Sound Of Cinema - 298. The Films Of Orson Welles

SOUND OF CINEMA - 298. THE FILMS OF ORSON WELLES (320kbs-m4a/134mb/58mins)
BBC Radio 3 broadcast: 19th December 2020

With the recent on demand release of David Fincher's new film 'Mank', exploring the background to the 1941 classic film, 'Citizen Kane' and starring Gary Oldman as writer Herman J Mankiewicz, Matthew looks at the music and cinema of Orson Welles. As well as featuring some of the new score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for the new Fincher film biog, the programme also includes music from Welles's Shakespeare inspired films: 'Chimes At Midnight', 'The Magnificent Ambersons', 'Macbeth' and 'Othello'; plus music from 'Touch of Evil', 'Lady of Shamghai', 'Jane Eyre', 'The Third Man', 'The Other Side of the Wind' and of course, 'Citizen Kane'.

Trent Reznor - Mank (2020) - Cowboys And Indians
Bernard Herrmann - Citizen Kane (1941) - Chronicle Scherzo [Varèse Sarabande]
Angelo Francesco Lavagnino - Chimes At Midnight (1965) - Canto Di Veglia Al Campo [CAM]
Angelo Francesco Lavagnino - Chimes At Midnight (1965) - Apertura Festana [CAM]
Bernard Herrmann - The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) - Theme And Variations [Preamble]
Angelo Francesco Lavagnino - Othello (1952) - The Proclamation / Deceiving Rodrigo [Varèse Sarabande]
Jacques Ibert - Macbeth (1948) - The Ghost Of Banquo [Marco Polo]
Jacques Ibert - Macbeth (1948) - Triumph Of Macduff's Armies [Marco Polo]
Henry Mancini - Touch Of Evil (1958) - Main Title [Varèse Sarabande]
Heinz Roemheld - The Lady From Shanghai (1947) - Theme [The Soundtrack Factory]
Bernard Herrmann - Jane Eyre (1943) - Main Title [Naxos]
Anton Karas - The Third Man (1949) - Anna Walks Away [Silva Screen]
Bernard Herrmann - Citizen Kane (1941) - Rain [Varèse Sarabande]
Trent Reznor - Mank (2020) - Walking With Meyer
Michel Legrand - The Other Side Of The Wind (1973) - Chapter 21, Piano Duet 1 [La-La Land]
Hans Zimmer - Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) - Themyscira [WaterTower Music]

Orson Welles And The War Of The Worlds - Myth Or Legend?

ORSON WELLES AND THE WAR OF THE WORLDS - MYTH OR LEGEND? (320kbs-m4a/130mb/57mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 16th November 2019

Christopher Frayling explores the most notorious hoax in radio, broadcast in 1938 - Orson Welles' production of H G Wells' The War Of The Worlds.

The drama, disguised as a dance music programme punctuated by a series of fake news broadcasts telling of a Martian invasion, played out at a time when the USA was in the grip of pre-WW2 invasion anxiety, fearing that Nazi Germany would make an attack on mainland America. Public reaction was seemingly extreme with widespread panic and isolated groups of people fleeing their homes.

The police raided the Mercury Theatre Company offices after the broadcast and seized copies of the script. The scandal ensured that Welles became a household name and led to his famous Hollywood career. Adolf Hitler cited the crisis as evidence of 'the decadence and corrupt condition of democracy'.

The event was reported all over the world and has become part of broadcasting legend. But just how real was the panic? Some now believe that the newspapers of the time, fearing the growing power of radio, exaggerated events in order to discredit the new medium.

Nevertheless, when the War Of The Worlds dramatisation was repeated in Ecuador in 1949 it lead to a dramatic and tragic series of events when the radio station was burned to the ground.

This programme also reveals how Welles and his collaborators may have been influenced by a lost 1926 BBC programme called Broadcasting From The Barricades, in which Ronald Knox caused a similar stir with a programme of music from the Savoy, interrupted by reports of revolution in the streets and the hotel being flattened by mortars.

Presented by Christopher Frayling
Producer: Nick Freand Jones

A Hidden Flack production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2013.