Editing Orson Welles (section)

== Return to Europe (1959–1970) ==

[[File:Orson Welles - 1960.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Welles in ''[[Crack in the Mirror]]'' (1960)]]
He continued shooting ''Don Quixote'' in Spain and Italy, but replaced Mischa Auer with Francisco Reiguera, and resumed acting jobs.
In Italy in 1959, Welles directed his scenes as [[King Saul]] in Richard Pottier's film ''David and Goliath''. In Hong Kong, he co-starred with [[Curt Jürgens]] in [[Lewis Gilbert]]'s film ''[[Ferry to Hong Kong]]''. In 1960, in Paris he co-starred in [[Richard Fleischer]]'s film ''[[Crack in the Mirror]]''. In [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] he starred in [[Richard Thorpe]]'s film ''[[The Tartars]]'' and [[Veljko Bulajić]]'s ''[[Battle of Neretva (film)|Battle of Neretva]]''.

Throughout the 1960s, filming continued on ''Quixote'' on-and-off, as Welles evolved the concept, tone and ending several times. Although he had a complete version shot and edited at least once, he would continue toying with the editing well into the 1980s; he never completed a version he was fully satisfied with and would junk existing footage and shoot new footage. In one case, he had a complete cut ready in which Quixote and Sancho Panza end up going to the Moon, but felt the ending was rendered obsolete by the 1969 Moon landings and burned 10 reels of this version. As the process went on, Welles gradually voiced all the characters and provided narration. In 1992, the director [[Jesús Franco]] constructed a film out of the portions of ''Quixote'' left by Welles. Some of the film stock had decayed badly. While the Welles footage was greeted with interest, the post-production by Franco was met with criticism.

In 1961, Welles directed ''In the Land of Don Quixote'', eight half-hour episodes for the Italian television network [[RAI]]. Similar to ''Around the World with Orson Welles'', they presented travelogues of Spain and included Welles's wife, Paola, and their daughter, Beatrice. Though Welles was fluent in Italian, the network was not interested in him providing narration because of his accent, and the series sat unreleased until 1964, by when the network had added its own Italian narration. Ultimately, versions of the episodes were released with the original musical score Welles had approved, but without the narration.

=== ''The Trial'' ===

{{Main|The Trial (1962 film)}}
In 1962, Welles directed his adaptation of ''[[The Trial (1962 film)|The Trial]]'', based on [[The Trial|the novel]] by [[Franz Kafka]] and produced by Michael and [[Alexander Salkind]]. The cast included [[Jeanne Moreau]], [[Romy Schneider]], [[Paola Mori]], [[Akim Tamiroff]] and [[Anthony Perkins]] as Josef K. While filming exteriors in [[Zagreb]], Welles was informed that the Salkinds had run out of money, meaning there could be no set construction. No stranger to shooting on found locations, Welles soon filmed the interiors in the [[Gare d'Orsay]], then an abandoned station in Paris. Welles thought the location possessed a "[[Jules Verne]] modernism" and a melancholy sense of "waiting", both suitable for Kafka. To remain in the spirit of Kafka, Welles set up the cutting room with the editor, Frederick Muller (as Fritz Muller), in the old unused, cold, depressing, station master office. The film failed at the box-office. [[Peter Bogdanovich]] observed that Welles found it riotously funny. Welles told a BBC interviewer that it was his best film.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wellesnet.com/trial%20bbc%20interview.htm |title=Welles BBC interview |publisher=Wellesnet.com |access-date=March 30, 2010 |archive-date=November 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117061211/http://www.wellesnet.com/trial%20bbc%20interview.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> While filming ''The Trial'' Welles met [[Oja Kodar]], who became his partner and collaborator for the last 20 years of his life.<ref name="Welles TIOW" />{{Rp|428}}

Welles played a film director in ''[[La Ricotta]]'' (1963), [[Pier Paolo Pasolini]]'s segment of the ''[[Ro.Go.Pa.G.]]'' movie, although his renowned voice was dubbed by writer Giorgio Bassani.<ref name="Welles TIOW" />{{Rp|516|date=May 2012}} He continued taking what work he could find acting, narrating or hosting other people's work, and began filming ''[[Chimes at Midnight]]'', which was completed in 1965.

=== ''Chimes at Midnight'' ===

{{Main|Chimes at Midnight}}
[[File:Orson-Welles-Falstaff.jpg|thumb|Welles as Falstaff in ''[[Chimes at Midnight]]'' (1965)]]
Filmed in Spain, ''Chimes at Midnight'' was based on Welles's play, ''[[Chimes at Midnight#Five Kings (1939)|Five Kings]]'', in which he drew material from six Shakespeare plays to tell the story of [[Falstaff|Sir John Falstaff]] (Welles) and his relationship with [[Henry V of England|Prince Hal]] ([[Keith Baxter (actor)|Keith Baxter]]). The cast includes [[John Gielgud]], [[Jeanne Moreau]], [[Fernando Rey]] and [[Margaret Rutherford]]; the film's narration, spoken by [[Ralph Richardson]], is taken from the chronicler [[Raphael Holinshed]].<ref name="Bret Wood" />{{Rp|249}} Welles held the film in high regard: "It's my favorite picture, yes. If I wanted to get into heaven on the basis of one movie, that's the one I would offer up."<ref name="Estrin" />{{Rp|203}} [[Anthony Lane]] writes that "what Welles means to conjure up is not just historical continuity—the very best of Sir John—but a sense that the Complete Works of Shakespeare constitute, as it were, one vast poem, from which his devoted and audacious interpreters are free to quote... the picture both honors Shakespeare and spurns the industry, academic and theatrical, that has encrusted him over time."<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Lane |first=Anthony |date=November 25, 1996 |title=Tights! Camera! Action! |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1996/11/25/tights-camera-action |access-date=May 7, 2024 |archive-date=February 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203010308/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1996/11/25/tights-camera-action |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1966, Welles directed a film for French television, an adaptation of ''[[The Immortal Story]]'', by [[Karen Blixen]]. Released in 1968, it stars Jeanne Moreau, [[Roger Coggio]] and [[Norman Eshley]]. The film had a successful run in French theaters. At this time Welles met Oja Kodar again, and gave her a letter he had written to her and been keeping for four years; they would not be parted again. They immediately began a collaboration both personal and professional. The first of these was an adaptation of Blixen's ''The Heroine'', meant to be a companion piece to ''The Immortal Story'' and starring Kodar. Unfortunately, funding disappeared after one day's shooting. After completing this film, he appeared in a cameo as [[Cardinal Thomas Wolsey|Cardinal Wolsey]] in [[Fred Zinnemann]]'s adaptation of ''[[A Man for All Seasons (1966 film)|A Man for All Seasons]]''—a role for which he won acclaim.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}

[[File:Stevan Kragujevic, Sergei Bondarchuk and Orson Welles, Sarajevo, 29. november 1969. Movie premier Battle of Neretva.JPG|thumb|[[Sergei Bondarchuk]] and Welles at the ''[[Battle of Neretva (film)|Battle of Neretva]]'' premiere in [[Sarajevo]] (November 1969)]]
In 1967, Welles began directing ''[[The Deep (1970 film)|The Deep]]'', based on the novel ''[[Dead Calm (novel)|Dead Calm]]'' by [[Charles Williams (U.S. author)|Charles Williams]] and filmed off the shore of [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]]. The cast included Moreau, Kodar and [[Laurence Harvey]]. Personally financed by Welles and Kodar, they could not obtain the funds to complete the project, and it was abandoned a few years later after the death of Harvey. The surviving footage was eventually edited and released by the Filmmuseum München. In 1968 Welles began filming a TV special for CBS under the title ''Orson's Bag'', combining travelogue, comedy skits and a condensation of Shakespeare's ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'' with Welles as [[Shylock]]. In 1969 Welles asked editor Frederick Muller to work with him re-editing the material and they set up cutting rooms at the Safa Palatino Studios in Rome. Funding for the show sent by CBS to Welles in Switzerland was seized by the IRS. Without funding, the show was not completed. The surviving [[The Merchant of Venice (unfinished film)|film]] clips portions were eventually released by the Filmmuseum München.

In 1969, Welles authorized the use of his name for a cinema in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]. The [[Orson Welles Cinema]] remained in operation until 1986, with Welles making a personal appearance there in 1977. Also in 1969, he played a supporting role in [[John Huston]]'s ''[[The Kremlin Letter]]''. Drawn by the offers he received to work in television and films, and upset by a tabloid scandal reporting his affair with Kodar, Welles abandoned the editing of ''Don Quixote'' and moved back to America in 1970.