Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Lightdeossk Captivating movie !

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Paynbob It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

writers_reign As a lifelong admirer of Orson Welles I usually feel that anything at all in which he features will be worth seeing - and then I remember things like Ferry To Hong Kong and reconsider. Magician is a once-over- lightly look at the life and times of Welles which thankfully makes no mention of Ferry To Hong Kong thus preventing me describing it accurately as a look at the life and times of Welles warts and all. If you're a Welles buff you can't really see too many clips of Chimes At Midnight even if you can, at you leisure, wallow in the whole film via the DVD now available once again. Magician also offers clips across the board from Welles the actor, Welles the Broadcaster, Welles the writer, Welles the director so it really would be churlish to ask for more

Prismark10 Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles celebrates the centenary of the birth of the legendary Actor, Director, Raconteur and Foodie. The documentary has no narration, it just uses clips from Welles movies, footage from interviews and Welles himself ends up narrating his life through anecdotes and stories he told throughout his career.The problem is if you want to know about the man just watch the Arena documentary from the BBC that was made a few years before he died where you get Orson Welles, his life and career from the big man himself, many clips of which are used here.Magician feels like a tepid rundown of his career. There are some major contributors such as Steven Spielberg but the only interesting aspect I took from this is a man who became a low budget independent film-maker, forever looking to raise money so he could complete the many films he had in production at any one time, some of them going on for years, many never completed.Orson Welles was an important figure in cinematic history, this documentary is a starter not the main course.

ritzidean Unintelligent documentary about a very intelligent man. No cohesive theme or statement about Orson Wells. Chunks of a better documentary edited together into a bad one. Has some interesting comments about how he made films, otherwise just sycophantic incantations about how great he was. Includes a montage of pictures of Orson Well's girlfriends and wives, how does this contribute to the story? Came off as sexist as these women are regulated to photographs without anything interesting to say about his personal life. Snips here and there of celebrities saying thins about Orson Wells without drawing any meaningful summations about Orson and his art. Smug, smarmy, and depressing in the way it cheapens Orson Wells legacy.

Kevin D. Powell This is a fine documentary. I liked it. Guess you can't please everybody.I wanted to tell a story here. A friend of mine was a cab driver in LA from 84 through 90 or so and swears this story is true.As a present for my friend's birthday, another driver let him pick up a regular, weekly round trip: Orson Welles to and from some Italian restaurant in LA. Welles gets in the cab, and my friend tried to engage him in conversation. "I'm a big fan, Mr. Welles," etc. And... nothing. Stony silence. "Cause you know, Third Man is one of the best movies ever..." etc. Nothing. Not word one. Now, my friend tries to to get him to say something. "Boy, they really cheated you on Magnificent Ambersons." Silence. My friend finally gets down to saying, "Cause, you know, Citizen Kane really wasn't that good."Welles also said nothing on the way home.