Mark Edlitz on Orson Welles: Maverick in the Machine

Citizen Kane. The Magnificent Ambersons. And the film history forgot.

In July 1939, Orson Welles signed a contract with RKO Pictures granting him complete creative control over his films. Less than three years later, he was thrown off the lot.

At RKO, he made two of the most celebrated films in cinema history. He also made Journey Into Fear, a film that has been debated, dismissed, and misunderstood ever since.

Beneath it all lies the mystery: Who actually directed Journey Into Fear: Welles or credited director Norman Foster? Rumors have persisted for decades that Welles ghost-directed the picture, that the good parts were his and the flaws belonged to Foster. The truth is considerably more complex.

Drawn from studio memos, archival correspondence, and production records, this forensic account of the film’s production history uses Journey Into Fear as a case study to illuminate the broader workings of the Hollywood studio system: how it functioned, how it shaped the films it produced, and how it first empowered Welles before ultimately betraying him.

A case study in genius, compromise, and the machinery of Hollywood.

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