MovieChat Forums > Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991) Discussion > Think Welles' version would've been grea...

Think Welles' version would've been great?

posted 12 years ago by Alfabeta
2 replies | jump to latest

I can't help but wonder how that would have turned out. His Radio Theater version of the book which this doc uses throughout does give us some insight though... It's still available and there's even a copy on youtube. It was lifted of a record so the sound quality is terrible. What's much worse is the length. He had to truncate the book into a 35 minutes show and the story suffers a lot. A lot. Kurtz (played by Welles) is barely in it for more than a minute or two. The atmosphere works quite well, however.
Note: Welles radio version is closer to the book and Tim Roth/John Malkovich Heart of Darkness adaptation for TV from 1993.

[–] the_departed94 11 years ago

Instead of making "HOD" he made one of the greatest movies of all time, so I don't think Welles was complaining that much about it. I don't know why Welles wasn't allowed to make Heart of Darkness after Citizen Kane though, Maybe he lost interest in the project.

[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

Maybe he lost interest in the project.

As we know this did happen fairly frequently with Welles. I'm sure his version, however, with him playing Kurtz, would have been interesting.

The horror! The horror!