Despite the System Orson Welles Versus the Hollywood Studios by Heylin, Clinton - 2005

Chicago: Chicago Review Press. As New. 2005. First Edition. Hardcover. 9781556525476 . Marfree, acidfree Fine illus 1stEd bound in black 1/4 cloth, unclipped photographic DJ has embossed gold titles, a minor crinkle along top; no names, not marked-in, underscored, clearance or discard. Mails from NYC usually within 12 hours.; Cappella Books; 1.81 x 9.06 x 6.22 Inches; 402 pages; The New York Times - Budd SchulbergWhile Heylin's prose is only workmanlike, with an occasional lapse in grammar, we aren't looking for Lionel Trilling here. We're looking at the most meticulous champion Orson Welles has ever had. For those of you who are scholars of Welles, amateur or pro, or simply wondering what in the world happened to him after his astonishing debut with ''Citizen Kane,'' this is the book for you. ## From Booklist:Orson Welles' travails within the Hollywood studio system, which all but demolished his career as one of cinema's most brilliant directors, are the stuff of legend. Executives pulled the plug on many ambitious projects, and the problematic state of many that were realized, recut, and with scenes by studio hacks added, have contributed to the widely accepted view that Welles had a fear of completion. Heylin's meticulously researched defense of Welles confirms that the primary obstacles were external. He explicates the changes wrought on nearly all Welles' films in detail, from the mangled masterpiece The Magnificent Ambersons to Welles' final American release, Touch of Evil, and he examines the budgetarily hindered works Welles made in European exile, too. He doesn't absolve Welles--he notes his habit of disappearing for days at critical junctures--but in light of the personal animosity he shows studio heads displaying toward Welles, it is hard to have anything but sympathy for the director. A fascinating encapsulation of one great example of the perdurable struggle between art and commerce. Gordon FlaggCopyright © American Library Association .