Orson Welles

The Pocket Essentials: Film

by Martin Fitzgerald

A fat guy with a deep voice who drank a lot of sherry? An unreliable filmmaker who always went over time and over budget? One of the most innovative storytellers of the century? He was all of this and more. Welles shocked Broadway with his all-black voodoo version of Macbeth , challenged the government with his production of The Cradle Will Rock , terrified the nation with his spoof radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds , and then at the tender age of 26, directed what many people consider the greatest American film ever Citizen Kane . As well as an introductory essay, each of Welles's films is individually reviewed and analyzed, and there's a handy multimedia reference guide.

160 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2000