The Heroine
The Heroine | |
---|---|
Directed by | Orson Welles |
Screenplay by | Orson Welles |
Based on | The Heroine by Isak Dinesen |
Produced by | Alexander Paal |
Starring | Oja Kodar |
Cinematography | Willy Kurant |
Release date | Unfinished |
Country | Hungary |
Language | English |
The Heroine is an incomplete 1967 film, now lost, that was directed by Orson Welles.[1]
Plot
The film was due to be a one-hour adaptation of an Isak Dinesen story of the same name, from her collection Winter's Tales (1942). It would have starred Oja Kodar as a young French aristocratic widow during the 1870 Franco-Prussian War. After being arrested by the Prussians in Sarre, she would have been allowed to proceed to France, but a Prussian officer would have offered a passport to all the French prisoners if she would come to collect hers naked.[1]
Production
Late in 1966, Welles had filmed another one-hour Karen Blixen adaptation The Immortal Story, for French television. It would not be transmitted (or released in other territories) until 1968, and while editing was still underway on the project, Welles decided to shoot one or two more Blixen stories so that they could be combined with The Immortal Story as a feature-length anthology film, and secure a theatrical release.
The film was financed by London-based Hungarian producer Alexander Paal and the Hungarian state film production board, and Welles brought in cinematographer Willy Kurant, whom he would subsequently work with again on The Deep. The rest of the film crew came from the Hungarian film industry.
Only one day of filming took place on The Heroine, on 14 April 1967,[2] in the opera house of Budapest, using arc lights for the last time in Welles' career. During that day, Welles began to have serious doubts about the technical competence of the Hungarian film crew. Additionally, he was presented with a grossly inflated bill at the end of the day's filming.
Consequently, Welles covertly left the country after just one day's filming, leaving his debts unpaid. The footage has never been found, and is believed lost.[1]
References
- ^ a b c Jean-Pierre Berthomé and Frnancois Thomas, Orson Welles at Work (Phaidon, London, 2008) pp.231, 282-3
- ^ Jean-Pierre Berthomé and Frnancois Thomas, Orson Welles at Work (Phaidon, London, 2008) p.311
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- Filmography
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- Bibliography
- Unrealized projects
- Citizen Kane (1941)
- The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
- The Stranger (1946)
- The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
- Macbeth (1948)
- Othello (1951)
- Mr. Arkadin (1955)
- Touch of Evil (1958)
- The Trial (1962)
- Chimes at Midnight (1965)
- The Immortal Story (1968)
- F for Fake (1973)
- Filming Othello (1978)
- The Other Side of the Wind (2018)
- Twelfth Night (1933)
- The Hearts of Age (1934)
- Citizen Kane trailer (1940)
- Around the World (1946)
- The Miracle of St. Anne (1950)
- Magic Trick (1953)
- The Dominici Affair (1955)
- Portrait of Gina (1958)
- An Evening with Orson Welles (1970)
- Orson's Bag
- Vienna (1968)
- The Merchant of Venice (1969)
- One Man Band (1968–1971)
- Moby Dick (1971)
- Orson Welles' Magic Show (1976–1985)
- The Spirit of Charles Lindbergh (1984)
- Too Much Johnson (1938)
- It's All True (1942)
- Don Quixote (1957–1969)
- The Heroine (1967)
- The Deep (1967–1970)
- Filming 'The Trial' (1981)
- The Dreamers (1980–1982)
- Journey into Fear (1943)
- Follow the Boys (1944)
- Black Magic (1949)
- Three Cases of Murder (1955)
- David and Goliath (1960)
- The Southern Star (1969)
- Citizen Kane (1941)
- The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
- It's All True (1942)
- Journey into Fear (1943)
- Jane Eyre (1943)
- The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
- Macbeth (1948)
- Othello (1951)
- Mr. Arkadin (1955)
- Don Quixote (1957–1969)
- The Deep (1967–1970)
- The Merchant of Venice (1969)
- Filming 'The Trial' (1981)
- The Dreamers (1980–1982)
- The Spirit of Charles Lindbergh (1984)
- Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
- Treasure Island (1972)
- Cradle Will Rock (1999)
- The Big Brass Ring (1999)
- Orson Welles' Sketch Book (1955)
- Around the World with Orson Welles (1955)
- Orson Welles and People (1956)
- The Fountain of Youth (1958)
- In the Land of Don Quixote (1964)
- The Orson Welles Show (1979)
- Marching Song (1932)
- Bright Lucifer
- Voodoo Macbeth (1936)
- Horse Eats Hat (1936)
- The Cradle Will Rock (1937)
- Caesar (1937–1938)
- Too Much Johnson (1938)
- Native Son (1941)
- The Mercury Wonder Show (1943)
- Around the World (1946)
- Othello (1951)
- The Lady in the Ice (1953)
- Moby Dick—Rehearsed (1955)
- Rhinoceros (1960)
- Les Misérables (1937)
- The Shadow (1937–1938)
- The Mercury Theatre on the Air (1938)
- "Dracula" (1938)
- "The War of the Worlds" (1938)
- The Campbell Playhouse (1938–1940)
- The Orson Welles Show (1941–1942)
- Ceiling Unlimited (1942–1943)
- Hello Americans (1942–1943)
- The Orson Welles Almanac (1944)
- This Is My Best (1945)
- Orson Welles Commentaries (1945–1946)
- The Mercury Summer Theatre of the Air (1946)
- The Adventures of Harry Lime (1951–1952)
- The Black Museum (1951–52)
- The Happy Prince (1946)
- The Begatting of the President (1970)
- This is Orson Welles (1992)
- Les Bravades (1996)
- Mercury Theatre
- Rita Hayworth (second wife)
- Paola Mori (third wife)
- Beatrice Welles (daughter)
- Oja Kodar
- Frozen Peas
- Orson Welles Paul Masson advertisements
- It's All True: Based on an Unfinished Film by Orson Welles (1993)
- Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles (2014)
- They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018)
- Orson Welles (crater)