Editing Orson Welles (section)

== Europe (1948–56) ==
In Italy he starred as [[Cagliostro]] in the 1949 film ''[[Black Magic (1949 film)|Black Magic]]''. His co-star, [[Akim Tamiroff]], impressed Welles so much that Tamiroff would appear in four of Welles's productions during the 1950s and 60s.

The following year, Welles starred as Harry Lime in [[Carol Reed]]'s ''[[The Third Man]]'', alongside Cotten, his friend and co-star from ''Citizen Kane'', with a script by [[Graham Greene]] and a memorable score by [[Anton Karas]]. In it, Welles makes what [[Roger Ebert]] called "the most famous entrance in the movies, and one of the most famous speeches." Greene credited the speech to Welles.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |date=December 8, 1996 |title=The Third Man |work=[[Chicago Sun Times]] |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-third-man-1949 |archive-date=August 6, 2020 |access-date=January 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806194219/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-third-man-1949 |url-status=live }}</ref> Radio producer [[Harry Alan Towers]] would resurrect Lime in the radio series ''[[The Adventures of Harry Lime]]''.

Welles appeared as [[Cesare Borgia]] in the 1949 Italian film ''[[Prince of Foxes (film)|Prince of Foxes]]'', with [[Tyrone Power]] and Mercury Theatre alumnus [[Everett Sloane]], and as the Mongol warrior Bayan in the 1950 film version of the novel ''[[The Black Rose]]''.
<ref>Carol Reed biography</ref>

=== ''Othello'' ===

{{Main|Othello (1951 film)}}
[[File:Othello-Welles-Cloutier.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Welles and [[Suzanne Cloutier]] in ''[[Othello (1951 film)|Othello]]'' (1951)]]

During this time, Welles was channeling his money from acting jobs into a self-financed film version of Shakespeare's ''[[Othello]]''. From 1949 to 1951, Welles worked on ''[[Othello (1951 film)|Othello]]'', filming on location in Italy and Morocco. The film featured Welles's friends [[Micheál Mac Liammóir]] as [[Iago]] and [[Hilton Edwards]] as [[Desdemona (Othello)|Desdemona]]'s father [[Brabantio]]. [[Suzanne Cloutier]] starred as Desdemona and [[The Campbell Playhouse (TV series)|Campbell Playhouse]] alumnus [[Robert Coote]] appeared as Iago's associate Roderigo.

Filming was suspended several times as Welles ran out of funds and left for acting jobs, accounted in detail in MacLiammóir's memoir ''Put Money in Thy Purse''. The American release prints had a technically flawed soundtrack, suffering from a dropout of sound at every quiet moment. Welles's daughter, Beatrice Welles-Smith, restored ''Othello'' in 1992 for a re-release. The restoration included reconstructing [[Angelo Francesco Lavagnino]]'s original score, which was originally inaudible, and adding ambient stereo sound effects, which were not in the original. The restoration went on a successful theatrical run in America. [[David Thomson (film critic)|David Thomson]] writes of Welles's ''Othello'', "the poetry hangs in the air, like sea mist or incense." [[Anthony Lane]] writes that "Some of the action was shot in Venice, and I occasionally wonder what crept into the camera casing; the movie looks blackened and silvery, like an aged mirror, or as if the emulsion of the print were already poised to decay. You can't tell what is or isn't Shakespeare, where his influence begins and ends."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lane |first=Anthony |author-link=Anthony Lane |title=Nobody's Perfect |year=2002 |pages=585–586}}</ref> The movie premiered at the [[Cannes Film Festival]], where it won the ''Grand Prix'' (precursor of the [[Palme d'Or|Palme d'or]]).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bogdanovich |first=Peter |title=[[This is Orson Welles]] |year=1998 |edition=Revised |page=411}}</ref>

In 1952, Welles continued finding work in England after the success of the ''Harry Lime'' radio show. Harry Alan Towers offered Welles another series, ''[[The Black Museum (radio series)|The Black Museum]]'', which ran a year with Welles as host and narrator. Director Herbert Wilcox offered Welles the part of the victim in ''[[Trent's Last Case (1952 film)|Trent's Last Case]]'', based on [[Edmund Clerihew Bentley]]'s [[Trent's Last Case (novel)|novel]]. In 1953, the [[BBC]] hired Welles to read an hour of selections from [[Walt Whitman]]'s ''[[Song of Myself]]''. Towers hired Welles again, to play [[Professor Moriarty]] in the radio series ''[[The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (radio series)|The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes]]'' starring [[John Gielgud]] and [[Ralph Richardson]].

Welles briefly returned to America to make his first appearance on television, starring in the ''[[Omnibus (US TV series)|Omnibus]]'' presentation of ''[[King Lear (1953 TV drama)|King Lear]]'', broadcast live on [[CBS]] October 18, 1953. Directed by [[Peter Brook]], the production costarred [[Natasha Parry]], [[Beatrice Straight]] and [[Arnold Moss]].<ref>[https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/40866/king-lear/ DVD Talk review] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803081939/https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/40866/king-lear/ |date=August 3, 2020 }} February 9, 2010 (Retrieved December 29, 2011)</ref>

In 1954, director George More O'Ferrall offered Welles the title role in the 'Lord Mountdrago' segment of ''[[Three Cases of Murder]]'', co-starring [[Alan Badel]]. [[Herbert Wilcox]] cast Welles as the antagonist in ''[[Trouble in the Glen]]'' opposite [[Margaret Lockwood]], [[Forrest Tucker]] and [[Victor McLaglen]]. Old friend [[John Huston]] cast him as Father Mapple in his [[Moby Dick (1956 film)|1956 film adaptation]] of [[Herman Melville]]'s ''[[Moby-Dick]]'', starring [[Gregory Peck]].

=== ''Mr. Arkadin'' ===

{{Main|Mr. Arkadin}}
[[File:Orson Welles.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Welles in Madrid during filming of ''Mr. Arkadin'' in 1954]]
Welles's next turn as director was ''[[Mr. Arkadin]]'' (1955), which was produced by his political mentor from the 1940s, [[Louis Dolivet]]. It was filmed in France, Germany, Spain and Italy on a limited budget. Based loosely on episodes of the Harry Lime radio show, it stars Welles as a billionaire who hires a man to delve into the secrets of his past. The film stars [[Robert Arden]], who had worked on the Lime series; Welles's third wife, [[Paola Mori]], whose voice was dubbed by actress [[Billie Whitelaw]]; and guest stars [[Akim Tamiroff]], [[Michael Redgrave]], [[Katina Paxinou]] and [[Mischa Auer]]. Frustrated by his slow progress in the editing room, producer Dolivet removed Welles from the project and finished it without him. Eventually, five different versions of the film would be released, two in Spanish and three in English. The version that Dolivet completed was retitled ''Confidential Report''. In 2005 Stefan Droessler of the [[Munich Film Museum]] oversaw a reconstruction of the surviving film elements.

=== Television projects ===

In 1955, Welles directed two television series for the BBC. The first was ''[[Orson Welles' Sketch Book]]'', six 15-minute shows featuring Welles drawing in a sketchbook to illustrate his reminiscences including the filming of ''It's All True'' and the Isaac Woodard case. The second was ''[[Around the World with Orson Welles]]'', six travelogues set in locations around Europe (such as [[Vienna]], the [[Basque Country (historical territory)|Basque Country]], and England). Welles served as host and interviewer, his commentary including documentary facts and his observations (a technique he would continue to explore in later works).

During Episode 3 of ''Sketchbook'', Welles attacks abuse of police powers around the world. The episode starts with him telling the story of [[Isaac Woodard]], an African-American veteran during World War II being falsely accused by a bus driver of being drunk and disorderly, who has a policeman remove the man from the bus. Woodard is not arrested right away, but beaten unconscious nearly to death and permanently blinded. Welles assures the audience that he saw to it that justice was served to the policeman though he does not mention what justice was delivered. Welles goes on to give other examples of police being given more power and authority than is necessary. The episode is titled "The Police".

In 1956, Welles completed ''[[Portrait of Gina]]''. He left the only copy of it in his room at the [[Hôtel Ritz Paris|Hôtel Ritz]] in Paris. The film cans would remain in a lost-and-found locker at the hotel for decades, where they were discovered in 1986, after his death.