Its good to see new fans interested in discussing the man and his work--DOESN'T EVERYONE AGREE?
Yes, I'm sure we all agree. Welcome, newcomers, lurkers and visitors all!
And the film suggestions so far seem spot on. I'll add just a bit of a head's up for those who, like so many of us, came to admire Welles by seeing Kane
for the first time: if in his subsequent films you're looking for more just like it, you're on the wrong track. If you want to take the Welles bus, you've got to be ready to go wherever he feels like taking you. "Familiar ground" wasn't his route.
Get ready for anything because that's what's coming your way, some of it so rough looking and unsync-ed you're liable to think the man might have lost his grip on the medium. Good. Committed deconstructionist that he was, he'd probably enjoy that reaction because it proves you've been engaged in and challenged by his work. Go ahead and take affront, even. The more you find yourself watching and thinking, "What the h*ll...?!!", the better.
excites for many reasons, not the least of which being that the viewer can feel him/herself being
engaged on so many levels. In Kane
, however, Welles was going relatively easy on his audience. With few exceptions, his subsequent work demands - no, expects - even more. If you give him that "more", what you'll get back you won't get anywhere else.
Oh, by the way, you'll be forgiven if when you thought of Welles previously you thought mainly cinema. But, now that you're here, you won't be forgiven if blinker yourself out of sampling his fabulously rich radio work. A lot of it is even more accessible than his films - and instantly so in today's online world. Play it when you're in a position to pay attention and you'll find yourself discovering a whole new dimension to a device you might have thought was only good for delivering hit tunes and traffic reports. You might even be confounded as to why such a marvellous pasttime all but disappeared - for what? Television??
Then you could find yourself anxious to hear more and more, anxious to go back to the 1930's: they were much more advanced, then.
So, welcome aboard and enjoy the ride. Sometimes the passengers get a bit rowdy but that's just part of the experience. And more evidence of the active engagement that, as an artist, Our Man was all about.