
What did Orson Welles do for cinema and for the world?
What was his significance and what did he do that effects us today?
I don't know about what he did for the world per se, but he was, in my opinion, a veritable genius when it came to what cinema as a narrative media could be. Citizen Kane, as the prime example (though many people these days think of it as boring) was very provocative at its time in both the subject material and the complexity of how characters were developed and their interplay.
The innovative way it was lit, filmed, and spliced, with its flashbacks and inside-out storytelling made you use your brain to reason through the visual symbolism in putting all the pieces together to extract the ultimate thematic meaning of the film. And he did all this in his very first film...and at only 25 years old!
The fact that he had a vision for what he wanted to portray on the media, and his uncompromising resolve in seeing through that vision was quite controversial in a Hollywood controlled by studio bosses and financed by the very few. Bogdonovich, Polanski, Nichols, Scott, Friedkin...countless other; they all have Welles to thank for their freedom to make the films they wanted to their way later on.
BTW...I think "The Third Man" was his best film. Other "essentials" would be "The Magnificent Ambersons", "Chimes at Midnight", and "Touch Of Evil".
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Me and Orson Welles (DVD) $8.93 Richard Linklater directs this drama about real-life actor/director Orson Welles and his stage production of JULIUS CAESAR. But instead of focusing solely on the auteur, ME AND ORSON WELLES also puts the spotlight on a young man (played by HIGH SCHOOL ... |
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This Is Orson Welles $19.9 Orson Welles (1915-1985) was the last true Renaissance man of the twentieth century. From such great radio works as War of the Worlds to his cinematic masterpieces Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, Othello, Macbeth, Touch of Evil, and Chime... |
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Orson Welles: The Paris Interview (DVD) $17.81 At the outset of the decade that witnessed the production of his revolutionary documentaries WARRENDALE and A MARRIED COUPLE, the brilliant Allan King tried something much more low-key but equally devastating by filming this interview with a candid, me... |
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Orson Welles - The Ultimate Orson Welles: Deluxe Edition [7/22] $14.94 Disc 1:DISC 1:War Of The WorldsMercury Theatre On The Air Presents The War Of The Worlds [Original Broadcast Date October 30, 1938], TheDisc 2:DISC 2:DraculaMercury Theatre On The Air P... |
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The Citizen Kane Crash Course on Cinematography (Paperback) $19.75 This book brings to life the 60-plus year Urban Legend of the infamous weekend between Orson Welles and the Oscar winning cinematographer, Gregg Toland (Wuthering Heights, Citizen Kane). Guaranteed to provoke controversy as it instructs and e... |
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![]() 3 ON A TOOTHBRUSH by Jack Paar 1965 HC with Dust Jacket US $5.99 |
![]() DW GRIFFITH The Years at Biograph by Robt M Henderson 1970 1st Ed w Dust Jkt US $5.99 |
![]() CHRISTOPHER LAMBERT on cover archive Film 47 87 US $12.61 |
![]() THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS by Booth Tarkington An American Classic US $4.00 |
![]() Orson Welles by Barbara Leaming 1989 Paperback Re US $.50 |
![]() War of the Worlds by Brian Holmsten 2003 Other Mi US $3.00 |
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