Croatian lover holds key to lost Welles masterpiece

He's widely cited as the greatest cinematic genius of all time. But as with so many towering talents, Orson Welles' career finished in a series of might-have-beens,with endless struggles with studios.

However, this month, tantalising news broke for film buffs with the announcement that his last, unreleased film, The Other Side of the Wind, may finally see the light of day.

Nevertheless, that depends on whether Oja Kodar, Welles' partner of over twenty years, gives the project the go-ahead.

Welles, most famous for Citizen Kane, hired big gun John Huston to star in the film. He apparently told his leading man in no uncertain terms what the work was about:

"It's about a bastard director full of himself, who catches people and creates and destroys them. It's about us, John."

Welles died before he was able to edit the film, but John Huston's son described the raw footage as absolutely fascinating.

Kenneth Sidle, a lawyer representing one of two key heirs, has expressed optimism that the film will yet hit cinemas. The Showtime production company is tipped to finish the film.

However, Oja Kodar responded to the revelations in Britain's Observer, by saying that only under strict conditions would she give her consent, as she outlined to Croatian daily Vecernji List:

"It is true that Jacqueline Boushehri, the wife of the Iranian producer, and I are interested in the film being finally completed. But we have still not received details of the budget from Showtime. Without it I won't give the rights to anyone.