Cinema of Orson Welles

First published in 1965, The Cinema of Orson Welles is the first monograph ever written about its subject. It remains a thoughtful and perceptive study of Welles's films. Author Peter Cowie, one of the world's foremost film critics, writes about the director with real authority: "The American cinema prior to [Citizen] Kane was undoubtedly one of illusion--and the cinema of Welles is one of illusion dispelled." "The leading figures in Welles's films are brought to their knees by a single fatal flaw, as in classical or Shakespearean tragedy; they are nearly all Manichean, unscrupulous, and damned; yet they are all capable of arousing one's sympathies." As these quotations reveal, the book covers the breadth and scope of Welles's craft and the themes that run throughout his oeuvre. Cowie's appendices provide important background material, data on Welles's unfinished films, and an excerpt from a provocative lecture Welles gave on filmmaking. Cowie also supplies a detailed filmography and scores of fine photographic stills. --Raphael Shargel