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Wow, I actually just watched that Kino Blu last night and was struck how I had never seen the opening logo before and wondered, too, about the last shot! That is a shame it's lost int he restoration.

Esteve Riambau on reconstructing Don Quixote:
https://wellesnet.com/esteve-riambau-don-quixote/

I haven’t seen this, but do Franco’s additions include a nude cabaret scene, crotch-zooms and plenty of out-of-focus content?

“… Don Quijote de Orson Welles, director Jess Franco’s controversial attempt to assemble the movie. Drawing on fragments of Welles’ unfinished film, footage from the Italian travelogue In the Land of Don Quixote, and newly shot material, the resulting disjointed feature was widely criticized...”

reaky wrote: Fri Jun 26, 2026 12:00 pm I haven’t seen this, but do Franco’s additions include a nude cabaret scene, crotch-zooms and plenty of out-of-focus content?

“… Don Quijote de Orson Welles, director Jess Franco’s controversial attempt to assemble the movie. Drawing on fragments of Welles’ unfinished film, footage from the Italian travelogue In the Land of Don Quixote, and newly shot material, the resulting disjointed feature was widely criticized...”

That might have made the travesty worth watching... well, not the out-of-focus content. The newly shot material mostly (exclusively?) consisted of b-roll shots of windmills. I recall one wide composite shot where Don Quixote and Sancho Panza are seen riding past one or more windmills in a poorly superimposed image - Quixote and Panza are from Welles' footage, the windmill is newly shot. Franco only had a fraction of Welles' footage to work with and that footage didn't actually feature any windmills. I'm not sure if Welles even filmed any windmills* during the 15 years or so of shooting although there is a lot of footage I've not seen.

*"'Don Quixote' without a windmill?" you may ask; Welles' version of the story placed Quixote and Panza in contemporary Spain so Quixote attacks a movie screen instead of a windmill (in an impressive scene edited by Welles but not included in Franco's version).

Part of the presentation in Bologna included a very fun workprint clip where Welles dubbed the voices of both Don Quixote and Sancho.

A new 4K master of The One Man Band from INA also screened, but I didn’t see it.

JamesF wrote: Fri Jun 26, 2026 8:25 pm Part of the presentation in Bologna included a very fun workprint clip where Welles dubbed the voices of both Don Quixote and Sancho.

A new 4K master of The One Man Band from INA also screened, but I didn’t see it.

The interview mentions Jonathon Braun (his first name is misspelled) as supposedly helping Welles create a workprint in the early 80’s. I don’t know where they got that information from, as I don’t think Welles was courting distributors/investors for Don Quixote in the 80’s.

On a separate topic, I wonder how much pre-production material exists from The Cradle Will Rock. Are there screen tests of Rupert Everett and Amy Irving? Photos of the sets under partial construction?

Maybe if this improbably manages to get completed, someone can convince Netflix to let The Other Side of the Wind onto disc.

albucat wrote: Sat Jun 27, 2026 12:06 am Maybe if this improbably manages to get completed, someone can convince Netflix to let The Other Side of the Wind onto disc.

Oh, I have confidence that we’ll be seeing Don Quixote and It’s All True reconstructions in the next few years.

Timeline for Don Quixote shooting and editing, plus summaries of extant materials, as presented at Ritrovato 2026:
https://wellesnet.com/photos-don-quixot ... sentation/

Maverick in the Machine: Orson Welles and the Battle Over Journey Into Fear, new book by Mark Edlitz:
https://wellesnet.com/maverick-book/

Also check out Damn Fool Idealistic Crusader´s YouTube channel, he did a long interview with Mark Edlitz.

Wellesnet interview with Edlitz:
https://wellesnet.com/journey-into-fear-book/

What are thoughts about the WAC release of Journey Into Fear?

FrauBlucher wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2026 9:08 pm What are thoughts about the WAC release of Journey Into Fear?

Would have been nice to have a commentary and alternate cut (even if SD only), but it's a great transfer of an imperfect film element. Does at least have radio shows as extras.

I’m assuming it’s the last version (byWelles) edited?

And what makes it imperfect for you?

Excited to see there's a book on Journey Into Fear, but how was there no mention that there's a recent book that's all about Orson Welles' commercials? Might be the most esoteric of esoteric film authorship I've seen.

The Elegant Dandy Fop wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2026 9:57 pm Excited to see there's a book on Journey Into Fear, but how was there no mention that there's a recent book that's all about Orson Welles' commercials? Might be the most esoteric of esoteric film authorship I've seen.

I imagine there are some fun stories in "Orson Welles' Commercial Break" given how much the internet has loved his frozen peas and Paul Masson outtakes. As I understand it, the book relates the full story behind the supposedly "drunk" Welles on the set of the Paul Masson ad shoot which is a good one.

FrauBlucher wrote:I’m assuming it’s the last version (byWelles) edited?

And what makes it imperfect for you?

From Wellesnet:

“The Blu-ray is not a deluxe package and will not include the 71-minute European version with alternate scenes, which was shown at the Locarno Film Festival in 2005. An assembly created by the Munich Film Museum using all available footage and shown at the Museum of Modern Art in 2015 is also not included.”

Welles may have had a hand in the final American cut, but I believe it was an attempt at retrieval after RKO had hacked it back.

New French-language book:

"Leur Orson Welles: Grands entretiens (published in French by Les Impressions Nouvelles in late 2025) is a collection of interviews that Jean-Pierre Berthomé and Francois Thomas conducted with Welles's collaborators over a more than 20-year period.".
https://www.wellesnet.com/wmb/viewtopic ... 176#p30553

Welles should have never died so early. If he could see us now, perhaps he can, how hard would be laugh?

Stefan wrote: Tue Jul 21, 2026 7:34 pm Welles should have never died so early. If he could see us now, perhaps he can, how hard would he laugh?

I’d think he’d be a Twitch streamer

I would say he'd more likely be a Tik Toker than a Twitcher.

Lowry_Sam wrote: Tue Jul 21, 2026 7:59 pm I would say he'd more likely be a Tik Toker than a Twitcher.

I dread the thought of him uttering the words Skibidi Toilet

‘The Orson Welles Show’ getting screening in October 2026, and Blu-ray release:
https://wellesnet.com/orson-welles-show-release/