OrsonWelles has fascinated serious students of cinema since the release of hisepochal motion picture, Citizen Kane (1941). New books continue to be written,but one of the best is still James Naremore’s definitive The Magic World of OrsonWelles.
TheMagic World’s Centennial Edition (published by University of Illinois Press)summarizes the author’s thoughts since the book first appeared in 1978. Theensuing years not only saw the death of Welles, who was working on a dozenfilms or screenplays at his demise (1985), but the rise of home video, whichgave easy access to his completed work as well as many of his works inprogress. When the first edition was published, Naremore’s richly describedreadings of the films were absolutely essential, since most cineastes couldonly catch Welles’ movies fleetingly—at film societies or chopped and diced onbroadcast television. But even though we can now more easily look forourselves, Naremore’s perceptive study helps us see more clearly. Welles’ filmswere dense with meaning and the author is an expert guide through their manylevels.
Naremoreincludes just enough biography to cast light on Welles’ artistic temperament.He embodied many seeming contradictions as an aristocratic democrat and aprogressive nostalgic for a lost past. The pull and push of those impulses madehis films rich and amenable to imaginative interpretations. Although it’s easyto find resemblances between Charles Foster Kane and William Randolph Hearst,Naremore also shows how Welles’ own life was inscribed in that character (andin most other roles he played, including the sinister black marketer in TheThird Man).
