Travelling through Dublin by car, Orson Welles (playing himself) gives a lift to a stranded man, who recounts a similar but strange occurrence of his own. Not particularly gripping as a ghost story; however, the detail is quite nice
and Mr. Welles' genial presence entirely welcome. Even so, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences thought it enough of a novelty at the time to deem it worthy of an Oscar nomination in the "Best Two-Reel Short Subject" category in 1953 – one that was eventually won by an obscure Walt Disney 'True-Life Adventure' documentary, BEAR COUNTRY! What is interesting to modern audiences in general and Welles scholars in particular is that the short under review was literally shot when the great man was taking a break from the filming of OTHELLO (1952) – an event which is captured in its very opening scenes! In fact, it was co-produced by Micheal MacLiammoir and writer/director Edwards who, were not only portraying Iago and Brabantio in Welles' exceptional filming of Shakespeare's tragedy, but had been Welles' theatrical cohorts in the late 1930s when he was just starting out. The restored version of the short – retitled ORSON WELLES' GHOST STORY – was overseen by genre producer Richard Gordon and introduced by the ubiquitous Peter Bogdanovich.