10. MR ARKADIN, 1965 – A clip from Oscon Welles’ film “Mr. Arkadin”, 1955 (aka “Confidential Report”). Mr. Arkadin (Orson Welles) on the short life-span of friendships.

9. CITIZEN KAN ROSEBUD, 1941 – Watch opening scene of the film. ROSEBUD scene

8. TOUCH OF EVIL TRACKING SHOT, 1958 – Watch opening crane tracking shot from Orson Welles’ 1958 Touch of Evil film

7. TOUCH OF EVIL OPENING SCENE, 1958 – Apartment scenes – one take

6. OTHELLO, 1952 – Othello’s final speech, as directed by Orson Welles. Actors include Orson Welles, Micheál MacLiammóir, Suzanne Cloutier, Robert Coote. 1952

5. THE LADY FROM SHANGAI, 1947 – The beach picnic scene from the classic film Lady From Shanghai where “Black” Michael O’Hara (Orson Welles) describes shark fishing off the hump of Brazil.

4. THE STRANGER, 1946 – Orson Welles, as an undercovered war criminal, talking about german mesiah, cartaginian peace.

3. THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, 1942 – The scene from Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons where Georgie gets his comeuppence. Arguably the most powerful scene in the film.

2. F FOR FAKE, 1973 – Welles last film – Opening scene

1. CITIZEN KANE ENDING, 1941 – Watch Orson Welles directed film. The ROSEBUD moment. Greatest movie endings

ALSO –

ORSON WELLES INTERVIEW – Watch Orson Welles directed film. The ROSEBUD moment. Greatest movie endings

ORSON WELLES COMMERCIAL – These are some original takes for the legendary Orson Welles “We Will Sell No Wine Before Its Time” commercial, and show that working with the legendary Mr. Welles could be…memorable.

#2 Greatest Film Directors
ORSON WELLES
by Joshua Starnes

He was so good he almost lived up to his own publicity. And that’s saying something.

Welles biography is almost as familiar as his movies; his rise to prominence and just as sudden fall, the inescapable comparisons to his most famous creation. But that has nothing to do with him being a great director, let alone the second best ever.

The other director’s on this list are all here for their body of work and what that offered up to filmmaking, even Griffith. And Welles’ is certainly great; like Griffith he never stopped experimenting or innovating. But really, he’s on it for “Citizen Kane.”

Considered by many to be the greatest film of all time, it’s innate greatness is not as relevant to Welles directorial skill as it’s innovations. Film wasn’t stagnant until “Kane” came along, but not since “Birth of a Nation” have so many new ideas been crammed into such a small space.

Like Chaplin, Welles was an actor and a director, though unlike him it’s likely he was always a director first, even before he became one. It probably had something to do with the gargantuan ego. But it was that ego that made him think he could pull of something like “Kane.”

Unlike “Nation” it’s more than just the innovation that makes “Kane” so great, which is also why Welles is so much further up the list. Possibly more than any other director on this list, he was keenly aware of the various parts and how they fit together. Many director’s have their own unique strengths, but Welles seems to be the only one–for this one film anyway–who had no weaknesses.

Most likely the best actor to ever turn to directing, and certainly the most successful at it, Welles came up in the theater where he learned how important all of the different pieces were at moving an audience. There will likely always be a great deal of controversy over whether he actually deserved his shared writing credit with Herman Mankeiwicz, but there’s no doubt who the author of the “Kane” was.

The testament to its power, the proof that calling it isn’t the cliche it sounds, is just how influential it has been, and through it Welles himself. Almost every single director who’s come after “Kane” has imitated it in some way. And, like Ford, the ones who haven’t have done so deliberately.

For all of these reasons Orson Welles is probably the most influential, most imitated director on this list. And very nearly the best.