Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles looks at the remarkable genius of Orson Welles on the eve of his centenary - the enigma of his career as a Hollywood star, a Hollywood director (for some a Hollywood failure), and a crucially important independent filmmaker. Orson Welles's life was magical: a musical prodigy at age 10, a director of Shakespeare at 14, a painter at 16, a star of stage and radio at 20, romances with some of the most beautiful women in the world, including Rita Hayworth. His work was similarly extraordinary, most notably Citizen Kane, (considered by many to be the most important movie ever made), created by Welles when he was only 25. In the years following Citizen Kane, Welles's career continued to change as he made film after film (some never finished, many dismissed) and acted in other projects often to earn money in order to keep making his own films. Magician features scenes from almost every existing Welles film, from Hearts of Age, (which he made in a day when he was only 18 years old) to rarely-seen clips from his final unfinished works like The Other Side of the Dream, The Deep, and Don Quixote, as well as his television and commercial work.
Director:
Chuck Workman
Cast:
Orson Welles
Screenplay:
Chuck Workman
Screening Date:
Nov 22, 2014
Studio:
Cohen Media Group
Running Time:
94 min.
| Excellent | Very Good | Good | Fair | Poor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28.9% | 44.4% | 8.9% | 15.6% | 2.2% |
“What a treat!”
“Nothing tricky about this magnificent montage of Orson Welles body of work. Bravo! Portrait of an artist who had and stuck to his visions. It was fabulous to see snatches of so many of his projects I wasn’t even aware existed. Fascinating and engrossing. “
“Made me want to see or re-see all of those fabulous Welles films.”
“Amazing how bigger than life he was.”
“Film buffs or film scholars will love this movie, Welles was an amazing talent with an amazing life.”
“Great discussion, thanks Bill and John, won’t get this anywhere else.”
“Chuck Workman is a magician as well, putting together the clips, interviews and scenes from the films was a monumental task, but veryu well done.”
“Felt film was superior to discussion afterward.”
“An excellent bio of a brilliant filmmaker and a Hollywood enigma. Truly a renaissance man. Far ahead of his time. Brilliant!”
“Learned very little about the man but dizzy with the jigsaw presentation of Welles’ movie clips. Our Q & A speaker should have been the entire morning’s program.”
“Too disjointed.”
“I loved so much of the film. The clips were tremendous. Fascinating facts I never new about him. Loved seeing other legends talking about the biggest legend. But pacing was so uneven. I know it’s hard but it needed to be 30 minutes shorter. Someone sitting near me loved it but was briefly snoring.”
“Welles was a magician and this film was magical. It moved along from fascinating bit of film history to personal revelations that Access Hollywood would love.”
“I would recommend this film enthusiastically to any film or radio or theater buff or student but not I. What a fascinating and tortured soul. Also, where was my heartbreaking Heathcliff? Much like Katherine and Welles himself, this film died halfway through. 90 minutes felt like three hours! Thanks for the cartoon and the short. The best part of the morning.”
“His works and visions are still relevant to any discussion of films as an art form. Died nearly thirty years ago and his influence lives on.”
If you'd like to know more about the film...
Masters of craft also appear to clash at one another. Here here another look at the personality of Welles as it appeared that he and famed director Woody Allen had clashed numerous times in their prime.
http://dangerousminds.net/comments/orson_welles_hated_woody_allen
Welles, a true master of film, had so many projects and ideas that it was almost impossible to complete them all. Some appeared to be gone forever. But "Variety" magazine gives an inside scoop that his final unfinished film may in fact be finally released next year.
http://variety.com/2014/film/news/orson-welles-final-film-2015-release-1...
Here is Orson Welles's first recorded film made backin 1934 as mentioned in the documentary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9EbQj3cgIc
And just for laughs, here is the full scene of John Candy as Orson Welles on the BILLY CRYSTAL Show.
