Consensus choice as greatest film ever made. Certainly no film is clearly superior–though that doesn't necessarily make Welles the greatest director, since KANE was an unprecedented collision of talent: Herman Mankiewicz screenplay, Bernard Hermann score, dazzling acting from Welles' Mercury Theatre compatriots, revolutionary cinematography from Gregg Toland, and gifted editing from the much maligned Robert Wise. It's either the first great modern film or the last great traditional film. Either way, CITIZEN KANE was the perfection of the talkie. That it took fourteen years to get from THE JAZZ SINGER to CITIZEN KANE was probably a generational problem. People who had directed silent movies couldn't help but think of audio as something *added* to film rather than as a potentially equally compelling parallel narrative. The were many innovators in sound throughout the 1930s but boy genius radio producer Welles was perfectly positioned to fully integrate the narrative power of radio drama and mature classical montage. The soundtracks of CITIZEN KANE, LADY FROM SHANGHAI and especially TOUCH OF EVIL function pretty well as sophisticated/experimental radio plays. The overlapping dialogue is musical! Everyone knows what "rosebud" is in the film, but in real-life "rosebud" was rumored to be William Randolph Hearst's pet name for mistress Marion Davies' vulva. Now you know why when he says "rosebud" it's an extreme close-up of his mustachioed lips.

This used to be considered one of the ten greatest films ever made, largely due to a critical streak of romanticism akin to speculating how many home runs Ted Williams could have hit playing in Yankee stadium, or if he hadn't fought in two wars. AMBERSONS is a swell movie and the studio did destroy it while Welles was distracted by other projects, cutting important segments, and inserting absurd new footage that makes the whole almost a joke. Even so, the original (lost) edit of AMBERSONS would still have been too brittle and pointless to be great. It's just not that good a movie. The studio butchery was prompted by test screenings where audiences hated the movie and laughed out loud at things that weren't supposed to be funny, so it's reasonable to wonder just how good that director's cut was. Over the years I've watched AMBERSONS four or five times and I like it less each time while my admiration for Welles's other movies remains undimmed.

Interesting short set in Brazil that was first released in the 1990's. Minor, but excellent. This is why Welles was in Brazil while the studio destroyed THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS.

We start to sees Welles' limitations. Despite a superb cast and some clever set pieces there's no magic, except from Edward G. Robinson. Unlike Welles (himself a great actor) Robinson could provide magic on demand. He was better than great.

Wild, bizarre and highly artistic crime drama best remembered for its climactic hall-of-mirrors shoot-out. The critical reaction has always been affectionate but patronizing, considering SHANGHAI a flawed movie with striking elements. I consider it a flawed movie that's a great film. Its only real flaw is that it's ridiculous which doesn't bother me much because it's so sincerely ridiculous. Try watching it as an attempt to visually express one's imagination listening to a corny radio thriller and see if it doesn't seem trancendent. (It's way surreal visually but my dreams seldom have incessant voice-over narration in a laughably unconvincing Irish brogue.) Anyway, with more and more folks recognizing equally tongue-in-cheek TOUCH OF EVIL as a great film, I expect LADY will start to be taken seriously. Welles' decision to cut off wife Rita Hayworth's trademark long auburn hair was merely another skirmish in their combative marriage, but she's stunning as a shorthaired peroxide-blonde femme fatale.

Interesting experimental Shakespeare, but not a masterpiece.

Overlooked; I find it better than the more famed MACBETH.

Intriguing mess made in Europe over a period of years that bridges his two greatest films: KANE and TOUCH

POW! The old dog learns a new trick, and delivers one of the first post-ironic modern films, thriving on freshly minted clichés and obliterating the meaningless line between drama and melodrama. The opening credits tracking shot is justly revered as the greatest single shot in film history. Revolutionary use of sound and music... I'm pretty visual but I remember the audio in this film as well or better than I remember the visual. People talk over each other's dialogue but it's not naturalistic hub-bub. You're supposed to hear and understand every word, getting a combined sense of phrases spoken simultaneously that's more than the sum of the parts. Different setting have signature soundscapes. The story moves through sound. Fittingly, the climax is a collection of sound tricks involving a tape recorder, outdoor speakers and a lot of reverb, taking the theme of people talking over each other to a new level. Since CASABLANCA was a big movie and TOUCH OF EVIL was literally a B movie (the lesser half of a double bill), TOUCH deserves the sobriquet often misapplied to CASABLANCA: "Greatest B movie ever made."

Minor but starkly effective European art-film version of Kakfa's THE TRIAL given weight by Anthony Perkins cine-charisma. Probably a great influence on THE PRISONER TV series, and lots of other edgy 1960s works.

Interesting integration of Falstaff's parts from various Shakespeare plays. Many beautiful scenes, but fails as an overall film. I've seen it twice and it just never got me. (And I don't mind Shakespeare movies at all.) A true labor of love, shot over many years and patched together as Welles' finances allowed.