Orson Welles: The Ultimate Collection

By: Orson Welles

Narrated by: Orson Welles

If you are a lover of old-time radio and a fan of Orson Welles, you won't want to miss this treasure chest of legendary Orson Welles radio broadcasts! With his flair for the sensational and innovative, Welles captured audiences' attention with his 1930s CBS weekly drama series The Mercury Theatre on the Air, later renamed The Campbell Playhouse, which featured hour-long dramatizations of classic books. His 1938 production, The War of the Worlds (an H. G. Wells adaptation) was especially memorable, as were many other productions, each featuring talented voices and actors.

Tune into the master of entertainment and enjoy this collection of original Orson Welles recordings, including more than 16 hours of radio drama! Content:

• Campbell Playhouse - A Christmas Carol - December 23, 1938
• Campbell Playhouse - A Christmas Carol - December 24, 1939
• Campbell Playhouse - Ah, Wilderness - September 17, 1939
• Campbell Playhouse - Algiers - October 8, 1939
• Campbell Playhouse - Arrowsmith - February 3, 1939
• Campbell Playhouse - Beau Geste - March 17, 1939
• Campbell Playhouse - Counselor-at-Law - January 6, 1939
• Campbell Playhouse - Craig's Wife - March 10, 1940
• Campbell Playhouse - Dinner at Eight - February 18, 1940
• Campbell Playhouse - Dodsworth - November 26, 1939
• Campbell Playhouse - Escape - October 15, 1939
• Campbell Playhouse - Huckleberry Finn - March 17, 1940
• Campbell Playhouse - I Lost My Girlish Laughter - January 27, 1939
• Campbell Playhouse - It Happened One Night - January 28, 1940
• and many more!

©2011 ABN (P)2011 ABN

Hit or miss but the hits are BIG

Is there anything you would change about this book?

No, you either like an individual story or you didnt but, what I liked might not be what you like and vice a versa. The good thing was you get a vast collection for a great price so if you end up only liking half of them you still feel good about the purchase.

What about Orson Welles’s performance did you like?

Classic professionalism! The way he conducted pre and post interviews with his guests is truly a lost art. We just dont have broadcasters of his caliber any more.

Was Orson Welles: The Ultimate Collection worth the listening time?

Definitely, Interesting stories and it was a nice look back at the way things used to be broadcast. I think everyone will be interested in listening to the style of the commercials included with each episode.

Any additional comments?

This is a collection of the old time radio broadcasts whos subject matter varies greatly. I found the stories to be either really great and totally captivating or it just left me cold and I didnt finish it.

Intriguing

This is a collection of Orson's Radio Theater work. Most of the productions, I enjoyed, but there were many that I did not get into the story being portrayed. MOST, however, I did.

Orson Wells was a master at his craft, and did very well in whatever he produced.

I do encourage a listen to this collection.

The Master Troll

Would you listen to Orson Welles: The Ultimate Collection again? Why?

Yes! I bought it alongside wireless speakers so I can have this particular audio playing in the background while I do anything in the house. It's the perfect collection. It makes me feel like I'm in the '50s but with a '30s sci-fi feel.

What did you like best about this story?

I like knowing that Welles played a prank on America with the broadcasting of War of the Worlds. THAT is a great performance. Just the SOUND of Orson Welles brings me back to a past that I've never gotten to experience and it's a privilege to still have so much of his works in audio format.

Have you listened to any of Orson Welles’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

The War of the Worlds only. Equally great. This has 60 hours worth of audio so it's certainly exceeding in its glory.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

"Welles the Master Troll"

There are some issues.

First of all, I paid four dollars for this. It’s definitely worth that. It’s fascinating to hear these old radio broadcasts, and they can be very entertaining.

That said…

This really could have used better curation. There are some repeated episodes, and everything is out of order. Nothing is chronologically placed. That’s very frustrating, because you can’t het a good sense of how the broadcasts evolved over time. Also, I feel like occasional interjection with historical notes or information about what was going on at the time would have been beneficial.

Finally, and this is no surprise, the sound quality can be atrocious at times. Of course we are talking about recordings from 80 years ago, so you have to expect that. At least one episode is only partially present.

Still, this is a bargain. And Campbell’s soup really got their money’s worth, as their ads are intact. They made me hungry, and o ended up grabbing some some tomato soup on my next trip to the store.

It was Great

I love how Orson Welles can make a story seem so alive. I love it!

It's a time capsule! I love it!

I just purchased this collection of stories, and I am so thrilled, I can't stand it. Listening to Orson Welle's radio programs is astonishing. I had forgotten what listening to radio was like. In the 1940s and early 50s, I used to listen to the radio all the time as a kid. We didn't have TV until 1953, and then it was mostly test patterns with about 4 hours of programming.
But listening to the radio--that was the THING! As I listened to it today, I am amazed at all the special effects that went into the program: the music, the sound effects, the crowd in the background, how wonderful is that? My imagination came to life again. So far I have listened to about ten of the episodes -- the first one, the Christmas Carol is a little gritty, so I moved on. I can go back an listen to it later, Algiers was a great listen, with Paulette Goddard in the lead role. What a young voice she had.

I listen on my iPod late at night after I get in bed. The stories are short enough that I can listen to an entire episode before falling asleep. The actors and actresses are great, too. I'll admit, it's a little hard to hear with the static and all, but that's not in all the programs. And if I remember right, listening over the radio in the 1940s was the same. Reception wasn't that good then, either. So, it's like going back in time for me. I'm delighted.

I have found a new genre now which I hope to mine and get more of the stories that I used to listen to as a kid. Do you remember "Let's Pretend"? It was a Saturday morning series of fairy tales. Ooh, I hope I can find it.

As for the story listings, I googled the book name and found a site that had all the episodes listed in order. So now, I can pick and choose, and I'll be able to go back and listen to my favorites again and again.

Water from a Firehose

Listening to this is like drinking Water from a fire hose. It has lots of brilliant stuff in it, its just not that well organized and with its length its hard to keep track of where you are. Welles is always brilliant. This shows his best work. The sound is well recorded. Its a five (or six) star performance and a five star set of stories. But it gets a three overall because the greatness gets lost in the greatness and the inherent difficulty in organizing an audio book.

Great audio telling of Treasure Island

Well acted great sound effects well worth the price and my time. Not disappointed. Great fun.

No chapter Titles???? Come On Audible!!

That is just lazy. You cant have a anthology like this and not let us navigate it.

Orson Welles Collection makes great entertainment

This is a large collection of Orson Welles' 30's and 40's Radio Show- The Campbell's (soup) Radio Hour. He has a great variety of themes from well known movies, to plays and classic books. Each week he has a named co-star( Helen Hayes, Walter Huston) and some of his regular, then unknown actors are now famous. (Bea Benadaret, Agnes Morehead) The acting is excellent. I rated it down a star simply because I like some subject matter better than others. Just personal preference. Each story is about an hour. I walk and listen. I even enjoy the soup commercials. I notice they sell the individual shows but I would get the whole collection.