The Miracle of St. Anne
Encyclopedia
The Miracle of St. Anne was a short film, now lost, made by Orson Welles
. It served as a prelude to the play The Unthinking Lobster, which was written and directed by Welles as part of a collection of two plays, performed under the banner title of The Blessed and the Damned. (The other play of the duo was called Time Runs...) The film consisted of the rushes for a Biblical epic that was a film-within-the-play.
The show premiered in Paris
at the Théâtre Edouard VII and attracted positive notices (Le Monde
described it as "a stage masterpiece"), but the show was a financial flop. Jonathan Rosenbaum
speculates its failure was due to the language barrier (the play and film were in English). After the play's failure in Paris, Welles toured Germany
with it.
Welles described the film to his biographer Peter Bogdanovich
:
Welles later hoped to realise the whole of The Unthinking Lobster (but not Time Runs...) as a full-length feature film
, but it was never made. Between 1948 and 1952, Welles' cinematic efforts were focussed on his film adaptation of Othello
.
The Miracle of St. Anne was filmed in the park of Buttes Chaumont
, and Welles described the film thus: "It's got a lot of distinguished Paris celebrities [in it]...It's not supposed to be a very good film - it's just rushes. The play begins in a projection room where they're running rushes."
The only known copy of the film was owned by Welles, and is now believed to be lost.
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
. It served as a prelude to the play The Unthinking Lobster, which was written and directed by Welles as part of a collection of two plays, performed under the banner title of The Blessed and the Damned. (The other play of the duo was called Time Runs...) The film consisted of the rushes for a Biblical epic that was a film-within-the-play.
The show premiered in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
at the Théâtre Edouard VII and attracted positive notices (Le Monde
Le Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
described it as "a stage masterpiece"), but the show was a financial flop. Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum is an American film critic. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for the Chicago Reader from 1987 until 2008, when he retired at the age of 65...
speculates its failure was due to the language barrier (the play and film were in English). After the play's failure in Paris, Welles toured Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
with it.
Welles described the film to his biographer Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich is an American film historian, director, writer, actor, producer, and critic. He was part of the wave of "New Hollywood" directors, which included William Friedkin, Brian De Palma, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Michael Cimino, and Francis Ford Coppola...
:
- "The Unthinking Lobster takes place in Hollywood while the town is in the grip of a cycle of religious movies. On one set an Italian neorealist is making the story of a saint like Bernadette who worked miracles and cured the sick. He has just fired the star and replaced her with a secretary from the typists' pool because she seems to have a more spiritual quality. As it turns out, he's only too right. The scene they're shooting has a lot of cripples in it, and the Italian has insisted that, in the interest of believability, on the first day they must be real. So a lot of malformed, miserable people are brought in by the casting department. She blesses them and - behold! - they throw away their crutches - they are cured! She is a saint. So Hollywood becomes the new LourdesLourdesLourdes is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in south-western France.Lourdes is a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees, famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous...
. People go on their knees through the gates of MGM. Little pieces of film are sold as holy amulets...Except for the trade in sacred relics, business is terrible. The industry is only saved by the arrival of an archangelArchangelAn archangel is an angel of high rank. Archangels are found in a number of religious traditions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Michael and Gabriel are recognized as archangels in Judaism and by most Christians. Michael is the only archangel specifically named in the Protestant Bible...
who goes into a conference with the studio heads, and makes a deal with them: heaven is prepared to suspend any further miracles in Hollywood if, in exchange, Hollywood stop making religious pictures."
Welles later hoped to realise the whole of The Unthinking Lobster (but not Time Runs...) as a full-length feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
, but it was never made. Between 1948 and 1952, Welles' cinematic efforts were focussed on his film adaptation of Othello
Othello (1952 film)
Othello is a 1952 drama film based on the Shakespearean play, made by Mercury Productions Inc. and Les Films Marceau and distributed by United Artists . It was directed and produced by Orson Welles, who also played the title role . The screenplay was adapted by Welles and an uncredited Jean Sacha...
.
The Miracle of St. Anne was filmed in the park of Buttes Chaumont
Buttes Chaumont
The Parc des Buttes Chaumont is a public garden situated in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, France. The name of the park is composed of two words, buttes , and Chaumont, which is probably a contraction of chauve and mont . The park is the third largest of its kind in Paris encompassing over 5...
, and Welles described the film thus: "It's got a lot of distinguished Paris celebrities [in it]...It's not supposed to be a very good film - it's just rushes. The play begins in a projection room where they're running rushes."
The only known copy of the film was owned by Welles, and is now believed to be lost.