NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

blanche-2 In a documentary about Orson Welles, Jeanne Moreau talks about Welles' obsession with fake noses when he acted. In "The Immortal Story," he sports a fake nose and very obvious age makeup. It doesn't matter. With his voice and presence, he was always a commanding force.Of interest, the movie was filmed in and around Welles' home near Madrid, and waiters at Chinese restaurants were used for extras.The film is based on a story by Karen Blixen and takes place in 19th Century Macao. After destroying his business partner, Mr. Clay (Welles) lives in the man's home, now old and dying, with only his bookkeeper Levinsky (Roger Coggio) to keep him company. One night, they are talking about a story Clay heard, and Lewinsky informs him that it is an old story, not true, that has been repeated by sailors for years. The story concerns an old man who pays a sailor to impregnate his wife.Clay wants to turn this story into fact. Levinsky approaches the ex- partner's daughter, Virginie (Moreau). She takes the job for triple the fee he is offering - for her, this is a way to get revenge for her father's ruin and death. Clay himself chooses the sailor, Paul (Norman Eshley) and offers him a 5-guinea gold piece.Interesting, strange story, perhaps too literary to be filmed, with a Citizen Kane ending. Despite being a little stilted, this is a very Welles film - an old man with great wealth, a control freak; and in a God-like manner, manipulates people to his own ends. Making a story real is a bid for immortality.Jeanne Moreau is, as usual, mesmerizing as Virgine - sexual, beautiful, and dark. The film seems to be a mirror of Welles' own life, the director as God but who is dependent on others to make things happen. And in the end, alone.

ksf-2 It's an Orson Welles, so we know it will be weird and artistic, and odd. It opens with an old, lonely, rich man (Orsen Welles ) speaking with his assistant Levinsky in Macau. Mr. Clay (Welles) had heard the story of an old man who could not impregnate a young girl, so he paid a sailor to do the job. Clay wants to make this fantasy come true, so he instructs Levinsky ( Roger Coggio) to set up the fantasy for him. The assistant finds Virginie Ducrot (Jeanne Moreau) and convinces her to go along with the scheme. Orson Welles narrates the story, but as usual, the film would only be improved by eliminating the narration and just letting the story happen. Welles always seem to overdo the directing and story-telling; most of his films would have been btter if he had just relaxed and let the story happen. Original story by Karen Blixen aka Isak Dinesen ... (Out of Africa..) Norman Eshley is the sailor they pick up to "do the job" and complete the fantasy. Welles looks like death warmed over, while Eshley is young, clothes tattered but looking reasonably virile. It's pretty short, at only 62 minutes, but its interesting, historically for the Dinesen and Welles connections. I guess this would fall right in the middle of Welles' career, but with his make-up, he looks so old. This was only the second project for Eshley, but he does a fine job here. It gets a little silly... at one point, the lovers tell each other they are seventeen, but CLEARLY they are both older than that. Moreau was FORTY, and looked it. It's okay, but no big thang. Has kind of an O'Henry, ironic ending. Entertaining enough.

HAROLD HIRSCH I just saw The Immortal story for the first time today thanks to TCM. I was impressed by the otherworldly quality of the film. Reading through the IMDb reviews I was surprised that no one speculated as to why Wells chose this story. To me the answer seems obvious. The film is about a lonely old man who wants to bring a story he has heard to life. He knows that he cannot accomplish the task alone so he turns to a minion in his employ to arrange the set piece and hire the players. Ironically even when he succeeds, it becomes clear that no one will ever hear the recounting of the story. This is how Wells probably viewed his own life. ​Throughout his film career he struggled unhappily with his dependence on the help of producers and his need to control actors in order to bring his artistic visions to life. Sadly, even on the few occasions when he successfully got films completed, to him it seemed as if he never really had an audience.

emwolf Welles continues to amaze me. I've made an effort to track down some of his less available movies, such as F For Fake, and this one. This is closer in style to the Magnificent Ambersons than anything else I've seen. Welles seems to have a love for the people of this world he creates and frames them in vibrant colors with golden lighting. The pace, unlike the majority of his works, is slow and deliberate without the trademarked quick editing. The story, too, is not rushed and the ironic twists are revealed with a sense of sadness, no one's "comeuppance" seemed justified but rather a tragic outcome of each character's personal flaws. I really recommend this for fans of the master. I think many will find this odd and I imagine that many younger viewers (the ones who find black & white dull or Hitchcock overrated) will find this unwatchable.