Comments on: Even Orson Welles Makes Mistakes…

By: website design

website design — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:36:16 +0000

While I do think Welles should have gotten it right in the piece, I do believe that “Movieola” was probably a generic term at the time, like “Xerox” for copy machines.

Agreed.

By: Frank Reynolds

Frank Reynolds — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:11:03 +0000

Back when it’s student films were cut on film, UCLA had Movieola flatbeds. I worked on them a few times, and what I remember most about them is that the prism glass could be pushed down so you could grease-pencil the frame, but that glass got really hot, so you had to be careful with your fingers whenever you wanted to mark a frame.

By the way, Arri actually made a flatbed for a while..it was really funky-looking, kind of retro-modern. A friend once referred to it as “Captain Kirk’s flatbed.” The coolest thing about it was that you could control exact fps speed on it from 1fps until about 50fps. Was great for ordering speed-change opticals. When I was at AFI in the early 90s, they had a few.

While I do think Welles should have gotten it right in the piece, I do believe that “Movieola” was probably a generic term at the time, like “Xerox” for copy machines.

By: John Larsen

John Larsen — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:25:38 +0000

For me Mr. Wells is absolutely correct in stating that editing is the final stop in the creation of a film. It is the last foxhole you leave from to the battle ground of release and you better have gotten it right or the audience will kill you! (I tried tapping that out that in my best O. Wells oratory-weak at best!) I too agree with Brian W letting Wells slide about the difference between a Moviola or Steenbeck (I learned on an upright Moviola and moved to flatbeds of both flavors just as “video editing” was being introduced-and I do not miss digging the bin looking for a lost frame). Not that many people were movie editors back then in the old ’70s. Then and the brand of our application or OS platform made little difference. Now that every kid and his grandma is a video editor with dozens of programs to choose from its a brand war for market share so the name is the game. But the last fox hole is still just that – there is just more brave but dead bodies on the battlefield and happily some fine survivors. Cheers to all!

By: Brian Williams

Brian Williams — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:19:54 +0000

As others have pointed out, the 16mm flatbed is not a Moviola. To Welles, working in 35mm, Moviola may have been a generic term. Most features were cut on uprights until, i donno, later 70s. The Steenbeck might have been a more interesting, modern looking prop, but he is speaking about the role of editing in the filmmakers process, and referring to Steenbeck or “flatbed editing table” would not have had the more universal meaning at that time.
I’ll let Orson slide on this one.
Beautifully written.
Brian Williams
Twitter: avidalone

By: Dave hardy

Dave hardy — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 19:45:10 +0000

Whether his father actually was a personal friend of the magician Houdini, may or may not be fact. However, like Bergman, he did become fascinated with theatre radio & film as a result of his interest in magic. Whereas Bergman interest was in plumbing the depths of the human condition, Welles was completely bored by the truth, regarding it as an obsession of mediocrities.
What interested him was spinning the web. He was one of the great masters of the tall tale. Did it really take months to persuade people to return to New York City after his War of the Worlds caper & did he really launch his acting career in Ireland as a teenager passing himself off as a famous american actor? Probably not, but the tale certainly was an interesting yarn.

Interviewers found him frustrating as he would constanly fabricate new variations on the facts of his life, swearing that this time the information was the honest to goodness truth. Certainly a larger than life caracter.

By: Norman

Norman — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:38:39 +0000

Dave,

Wow, this is fantastic. Frankly, aside from the fact that he looked completely zonked on something, it never really occurred to me that this might have been a great put-on. If this is the case then the man is a certified Genius in my book, and the funniest person ever to be in an editing room and talk about the equipment.

Thanks for the info.

Norman

By: Dave hardy

Dave hardy — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 22:34:50 +0000

This clip might actually be an outtake from Welles last feature film F- Is For Fake. He came from that generation of filmmakers that were particularly enamored with the practical. Welles variant on the practical joke was the hoax.
This was his own personal editing table that he had crated & had shipped to follow him wherever he went in Europe. He knew it wasn’t a Moviola & he knew that any film editor or director would would also know it wasn’t a Moviola, but what made the hoax worth doing was that potentially millions of people who saw the clip would be duped into thinking that they knew what a Moviola looked like. After all he says with apparent utmost sincerity that the machine is in fact a Moviola The icing on the cake of course was that both the Moviola & Steenbeck companies would both have their feathers ruffled when they saw the clip.

Anyone who hasn’t seen F Is For Fake can see it on YouTube in a series of 9 Parts. This is really Welles at his best & thoroughly delightful. There is also a video clip of Peter Bogdanovitch discussing F Is For Fake.

By: Norman

Norman — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 22:08:39 +0000

GB,

About the only thing that I miss about the uprights is that it was easier to fix them when they broke — toss in a bulb or a belt and voilá.

Otherwise, if I never have to search for a two frame trim again, I’ll be just fine.

Norman

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:30:12 +0000

I may be under 40, but the only comment I might take exception to was the comment that the Moviola is the last step before the audience sees the film, which isn’t the case, obviously requiring further intervention such as a sound design and mix, negative cutting, et al.

By: GB

GB — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:37:46 +0000

I miss the ol’ Uprights and flat beds.