Lost Orson Welles Film May Be Headed Our Way Soon

There's probably no filmmaker as famous for the movies he didn't make as the ones he did as Orson Welles. Sure, everybody knows "Citizen Kane," but among film historians Welles is a mythic figure in part because of the handful of films he shot and never quite completed or left for others to finish. One of those, "The Other Side of the Wind," was filmed about 40 years ago -- and there's a chance we'll finally get to see it in the near future.

Starring John Huston as an over-the-hill, out-of-favor director, "The Other Side of the Wind" was shot over a period of several years between the late '60s and early '70s, the unedited film reels ending up in a vault in France, where they still reside. Lack of funds and Welles' fading health were to blame for "Other Side" never being assembled, but it appears that the people who own the rights to the film (including, amazingly, the widow of the Shah of Iran' brother-in-law) have agreed to cooperate so that the movie can actually see the light of day.

The next problem, of course, is determining exactly in what form audiences will (or should) see it. Director and actor Peter Bogdanovich was a longtime friend of Welles' who appeared in "Other Side" and said that the filmmaker had given him notes on how to edit the movie. But a Spanish filmmaker, Andrés Vicente Gómez, who worked with Welles on "Other Side" has declared that it would be an "act of betrayal" if anyone other than Welles completed the film, which would prove difficult since the man died in 1985. Part of Gómez's rationale is that "Other Side" was an autobiographical film for Welles: "The main character is a mix of [Ernest] Hemingway, Huston and himself... It was a film very close to him."

So, what's the film about exactly? According to The A.V. Club, "Huston plays a macho, aging Hollywood filmmaker who attempts to revive his career by making a sex-laden swinging '70s exploitation flick -- seen, along with a mockumentary on his career, as a film within the film -- while the press dogs him at his 70th birthday party." People who have seen the footage swear it's extraordinary, but we confess to being slightly apprehensive: Aside from the occasional "8 1/2," there just aren't that many fantastic films about the agony of making films. With that said, though, it's pretty hard to deny the excitement at the possibility of there being one last Orson Welles movie out there in the world. We do, however, hope it's more inspiring than this scene would suggest:

Orson Welles's unseen masterpiece set for release [The Guardian]
Orson Welles' unfinished film may finally see release [The A.V. Club]