Orson Welles Great Mysteries: Volume One [DVD]

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Anglia TV’s Great Mysteries series, which ran from 1973 to 1974, was ideal for him. Its makers wanted to use his name to bring in viewers, while he could give it minimal attention – he probably shot all his introductions and epilogues in a day. It also appears he didn’t bother to learn them off by heart either – he’s obviously reading from cue cards. After the wife of a famous artist is stabbed to death, the police investigate four people connected to the case and present in the building when the murder happened - the artist himself, his gallery manager, his old friend and fellow artist, and the latter's wife. From their recollection emerges the image of a shrewd and manipulative woman, who ingrained herself into the artist's life, destroyed his previous marriage and drove the wife to suicide, and then completely took over his life and financial situation, alienating him from his friends. It seems everyone had a reason to kill her, but perhaps, it wasn't any of them who held the knife... La Grande Breteche is based on story by Balzac. A handsome dashing young Spaniard is a prisoner-of-war of the French during the Napoleonic Wars. As was the custom at the time, being a gentleman of breeding and an officer and having given his word not to escape, he is housed comfortably in an inn and allowed to come and go freely. Nearby in the house known as La Breteche lives the Count Gerard De Merret (Peter Cushing) with his wife. The Countess (played by Susannah York) is much younger than her husband, she is very beautiful and she has a romantic and passionate nature. You can see where such a situation could lead. In fact it leads to a horrifying conclusion. An excellent episode with a very nasty sting in the tail. 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. I for one am very interested in seeing what the first volume has to offer; if the second collection is anything to go by, I’d say it’s one of the most intriguing entries in the second half of Welles’ career, even if he was nothing more than a hired hand.

It was all down to John Woolf that we were able to get him and I remember there being quite a bit of excitement – although I never met him myself. It was such a big moment for us The Ingenious Reporter starring Geoffrey Bayldon, Ronald Radd and David Birney; script by Carey Harrison

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Even by the standards of half-hour television drama these stories are rather simple, with just one little sting in the tail. Sometimes the payoff isn’t quite as satisfactory as one might have hoped, and too often it’s too easy to see the payoff coming. 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.) 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 Jerry Norton arrives to London from America, following instructions by the actress he wants to marry, arriving at a hotel room... and finding a murdered man inside. The police arrives as he tries to leave, and soon he finds out he is the main suspect - in the murder of the husband of the woman he wanted to marry! (Based on a story by Bruce Graeme)

Captain Rogers starring Donald Pleasence and Willoughby Goddard; script by Harry Green; story by W.W. Jacobs His visit to Norwich was very, very brief. The show was all footage that had been filmed elsewhere which we bought and just filmed Orson’s parts to introduce them. A Spanish officer, captured by the French during the Peninsular War, is imprisoned near the country house of an elderly aristocrat with a bored young wife - whose lover he becomes, with deadly consequences. (Based on a story by Honoré de Balzac 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. The Leather Funnel starring Christopher Lee, Simon Ward and Jane Seymour; story by Arthur Conan DoyleDeath of an Old-Fashioned Girl starring Francesca Annis, Carol Lynley and John Le Mesurier; story by Stanley Ellin While Welles’ sequences have been shot on film and (not altogether successfully) processed onto video, the Mysteries themselves – and they’re really more cautionary tales than mysteries – were all recorded on video in an electronic studio with little or no location filming. Because this method of producing TV drama has been virtually abandoned, the finished result looks more like a stage play than the frenetic, location-heavy drama of television today. But this only adds to the atmosphere, with brilliantly detailed, vintage performances from the actors that could only be accomplished after a week or so’s intensive rehearsal. 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. Orson Welles Great Mysteries is a British television series originally transmitted between 1973 and 1974, produced by Anglia Television for the ITV network. [1]

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. Produced by Anglia Television, the 25-minute long episodes were originally broadcast by Britain’s ITV between September 1973 and February 1974. Thirteen episodes were featured on the first volume and the remaining 13 shows are contained on Volume 2. The only real criticism I have is the condition of some of the episodes – occasionally the picture strobes, rolls and there’s some picture interference – but that’s no doubt due to the condition of the master recordings. All in all, with the nights drawing in, Orson Welles’ Great Mysteries is a great way to spend half an hour curled up on the sofa enjoying some razor-sharp storytelling and top notch 1970s TV acting. It’s also a chance to see where Anglia Television’s other anthology series Tales of the Unexpected (1979-1988) developed from. 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.

The home media rights are held by ITV Studios. In 2019 Network released half of the series on Region 2 DVD as Volume 1 in the UK. [3] Ambitious reporter Harry Langley pretends to be the murderer of unidentified woman, to boost sales with a special report from prison. But once arrested, the authorities seem to be convinced that he is indeed the killer - because the victim has been identified as his fiancee! Orson Welles was fronting a series for Anglia called The Great Mysteries - a forerunner to Anglia's Tales of the Unexpected. This 26-part anthology series of half-hour tales of mystery and suspense from Anglia Television included stories by such well-known authors as O Henry, Wilkie Collins and WW Jacobs, with a specially written excursion into the supernatural by the author of Quatermass, Nigel Kneale. 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.