`Orson Welles’ Ghost Story,” an MPI Home Video release, is a haunting example of how home video has become the legacy format for rediscovered cinematic treasures.
This 30-minute program is the restored version of “Return to Glennascaul,” a lyrical “story that is told in Dublin,” retitled for video to capitalize on the participation of Welles. It was nominated for a 1953 Academy Award for Best Short Subject and disappeared from view after scant theatrical distribution.
According to a filmed introduction by director and Welles biographer Peter Bogdanovich, this little-known project apparently was a debt of friendship to the short’s creators, Hilton Edwards and Michael MacLiammoir, founders of Dublin’s Gate Theater where Welles made his professional stage debut at 16.
Welles narrates and appears as himself in sequences that frame the story. He introduces himself as “your obedient servant” and proceeds to recount a ghost story he was told when he picked up a stranded motorist one bleak night.
MPI acquired the rights to “Return to Glennascaul” from Richard Gordon, best known as the producer of the horror cult classic “Fiend Without a Face” and the Boris Karloff thrillers “Corridors of Blood” and “The Haunted Strangler.” In a telephone interview, Gordon said he found the film by chance through a friend who was a distributor in Dublin. Together with London’s British Film Institute, he restored the film and has shown it in film festivals around the world and in the “odd theatrical booking.”
But if there is a market for a virtually forgotten, four-decade-old short subject, it is on videocassette, said Nassar Zegar, MPI’s director of operations. “It is the medium that makes sense for this type of programming. We can reach a widespread audience without relying on television or theatrical distribution.”
The release of “Orson Welles’ Ghost Story” follows the highly touted restorations of Welles’ “Othello,” and the long-lost, unfinished documentary “It’s All True,” both of which are available on videocassette.
“Return to Glennascaul” is notable because it is a completed work, said director Henry Jaglom, one of Welles’ closest friends. “I’m just glad that people will be seeing a little bit more of him and his wonderful, inspired mind,” he said.
“Orson Welles’ Ghost Story” is available at video stores or by calling 800-323-0442.
– People who buy or rent Barbra Streisand’s concert video at Blockbuster Video are the luckiest people in the world. “Barbra-The Concert” will debut in stores Tuesday, but an exclusive version available only through the video retailing behemoth will contain an extra song, “What Are You Doing for the Rest of Your Life.”
– See me, feel me, touch me, rewind me. Buena Vista Home Video will release “The Who’s Tommy, the Amazing Journey” Sept. 30, one week before the stage extravaganza opens at the Auditorium Theater. Interviews with the band and the motion picture cast, including Tina Turner, Elton John and Phil Collins, and rare concert footage chronicle the evolution of the legendary rock opera to its ultimate incarnation as a Tony Award-winning Broadway sensation.
– Don’t wait for reruns. Several Emmy Award-winning and nominated productions are now available for rental on videocassette. They include “And the Band Played On” (best made-for-TV movie); the prison drama “Against the Wall” (best direction); Jessica Tandy’s television swan song, “To Dance With the White Dog”; and “Breathing Lessons,” starring nominees James Garner and Joanne Woodward. If you missed best mini-series “Prime Suspect 3,” Parts 1 and 2 are available on Fox Lorber Video.
– MGM/UA Home Video is hustling a deluxe 25th anniversary of “Midnight Cowboy,” starring Jon Voight as street-dumb Joe Buck and Dustin Hoffman as Rico Rizzo (“from the Bronx”). The $19.98 video includes a remastered version of the film, a documentary chronicling the making of the film and the original 1969 theatrical coming attraction.
– “Broadway Bill,” the rarely seen 1934 classic by director Frank Capra, is one of the last of his essential films to be released on videocasstte. Warner Baxter stars as a horse trainer who defies his heiress wife’s tyrannical father to train a young thoroughbred for the Derby. Paramount Home Video has also released Capra’s 1950 musical remake, “Riding High,” starring Bing Crosby. Each is priced at $19.95.
