Film Discussion: Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
Sometimes I like to think that there are movies that are so attractive that they sell themselves.
It’s not true, of course, especially with a movie whose title—Magician—doesn’t give the slightest clue about its content once the subtitle is edited out for length. The complete title is Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles. And that should do the trick, right?
Well, maybe not. After all, the only thing many contemporary filmgoers know about Welles is the barrel-bodied cigar puffer who told us that Paul Masson wineries “will sell no wine before its time.”
Either that, or they know that he 1) directed Citizen Kane or 2) scared the socks off radio audiences with a production of War of the Worlds.
What people don’t know is that Welles was the first independent filmmaker (not by choice) and that he had an absolutely fabulous life that even he couldn’t have made up. His movies were few in number, but hugely influential and all will still reward you for watching.
Magician is, by all reports, jammed with film clips, stories from admirers, movie people and friends. I expect it to be the movie equivalent of eating chocolate-covered peanuts. Delicious, satisfying and nutritious.
And if you need any more urging, I’m including a link to another work by Chuck Workman, the man who directed Magician. It’s an eight-minute short film called Precious Images that Workman did in 1986 for the Director Guild’s 50th anniversary. It consists of nothing but very short clips of great movie moments, 470 of them, organized by themes like drama, romance, comedy, action, etc. If you’re a film buff like, say, me, it will stir your movie memory archives in a hugely pleasurable way. Plus, it won the Oscar for live action short film.
This is the last film discussion this month, but we have a nice lineup for June, which I will tell you about as soon as I decide what to include.
I hope to see you there, which is in The Music Hall Loft at 7:00. You won’t regret it.
Paul Goodwin
TMHMG