Orson Welles Great Mysteries: Volume One [DVD]

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The episodes featured on the second volume of Orson Welles Great Mysteries – include tales from Margery Allingham, Dorothy L. Sayers, Stanley Ellin and W. Somerset Maugham. Anglia Television (the independent British TV company serving the commercial network for the south east of England) had been producing some consistently outstanding dramas since its opening night in 1959 when it presented The Violent Years, a play starring Laurence Harvey and Hildegarde Neff, about a man on trial in an American court. But the fledgling network faced resistance from the big four companies who were at that time producing a large part of ITV’s drama output and were reluctant to reduce that output to accommodate the new company. Eventually, they provided network time for Anglia to broadcast eight plays a year, but insisted they be made at the Wembley studios, using Associated-Rediffusions’ technicians. He said: “It was certainly quite a coup to get somebody of his stature to come to Norwich and there was a real buzz around the news. I know people used to call him ‘awesome’ Welles, he was that well thought of. An Affair of Honour starring Harry Andrews, Michael Gambon and Jeremy Clyde; script by Carey Harrison; story by F. Britten Austin; directed by Alan Bromly Orson Welles Great Mysteries is a British television series originally transmitted between 1973 and 1974, produced by Anglia Television for the ITV network. [1]

Masquerade’ found: Missing Orson Welles’ screenplay based on Luigi Pirandello play October 16, 2023 There’s quite an array of acting talent on view in this series including quite a few who were already major stars (such as Susannah York and Bond girl Jane Seymour). And there are plenty of cult movie stars, like Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence. And some good directors, like Peter Sasdy. Orson Welles was fronting a series for Anglia called The Great Mysteries - a forerunner to Anglia's Tales of the Unexpected. The Faulkners were an odd family - two spinsters living in a large mansion, served by one maid, with their only relative being their young brother, married but living elsewhere. When one night one of the sisters suddenly disappears without a trace - leaving her clothes behind - everyone is puzzled, but the remaining sister refuses to call the police, thinking on the family's good name - as there has been cases of insanity in the family before. A private detective hired finds nothing, and a few months later the other sister disappears in the same manner, too. The police are now alerted and begin to investigate - and soon it is revealed these two were not the first disappearances in the family. A young man talks with the uncle of the girl he wants to marry, and is told a strange story about a curious funnel made of leather. While falling asleep next to the device, he has a presentiment that it was once used as an instrument of torture. (Based on a story by Arthur Conan Doyle)In the years of British ruled India, the secret plans for the defense of a harbor have been copied, and with only three people having access to the key, General Sanderson tasks officers Bryce and Rolfe with convincing the apparent traitor Fanshaw to "save his honour" by committing suicide, rather than going through an embarrassing court martial. Complicating matters is that Bryce used to be in love with Fanshaw's wife, but promised her that this would not come between their friendship. We thought it was like Christ entering the gates of Jerusalem. But Orson didn't like the idea of working for a regional TV company because he was such a great man." Steve Peart, Retired Anglia Television film editor All episodes were introduced by Orson Welles himself, though, in actuality, the great man provided little more than window dressing. This is the kind of show that the Talking Pictures TV channel has been resurrecting lately, but with no sign of it popping up on there yet, buying the series would make a good investment for anybody interested in offbeat 1970s series. Fans of British horror should enjoy it too – some of the stories have a supernatural or creepy element to them and both star and are directed by stalwarts of the genre.

Welles' introductory sequence was parodied by Benny Hill (as "Orson Buggy") in an episode of his television program. However, the show didn’t really need Welles at all. The episodes – which, once his segments are taken out last maybe 20 minutes each – stand up in their own right. A lawyer cannot stop a middle-aged spinster from making a fool of herself with a young fortune-hunter, but he can stop the fellow from getting his hands on her money. (Based on a story by W. Somerset Maugham Network, which released the DVD Orson Welles Great Mysteries Volume 1 in the United Kingdom last year, will release the second and final volume on October 26.

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Like the previously issued 10-episode German DVD set from Pidax Film Media,, the UK release is encoded in the PAL, Region 2 format, which means it is not compatible with most North American players. (There has been no word of a U.S. release.)

The Furnished Room (based on a story by O. Henry) is unusual in that we’re offered, in the intro by Orson Welles, a hint of the possibility of the supernatural. Whether anything supernatural actually occurs is something I’m not going to tell you. A young man is tramping from one furnished room to another in New York, looking for his girlfriend. This story relies very heavily on trying, with limited success, to achieve an atmosphere of subtle ambiguous unease. Unfortunately it’s also a story that doesn’t amount to very much. One of the lesser episodes. A british millionaire's spoiled little girl loses her ragdoll, and buying her new dolls does not make her happy, so the parents put out an ad for a 25Ł return award money for the doll. Having been buried by the family dog, the doll is found by a drunken tramp, who takes it with him to a pub, pretending it is a high class lady, to the amusement of the audience. Two lowlifes frequenting the pub realize the doll is worth money, and force the tramp at knifepoint to return it, planning to take the money from him later. But, his uncanny knowledge of the paintings in the house impresses the lady of the house enough that she has him driven home by car, so he avoids the robbers. Last year, Network Distribution brought out volume one of the collection, featuring tales starring such luminaries as Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Donald Pleasence. The series is an anthology of mystery stories. Each episode is introduced by Orson Welles, the only regular actor in the series, whose appearances were confined to the introductory and closing sequences. [2] In the opening titles, Welles appears shown in silhouette walking through a hallway towards the camera, smoking a cigar and outfitted in a broad-brimmed hat and a huge cloak. When he actually appears on-screen to introduce the episodes, his face is all that is shown, in extreme close-up and very low lighting. For some bizarre reason Network have decided to release only thirteen of the twenty-six episodes in a two-disc DVD set. Whether the other thirteen ever see the light of day remains to be seen. The transfers are reasonably good.The whole story of Welles’ visit was itself dramatized for the Sky Arts series Urban Myths (tru…ish stories) in 2020. In the episode titled Orson Welles in Norwich, Welles is portrayed by Robbie Coltrane. This was time when British television was starting to up the ante as far as violence was concerned, and to a lesser extent becoming a bit more daring in regard to sexual content. Orson Welles Great Mysteries is however very subdued in its treatment of such matters. The violence is mostly offscreen. The general approach is low-key. Compared to Brian Clemens’ Thriller anthology series, which began to air at around the same time, it seems rather genteel. This is however part of its charm. It’s content to be subtle and to rely on suggestion.