Orson Welles once said he “began at the top and has been working my way down ever since,” and honestly, he wasn’t kidding.At just 26, he directed Citizen Kane, a film so groundbreaking it practically re-wrote the rules of cinema, only to spend the rest of his life chasing that high, often while battling studio executives, budget woes, and the occasional back-of-a-van editing session. Legend has it that after its first screening, Hollywood mogul Louis B. Mayer offered to buy the film and burn every negative because he was afraid that William Randolph Hearst (the powerful media mogul the movie was based on) would be offended and severely damage the whole film industry with his influence. Such was the influence of Citizen Kane, and such was the glorious career and creative peak Welles achieved at an age when most of us are still figuring out how to do laundry.Welles’ career was as chaotic as it was brilliant. His filmography is riddled with unfinished projects, but his influence on cinema is immeasurable. From pioneering deep focus to reshaping narrative structure, he was a magician with a camera. Whether turning Shakespeare into a war epic or crafting a noir on a shoestring budget, he never stopped pushing boundaries.So, how do you rank the films of a man defined by both genius and disaster? With difficulty, humor, and respect. We are tackling the 11 feature films he directed (no documentaries, sorry F For Fake fans, and we are excluding Don Quixote as it...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Today