Orson Welles's F for Fake

UPC: 037429206928

Studio: Criterion

Summary: The final directorial project the legendary Orson Welles completed during his lifetime, F for Fake is less a documentary than an example of cinematic free association on the topic of trickery. Much of the film is in fact drawn from other sources, most notably an unfinished documentary by Francois Reichenbach on the notorious Elmyr de Hory, whose extremely skillful forgeries of famous paintings caused scandals amongst art collectors and experts. In an additional bit of irony, de Hory's interviewer is author Clifford Irving, who became infamous due to a forgery of his own: a falsified autobiography of Howard Hughes. Welles openly re-edits and manipulates this footage, using it as a spine for his own commentary, arguing that there is an extremely close relationship between art and lying, and citing instances from his own career to prove the point. Through a combination of documentary and staged footage, Welles attempts to illustrate the artifice behind all filmmaking, even that of a supposedly non-fiction variety. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

Category: Avant-garde / Exp

Features: New, restored high-definition digital transfer
Audio commentary by star and co-writer Oja Kodar and director of photography Gary Graver
Introduction by director Peter Bogdanovich
Extended nine-minute trailer
"Orson Welles: One-Man Band" (1995), an 88-minute documentary about Welles' unfinished projects
"Almost True: The Noble Art of Forgery" (1997), a 52-minute documentary about art forger Elmyr de Hory
A 60 Minutes interview with Clifford Irving, from 2000, about his Howard Hughes autobiography hoax
A 1972 Hughes press conference exposing Irving's hoax
Plus: A new essay by film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum

Orson Welles's F for Fake

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 04/26/2005

Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Vistavision

Audio: DD1 Dolby Digital Mono

Runtime: 88 Minutes

Sides: 2

Number of Discs: 2

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English

Chapters: Side #1 -- Disc One: The Film
1. The Magician [2:35]
2. Fake! [2:52]
3. And Introducing Oja Kodar [3:51]
4. Ibiza [2:10]
5. Elmyr De Hory [7:54]
6. "Helga Hughes" [2:12]
7. The Age of "Experts" [6:38]
8. The New Emperor of the Hoax [5:36]
9. "Don't Be Spooked by the Experts" [3:57]
10. "Like All Hungarians..." [8:53]
11. Welles's Confession [4:47]
12. Clifford Comes Clean [5:55]
13. "And Elmyr?" [5:04]
14. "Oja Kodar Was Something Else" [3:03]
15. Chartres [2:33]
16. Oja and Picasso [8:03]
17. Hurricane Pablo [9:13]
18. Time for a Confession [3:08]
Side #2 -- Disc Two: The Supplements
1. "Paganini With the Brush"
2. Mark Forgy
3. Elmyr's Travels
4. Childhood in Hungary
5. Lessard and Legros
6. Final Extradition

Cast and Crew: William Alland  Actor 
Gary Graver  Actor 
Paul Stewart  Actor 
Peter Bogdanovich  Actor 
Michel Legrand  Composer (Music Score) 
Orson Welles  Director 
Orson Welles  Screenwriter 
François Reichenbach  Producer 
Orson Welles  Actor 
Oja Kodar  Actor 
Joseph Cotten  Actor 
François Reichenbach  Actor 

Country: France,Iran