“The Fountain of Youth was the first of a series of films that was supposed to make up an anthology of these sort of comedies. We spent even less than expected to make it. Everyone said it was an extraordinary film, but strangely no one wanted to buy it! (…) The distinctive feature of the series was this: I – as the narrator – could appear at any time to comment on or change the story. I really like that style, and one day I would love to somehow pick it back up. The entire film was made in front of a screen. No specific scenery was built. (…) Furthermore, it was the only comedy that I could put on film. I’ve put on a number of comedies for the radio or the theater. Only in my film works have I never let go of my serious side, at most – as my only subterfuge – I’ve added a comic scene to a tragic film… It was really good for me to free myself of all that” (Conversation with Orson Welles compiled by Bill Krohn, 1982)

The Fountain of Youth was not accepted by the television. It was only aired two years after it was made. It won a Special Peabody Award in 1958 and is considered today one of Orson Welles’s most innovative works.

This is again an example of Welles’ intuitive grasp of another medium. He creates a state of mind, a landscape of imagination, and a narrative technique that grows directly of this overimposing personality. And yet is also a beautiful example of his mise-en-scène, within the cheap or non-existent sets (voyages to Vienna and around the world are done with a couple of photos, as if we were watching an Ed Wood film, or Mr Arkadin, for that matter). All this is thus built just by stills, sweeps, tones of voice, growing into a relevant and imaginative pictorial hall of mirrors, apt for the theme of narcissism

Peter von Bagh