Ken Russell, no slouch at the outrageous in film-making, reviews a new film about another larger than life character, Orson Welles.
We grew up with Welles narrating National Geographic specials back when they commanded prime time TV slots, his magic tricks on Johnny Carson, and reruns of Citizen Kane. His life may have been a shambles but a lot of his worst work was still better than others' in film. We're a cheerleader for, for example, his Shakespeare movies- Chimes At Midnight, Othello, and Macbeth. He made The Third Man hum. A Touch of Evil features the most amazing tracking shot as an opener, not to mention Welles' villainous lawman.
We're a sucker for some of his cameos- General Dreedle, in Catch-22, is Heller's mad world personified. His last movie role, as himself in Henry Jaglom's quirky 1987 feature, Someone to Love, just has Welles talking about life, and love, and relationships, and other stuff. It's easy to impose a valedictory quality on the role, but it's still worth seeing the old lion purring contentedly.
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