author is so passionate about what he considers the injustices done to Welles that he allows himself numerous asides in which to vent his spleen. The result is just another in a long string of books on the great director-no doubt there will be more. Recommended for cinema collections.-Roy Liebman, formerly with California State Univ., Los Angeles Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
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