Film Forum

(1948) In the gloomy, claustrophobic atmosphere of a studio-shot primitive world, a feudal lord (Welles in the title role) decides to go for the kingship, with horrifically fated results. The 89-minute U.S. release version, with the actors’ voices dubbed with American accents. Approx. 89 min. 35mm.

35mm restored print courtesy UCLA Film & Television Archive.

Restoration funding provided by The Film Foundation and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Plus Return to Glennascaul (1952): in this Oscar-nominated short, Orson Welles, on a drive in the Irish countryside, picks up a man who relates a “strange story told in Dublin.” Approx. 23 min. 35mm.

Print courtesy Constellation Center Collection at the Academy Film Archive.

Reviews

“All atmosphere and movement, filmed on forthrightly stagy sets with a restlessly tracking camera… There is force in this rough, hasty rendering; the sheer speed of the pacing gives it a quality of crushing delirium.” 
—Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

“One of the director's most personal creations, it's a courageous experiment with a craggy barbaric splendor all its own.” 
– Elliott Stein, Village Voice

“PURE CINEMA!”
– Geoff Andrew, Time Out (London).

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