Orson Welles’ lost masterpiece “The Other Side of the World” looks to be on the road to finally being released. Part of the Welles legacy is the sheer amount of unfinished work he left behind, usually because of mismanaged finances or personal troubles, most of which were tied to his obsessive auteurism.The film, which is a psychological study of the final days of a megalomaniacal director, will still face editing challenges once legal paths are paved.
Unlike many of Welles’ other films, the majority of the movie was shot and edited, but ultimately it did not see the light of day due to the deposition of one of the film’s founders, the Shah of Iran. Each subsequent decade has seen the possibility of a belated release come and go, but quotes from a legal firm battling for the rights to the movie in the Observer, suggest there maybe light at the end of the tunnel.
Orson Welles has so many of these unfinished films, many left at levels of incompletion that they could not be finished even if someone was legally able. This film was actually almost completely finished, and Welles left editing notes to actor Peter Bogdonavich, so it might really happen.
This really excites me, what about you?
