cover image This is Orson Welles

This is Orson Welles

Orson Welles. HarperCollins Publishers, $30 (533pp) ISBN 978-0-06-016616-8

This title is a potpourri of material by and about Welles (1915-1985), who wrote, directed and starred in the classic Citizen Kane , played a masterful Harry Lime in The Third Man and wrote, directed and acted in other films that have garnered a devoted if relatively small following. The bulk of the book consists of a series of interviews conducted by director/author Bogdanovich with Welles (interspersed with letters, memos and telegrams), as well as a chronology of Welles's life and career, a description of the scenes and dialogue cut by studio bosses from Welles's The Magnificent Ambersons and notes by film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum (which often correct Welles's entertaining but sometimes inaccurate stories). Welles and Bogdanovich's conversation develops interestingly--like the conversation in Louis Malle's My Dinner with Andre --and is sprinkled with discussions of Welles's radio career, movies and observations on film and other directors. For example, about Alfred Hitchcock, Welles says: ``There's a certain icy calculation in a lot of Hitch's work that puts me off. He says he doesn't like actors, and sometimes it looks as though he doesn't like people .'' Photos . (Oct.)