ORSON WELLES MOVIES
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He was so good he almost lived up to his own publicity. And that's saying something.

Welles biography is almost as familiar as his movies; his rise to prominence and just as sudden fall, the inescapable comparisons to his most famous creation. But that has nothing to do with him being a great director, let alone the second best ever.

The other director's on this list are all here for their body of work and what that offered up to filmmaking, even Griffith. And Welles' is certainly great; like Griffith he never stopped experimenting or innovating. But really, he's on it for "Citizen Kane."

Considered by many to be the greatest film of all time, it's innate greatness is not as relevant to Welles directorial skill as it's innovations. Film wasn't stagnant until "Kane" came along, but not since "Birth of a Nation" have so many new ideas been crammed into such a small space.

Like Chaplin, Welles was an actor and a director, though unlike him it's likely he was always a director first, even before he became one. It probably had something to do with the gargantuan ego. But it was that ego that made him think he could pull of something like "Kane."

Unlike "Nation" it's more than just the innovation that makes "Kane" so great, which is also why Welles is so much further up the list. Possibly more than any other director on this list, he was keenly aware of the various parts and how they fit together. Many director's have their own unique strengths, but Welles seems to be the only one--for this one film anyway--who had no weaknesses.

Most likely the best actor to ever turn to directing, and certainly the most successful at it, Welles came up in the theater where he learned how important all of the different pieces were at moving an audience. There will likely always be a great deal of controversy over whether he actually deserved his shared writing credit with Herman Mankeiwicz, but there's no doubt who the author of the "Kane" was.

The testament to its power, the proof that calling it isn't the cliche it sounds, is just how influential it has been, and through it Welles himself. Almost every single director who's come after "Kane" has imitated it in some way. And, like Ford, the ones who haven't have done so deliberately.

For all of these reasons Orson Welles is probably the most influential, most imitated director on this list. And very nearly the best.

Movie Reviews of ORSON WELLES Movies
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Citizen Kane 1941 dir. by Orson Welles starring Orson Welles

The Stranger 1946 dir. by Orson Welles starring Edward G Robinson Loretta Young	Touch of Evil 1958 dir. Orson Welles starring Charleton Heston Janet Leigh

The Long, Hot Summer 1958 dir. Martin Ritt starring Paul Newman Orson Welles Joanne Woodward	The Transformers The Movie 1986 dir. Nelson Shin Voices by: Corey Burton Orson Welles