by Rachel Dominic

翻譯：海月

電影天才奧遜·威爾斯

Orson Welles: a Potted History

by Rachel Dominic

翻譯：海月

奧遜·威爾斯是美國歷史上罕見的具有重要文化意義的電影家，集演員、導演、編劇、制片人等多種角色于一身的電影天才。作為演員，他參演了一百多部電影（包括配音）；作為編劇，他寫了42個劇本；作為導演，他執(zhí)導了近40部影片。1975年，美國電影學會授予威爾斯終身成就獎。

Orson Welles was born on the 6thof May,1915, in Wisconsin, far smaller than the 6’1” overweight man he would one day become.His parents were both successful in two very different careers: his father Richard Welles was an inventor and his mother Beatrice Welles was an accomplished concert pianist.However, their relationship did notmimic[模仿]this success and when he was just six, Orson’s parents separated.If notdistressing[使痛苦的]enough to a child so young, Orson lost his mother tohepatitis[肝炎]when he was just nine.Then only three years later, at twelve, his father also died after taking Orson on a trip around the world.

1915年5月6日，奧遜·威爾斯出生于美國威斯康星州。與日后身高達到6英尺1英寸（相當于1.86米）的重量級人物相比，當時的他還只是一個小小的嬰兒。威爾斯的父母從事著迥然不同的事業(yè)，但都很成功。他的父親理查德·威爾斯是一位發(fā)明家，母親比阿特麗斯·威爾斯則是一位才華橫溢的鋼琴演奏家。然而他們之間的關系卻不像其事業(yè)那樣成功。在威爾斯只有六歲的時候，他的父母就分開了。對一個如此年幼的孩子而言，更令他痛心的打擊是他在九歲時就失去了被肝炎奪走生命的母親。而三年后，在他年僅十二歲時，他的父親也在帶他周游世界后去世了。

His love for the arts becameapparent[明顯的]at The Todd School and he had the opportunity to write and perform his own plays.It was also the place were he produced his frst flm, a four minute short.This was a bigturnaround[轉機]for Welles who up until now, like most children, had disliked school.However, he did not choose to continue in education and after graduating hedeclined[拒絕]offers[提供的工作]from colleges to chase a career in thetheatre[影院].Unfortunately he had a hard timegetting a break[時來運轉], but finally did in 1934 through connections.Welles made his stagedebut[初次登臺]in New York playing Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet.This role tells of his passion for Shakespeare as he went on to play thetitle roles[劇名角色]in flm versions of Macbeth (1948), Othello (1952), and King Lear (1953).Welles was after all first andforemost[最重要的]an actor, playing close to a hundred roles in hisonscreen[銀幕上的]career compared to the 16 films he directed (two of which, Don Quixote and The Other Side of the World were never completed).

在托德學校讀書時，有機會撰寫和表演自己劇本的威爾斯逐漸表現(xiàn)出對藝術的熱愛。他也是在這里拍出了他的第一部電影，一部四分鐘的短片。對于像大多數(shù)孩子一樣不喜歡學校的威爾斯來說，這是一個很大的轉機。不過他并沒有選擇繼續(xù)深造，同時在畢業(yè)后也拒絕了幾家學院提供的工作機會，去追逐電影事業(yè)。不幸的是他一直時運不濟，直到1934年，才終于通過關系得到了嶄露頭角的機會。威爾斯在紐約上演了他的舞臺處女作，在《羅密歐與朱麗葉》中扮演提伯爾特，這個角色體現(xiàn)了他對莎士比亞的熱愛。此后他又在電影《麥克白》（1948年）、《奧賽羅》（1952年）和《李爾王》（1953年）中扮演了與作品同名的劇名角色。威爾斯畢竟首先是一名演員，在他的銀幕生涯里，他總共扮演過近百個角色，相比之下，他僅僅執(zhí)導過16部電影（其中《堂吉訶德》和《世界另一邊》兩部作品仍未完成）。

Welles is best known however for the film Citizen Kane (1941), still today quoted as the “best film ever made” in which he proved hisbrilliance[才華]behind the camera as well as in front of it.Taking on the job of writing, producing, directing and starring in the film certainlypaid off[獲得回報]for Welles in what was only his third film to direct.Following the story of a newspaper businesstycoon[大亨], supposedly based on the life of William Randolph Hearst, Welle’streatment[處理]of thescript[劇本]builttension[張力]and an involvingnarrative[敘述], his visuals were pioneering in theirvariation[變化], moving fromcrane shots[升降鏡頭]to deep focus close ups.Even themake-up[化妝]that aged Kane was impressively pulled off.Perhaps one of the most subtle parts of the film that marks its brilliance is that the wholepremise[鋪墊]is to discover what the meaning of his dying words “Rosebud[玫瑰花蕾]” meant.But watch closely, who in the flm actually hears his last words? The nurse only comes running after hearing the snowscenesmash[破碎].The words are in fact only heard by the audience, bringing the viewer subtly in and setting them onto the adventure of discovery.In reality, Welles actually chose todepict[描述]Rosebud as something quite different to what was supposedly Hearst’s reference to his sweetheart’sclitoris[陰蒂].

This one body of work led to Welles being considered anauteur[電影導演]as Truffaut, a founder of the auteur theory, gavetestement[證明]to, calling Welles: “acapricious[任性的]genius[天才]”.He certainly wanted control over all aspects of his films, taking on roles of producer, director, editor andcinematographer[電影攝影師].Despite being acritical[關鍵性的]success, Citizen Kane failed at thebox office[票房]losing over $150,000.And his successive projects followedin a similar vein[同樣的]: The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) was his next directorial role after Citizen Kane, telling the tale of adysfunctional[不正常的]family.Again

威爾斯最為人熟知的作品是電影《公民凱恩》（1941年）。這部電影至今仍被稱為“有史以來最好的電影”，它證明了威爾斯站在攝像機后執(zhí)導以及站在鏡頭前表演的杰出能力。這部電影僅僅是他執(zhí)導的第三部作品，他在其中兼任編劇、制作、導演及主演，必定受益匪淺。此片據(jù)說是以威廉·倫道夫·赫斯特的故事為藍本，講述了一位報界大亨的故事。威爾斯對劇本的處理層層推進，敘述手法有張力且扣人心弦。他運用了升降鏡頭和深焦特寫，多元化的視覺效果極富開創(chuàng)性。就連讓凱恩變老的妝容也十分令人難忘。最能標志這部電影卓越之處的，也許是前面的一切鋪墊都是為了揭示他的遺言“玫瑰花蕾”的深意。但再仔細看，片中到底有誰聽到了他最后的遺言呢？護士是在聽到那個雪景玻璃球破碎的聲音之后才跑到凱恩病榻前的，所以這句話其實只有觀眾聽到了。于是觀眾被悄悄帶入并由此開啟了一段探索之旅。據(jù)說，赫斯特提到的“玫瑰花蕾”是指他心上人的陰蒂，而實際上威爾斯卻選擇把它描繪成完全不同的東西。

這一作品使威爾斯成為人們眼中像特呂福（“電影創(chuàng)作論”創(chuàng)始人之一）所稱的那種“電影導演”。他稱威爾斯為“一個任性的天才”。威爾斯顯然想一手掌控電影的各個方面，從制片人、導演、剪輯到攝影師等各種角色，都由他親自操刀。盡管《公民凱恩》好評如潮，但電影的票房卻極為慘淡，虧本逾15萬美元。他接下來的其他影片也是如此。《偉大的安巴遜》（1942年）是他繼《公民凱恩》之后導演的下一部電影，影片講述了一個失常家庭的故事。這部電影再次廣受好評，但它慘淡的票房卻令雷電華電影公司的老it was a critical success, but disappointedchiefs[領導]atRKO注1注1： Radio Keith Orpheum，即雷電華影業(yè)股份有限公司。注2： American Film Institute，即美國電影學會。with it’s poor showings at the box offce.Welles’ A Touch of Evil (1958), and itsflm noir[具有悲觀色彩的影片]style, were seen as an infuence on Hitchcock’s Psycho released two years later, but again it failed to bring audiences in.However, Welles wascomical[戲謔的]about his success, as he put it:” I started at the top and worked my way down.”

Welles always hada steady flow of[源源不斷的]acting jobs taking good roles such as Mr.Rochester in Jane Eyre (1944) which saw him through the difficult periods.He also took on a number of narrative roles including Battle for Survival (1947), butturned down[拒絕]the offer to voice Darth Vader in Star Wars: A New Hope.His voice was even heard a year after his death in Transformers the Movie, playing the role ofUnicron[宇宙大帝].Welles received many impressive awards throughout his career including an Oscar (for Citizen Kane in 1941), Best Actor (Compulsion 1959) and a Lifetime Achievement Award atCannes[戛納](1984), as well as anAFI注2注1： Radio Keith Orpheum，即雷電華影業(yè)股份有限公司。注2： American Film Institute，即美國電影學會。Lifetime Achievement award andnominations[提名]at the Berlin Festival.

Throughout his career, and still today, Welles has inspired directors and actors alike.When Welles died in 1985 from a heart attack, it was at his typewriter.He left behind a daughter, three failed marriages (including one to Rita Hayworth) and alegacy[遺產]of flm work that will live on for years to come.板們大失所望。據(jù)稱威爾斯的《歷劫佳人》（1958年）及其黑色電影風格對兩年后上映的希區(qū)柯克的《驚魂記》有所影響，但這部電影同樣未能吸引觀眾。不過，威爾斯對自己的成功也是抱著一種戲謔的態(tài)度，正如他所說：“我是從山頂起步，然后一步步往下走的。”

威爾斯源源不斷地接演了一些不錯的角色，如《簡·愛》（1944年）里的羅切斯特先生，這一角色見證了他如何熬過困難時期。他也接過一些配音角色，如《生存之戰(zhàn)》（1947年），但他拒絕給《星球大戰(zhàn)：新希望》里的黑武士配音。在他逝世一年后，還能在電影《變形金剛》里聽到他給宇宙大帝配音的聲音。威爾斯在其整個職業(yè)生涯中獲得了多個讓人印象深刻的獎項，包括奧斯卡金像獎（1941年的《公民凱恩》）、最佳男演員獎（1959年的《朱門孽種》），以及戛納電影節(jié)終身成就獎（1984年）、美國電影學院終身成就獎，并在柏林電影節(jié)獲得過數(shù)次提名。

貫穿其整個職業(yè)生涯，直到今天，威爾斯一直都激勵著眾多導演和演員們。1985年，威爾斯因心臟病發(fā)作去世，當時他正坐在打字機旁。他留下了一個女兒、三段失敗的婚姻（其中一任妻子是麗塔·海華斯）以及流芳百世的電影遺產。