One Man Band (unfinished film)

One Man Band, also known as London and Swinging London is an unfinished short film made by Orson Welles between 1968 and 1971. The film started life as a part of a 90minute TV special for CBS, entitled Orsons Bag, consisting of Welles 40minute condensation of The Merchant of Venice, and assorted sketches around Europe. This was abandoned in 1969 when CBS withdrew their funding over Welles longrunning disputes with US authorities regarding his tax status, he continued to fashion the footage in his own style.

The first segment is filmed entirely in silhouette. Welles plays Winston Churchill fielding press questions and then exchanging bon mots with Nancy Astor Oja Kodar. Each line spoken by Churchill is a wellknown witticism commonly attributed to him.The longest segment of the filmmins has a bowlerhatted reporter Tim BrookeTaylor wandering through Swinging London, searching for Carnaby Street with limited success. Most of the supporting roles are played by Welles in a variety of disguises a British policeman, a Morris dancer, an old lady selling dirty postcards, a Chinaman luring customers into a strip club, and the omnipresent oneman band. This segment is noteworthy for what reviewers have called its Pythonesque style which is significant as it was filmed before Monty Pythons Flying Circus first aired in October 1969. A shortened, not restored version of Swinging London appeared in the documentary Orson Welles OneMan Band on the 2005 Criterion DVD of F for Fake. ........

Source: Wikipedia