New Restoration - Orson Welles Last Project- Freedom River as Relevant Today as in 1971

Описание: Freedom River was originally released December 29, 1971 and was Orson Welles last animated project ( unless you count the US dub of the DEG animated film Transformers which he was paid just 1200.00 to VO a character - Shameful!), what a loss to the world. Just hearing his voice in this forgotten masterpiece gives you chills. This cartoon was directed by of all people Sam Weiss and written by Joseph C Cavella and Warren H Schmidt, it was a Stephen Bosustow production.

Honestly it was a dismal failure when released for several reasons. 1) it was highly political and aimed at the young "Hippy" class as an audience, unfortunately for the producers, they forgot that movie goers were not that group of people. There was no cable, or VHS or DVD, so basically nobody saw this, or if it was on the screen they tuned it out. 2) even though Orson Welles is a big treat to hear today, and most remember him fondly as a big star, at the time in 1971, he was anything but a star. Shunned by Hollywood as box-office poison, morbidly obese and from most accounts not easy to get along with as an actor in a project he was not directing, this was not an anticipated project at all buy the general public!

Today however, Orson Welles is an Ikon and the ability to hear him in something that is not using the word "Rosebud" is a big treat for most of us who love Hollywood history. Also it is strange how this now 50 year old film could have been made yesterday and be just as relevant if not more so.

TRIVIA: Near the end when Orson talks about dumping the waters of Freedom on foreign soils we felt deserving, and a pile of garbage shows up in a pipe as the crowd standing around holds their noes and walks away, well that is a reference to the Vietnam War, still active at the time and commonly thought of by liberals as US Imperialism forcing US style Democracy on others in the world who did not want it.

Forget the politics and just enjoy this rare treat of Orson Welles talking!

Thomas R Reich PhD
The Cartoon Crazys Channel