Orson Welles, Volume 1: The Road to Xanadu (Orson Welles Biographies, 1) - Softcover

Callow, Simon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099462516 ISBN 13: 9780099462514

Publisher: Vintage, 1996

Synopsis

A brilliant biography of the young Orson Welles, from his prodigious childhood and youth, his triumphs with the Mercury Theatre, to the making of Citizen Kane. Vivid, vastly entertaining, this is the definitive Welles biography.

About this title

Review:

Now in paperback, Callow's vastly entertaining chronicle of Welles's first 26 years seems even finer than it did in 1995. The author's ability to skewer his subject's evasions and lies while retaining critical affection for him is perhaps explained by the fact that Callow, an actor himself, understands the need to mythologise. Welles's innovative theatrical work in the 1930s has never been better described or analysed. Even such oft-told sagas as the War of the Worlds broadcast and the filming of Citizen Kane gain new dimension from Callow's intelligent treatment. --Christine Buttery

Review:

"A book of titanic achievement" (Daily Telegraph)

"Simon Callow's brilliant account of the early years is the best Welles book yet" (David Hare)

"Callow is not just that rare phenomenon, an actor who can write. He is a superb biographer. His description of the making of Kane is masterly... This is an extraordinary book with extraordinary insights" (Godfrey Hodson Independent)

"A knock-down, brass-bound, copper-bottomed triumph...tremendous fun to read... It is Simon Callow's triumph that at the end of this book Orson Welles comes before us just as Oscar Wilde did at the end of Richard Ellmann's superb biography" (Keith Baxter Daily Telegraph)

"Welles might seem a difficult subject for a new biography. The legend is already pretty much written in stone. Callow's achievement is threefold: he embraces his subject with such gallumphing energy that the extraordinary power of his subject is conveyed as if for the first, fascinating time; he attempts a sober reassessment, trying to get an honest measure of someone who seemed larger than life...and he provides a genuinely interesting actor's view of the actor" (Nigella Lawson The Times)

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0099462516
• ISBN 13: 9780099462514
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 640