''Orson Welles' Magic Show'' is an unfinished

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

, filmed between 1976 and 1985. In it, Welles performs various

magic tricks Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close up magic, among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, or illusions of seemingly impossible feats, using natural means. It ...

for the camera, promising that no

trick photography Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wo ...

is used. Welles had a lifelong interest in magic, having been taught his first magic tricks by Harry Houdini in the 1920s, when Welles was still a boy.Orson Welles and Peter Bogdanovich, ''This is Orson Welles'' (DeCapo Press, New York, 1992 ev. 1998 ed. pp.182-3 He had already demonstrated his magic tricks in a number of films and television programmes including '' Follow the Boys'' (1944), ''

Magic Trick Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close up magic, among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, or illusions of seemingly impossible feats, using natural means. It ...

'' (1953), '' Casino Royale'' (1967), and on his own unsuccessful 1979 pilot for '' The Orson Welles Show''. After Orson Welles' death in 1985, all of his unfinished films were bequeathed to his long-term companion and mistress

Oja Kodar Oja Kodar ( ; born Olga Palinkaš; 1941) is a Croatian actress, screenwriter and director known as Orson Welles's romantic partner during the later years of his life. Personal life Olga Palinkaš was born in Zagreb to a Hungarian father and a ...

, and she in turn donated many of them (including ''Orson Welles' Magic Show'') to the

Munich Film Museum The Munich Film Archive, in the Munich Stadtmuseum, is one of eight film museums in Germany. It has no showrooms and is limited to screening the films in a single cinema with 165 seats, as well as collecting, archiving, and restoring film copies. ...

for preservation and restoration. In 2000 the Munich Film Museum then edited together the complete footage into a 27-minute cut, which has subsequently been screened at numerous film festivals. The restored footage has never been released on video or DVD.

References

External links

* {{Orson Welles, state=autocollapse 1970s unfinished films 1980s unfinished films Unreleased American films Films directed by Orson Welles 1980s English-language films 1970s English-language films