Editing Orson Welles (section)

=== ''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.