Word: wellesian
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...version of The Tell-Tale Heart, released in late Oct. 1941, was possibly the very first movie to be influenced by Citizen Kane (which came out less than six months before). This short film, with Joseph Schildkraut as the guilt-stricken killer, is positively a-swill in Wellesian tropes: the crouching camera, the chiaroscuro lighting, the mood-deepening use of silences and sound effects. But MGM wasn't a studio that encouraged innovation or eccentricity, and Dassin's seven feature films there are program pictures that hold no, repeat, no hint of his future gift for putting torment and teamwork...
...That?s a shame, because it?s a huge (some 200 hours over 20 years) and impressive body of work, and it?s the overwhelming extant evidence of the Wellesian preoccupations and attitudes that gave birth to "Kane" and its kin. Nearly every actor who appeared in "Kane" - Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloane, Ray Collins, George Coulouris, Agnes Moorehead,William Alland, Paul Stewart - had worked with Welles on radio. Herman J. Mankiewicz, the screenwriter of "Kane," had penned several "Campbell Playhouse" episodes, including "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" and "Huckleberry Finn." Houseman, who midwifed the "Kane" script, effectively produced the radio...
...looked forward to scoring a "breakthrough" film project that would simultaneously solve his financial troubles and resuscitate his standing in the Hollywood community. The juiciest anecdotes in Hill's biography detail the curious way in which he pursued this breakthrough: in true self-destructive, Wellesian style, he hooked up with a variety of collaborators who were immaculately talented, but were further along in their alcohol- and drug-dependency than he was (Hill sketches Southern as a functional "user" whose biggest weaknesses were drink and Dexamyl - used to complete manuscripts on short deadlines): William Burroughs and a far-gone Dennis Hopper...
...loyalty is nothing new to Allis, though. Colleagues know Sam best for his engaging wit and his tendency to immerse himself in a good story. While on the presidential campaign trail with Walter Mondale in 1984, Allis grew a beard, overate on the campaign plane and "became somewhat Orson Wellesian," recalls a comrade. In other phases, he's been lean and mean. "Sam is indefatigable, and his enthusiasms are boundless," observes George Russell, who edited this week's cover package. "He throws himself at things. That's one of the reasons he's so good at what he does...
...Pimen is delivered with a basso profundo of enough tensile magnificence to signal a potential Boris. Right now, though, the role is the hot property of Finland's Martti Talvela, a huge (6 ft. 7 in., 260 Ibs.), nimble, running tackle of a man with an obsessed, Orson Wellesian face. At 39 he has a voice that may lack the steely edge of, say, Chaliapin, Kipnis or even Pinza but compensates with its oval warmth and human shadings. One never doubts that this Boris can be compassionate, a killer or mad. Accomplished without any personal padding of garment...