F for Fake

When you say the name Orson Welles to people my age, they usually think about his famously ominous voice, Citizen Kane, and someone they don't know a whole lot about. As for his little-known documentary F for Fake, it isn't even that familiar to those guys who wear sweater vests and horn-rimmed glasses, hoping to be sent to Wes Anderson island.

After Welles' rapid fall from grace at RKO, following Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons, he was in a very different position than he was when he left radio fame to trade in his "boy genius" rep for some Hollywood clout. Never reaching the heights of his pre-Kane power, he was nearly unemployable for the rest of his career.

No longer endowed with the benefit of final cut, his films rarely (if at all) resembled his original vision. Along the way, he produced pieces of countless unfinished projects. One of the plethora of plates on Welles' table in the early 70s was this essay-format documentary, an investigation of trickery and deceit by a man who was a master faker, himself (his radio play of War of the Worlds being the best example).

Elmyr de Hory stands as one of (if not) the greatest art forgers in history. Throughout the film, he makes sketches, almost perfectly reproduces the style of Modigliani or Picasso, and burns it immediately afterward. Over the course of the film, Welles discredits the alleged superiority of so-called art experts, professing that some of the most celebrated galleries display Elmyr fakes where they advertise originals.

This is only half the story, as Welles also delves into the fakery of Elmyr's biographer, Clifford Irving, a grand faker in his own right. Irving's claim to infamy was his complete fabrication of a biography of billionaire recluse Howard Hughes. Only the somewhat mysterious telephone appearance of Hughes would discredit Irving, who had convinced the world that he had indeed met with the aviator in the pyramids of Mexico and taken down Hughes' most personal life details.

The commentary track included on the first disc features Welles' later life partner in love and work, Oja Kodar, as well as DP Gary Graver. Ms. Kodar spends a great deal of time simply talking about her experience living and working with Welles, but spends a fair amount of time on The Other Side of the Wind, a feature Welles finished filming but could not edit due to the death of a chief investor...the Shah of Iran. Hints are dropped regarding this lost Welles work being recovered and edited, but only time will tell. That said, the track is informative and well-edited. Also included on disc one is the overlong (9-minutes) Welles-cut "trailer" for the film -- which is fascinating in its own right -- and an introduction Peter Bogdanovich.

The second disc features two documentaries. "Orson Welles: One Man Band" features a fantastic look at the many unfinished projects Welles had on the fire. From The Other Side of the Wind to Moby Dick to The Merchant of Venice (from which his "if you prick us, do we not bleed" speech is missing). The first disc and this documentary would be worth the purchase price alone, but it doesn't stop there.

We also get an hour long documentary on Elmyr and the 60 Minutes interview with Irving from 2000, a followup to an earlier interview where he insisted that the Hughes bio was authentic. The most creepy and interesting bonus is the complete audio of Hughes' telephone press conference where he not only dispels Irving's claims, but reveals more about himself than the recent biopic manages in its entire runtime. -- Moises Chiullan