best film: Citizen Kane is a top five all-time film. It is so clearly worthy of its lofty reputation and the praise bestowed upon it. It’s a stylistic showpiece that never gets old or relents. That said, Welles is an all-time great auteur and starred in eight of his own films so there’s a lot to choose from in the Welles cannon here (Touch of Evil chief amongst them) and then you have Carol Reed’s masterpiece: The Third Man. All three of these films are towering masterpieces but the answer is, of course, Kane.
best performance: Citizen Kane and this choice is not so easy. I think Kane is the answer though I’m not married to it. In Kane Welles essentially plays two roles—the ambitious and cocky (and charming as hell) young upstart and then the soured and vicious older man. It’s an ambitious performance worthy of praise. In Touch of Evil and Chimes at Midnight he’s so much more interesting than the “leads”. His face is so fascinating. On a per-minute basis his work as Harry Lime in The Third Man may be the best. He’s talked about the entire movie leading up to his arrival, shows up, torches it, and then leaves. It’s spectacular.
stylistic innovations/traits: Welles is magnificent in three of the best 100 movies of all-time (Kane, Touch of Evil, Third Man) and if you throw in Chimes at Midnight that is a hell of a 1-4 performance mount rushmore. There’s not a lot after that and he’s even pretty spotty in the other 4 films in which he directs and stars. I think in those I’d rather see someone else (even in Lady From Shanghai which I list as his 5th best performance below). So the depth in that filmography just isn’t there from an acting standpoint but he is, of course, first and foremost a master of an auteur- one of the all-time greatest.
directors worked with: Welles (8) and Mike Nichols and Carol Reed once a piece
Top 5 Performances:
- Citizen Kane
- Touch of Evil
- Chimes at Midnight
- The Third Man
- The Lady From Shanghai
Archiveable films
| 1941- Citizen Kane |
| 1946- The Stranger |
| 1948- Macbeth |
| 1948- The Lady From Shanghai |
| 1949- The Third Man |
| 1952- Othello |
| 1955- Mr. Arkadin |
| 1956- Moby Dick |
| 1958- Long, Hot Summer |
| 1958- Touch of Evil |
| 1965- Chimes at Midnight |
| 1966- A Man For All Seasons |
| 1970- Catch 22 |
Dear Cinema Archives,
Thank you for sharing. As an Orson Welles fan, I feel your list would be made even better by adding Jane Eyre (1943), as well as, Tomorrow Is Forever (1946), to your list of archives, as these films are sublime, and show Orson Welles at his finest. Thank you.
@ Al— thanks for the comment and for visiting the site here. I’ll add those to my list to watch. I think I’ve seen Jane Eyre (1943) but it’s been a long time. I have not seen Tomorrow is Forever.
Drake,
Have you seen Compulsion (1959)?
It’s based on the Leopold and Loeb murders where two highly intelligent school aged kids murder as a sort of exercise to demonstrate their intellectual superiority similar to Hitchcock’s Rope (1948) They are a little younger than Rope though closer to 18/19.
There is actually a scene with great mise-en-scene with stuffed birds in the background as one of the 2 main characters is an ornithologist. I thought they took the scene from Psycho (1960) until I realized it came out the year before in 1959.
Orson Welles gives a great performance as the lawyer (inspired by Clarence Darrow) who defends the boys in court. Apparently Welles was bitter about not being able to direct it. It was directed by Richard Fleischer and it is a very solid film. Unfortunate that Welles did not get to direct of course but it is still a very worth film I would say R/HR.
@James Trapp- thanks for sharing- I have not been able to catch this one yet
What if Laurence Olivier played Macbeth and Othello in Welles’ films. Would you like to see those versions? I think Olivier would be PHENOMENAL in both.