Everything about me is a contradiction, and so is everything about everybody else. We are made out of oppositions; we live between two poles. There’s a philistine and an aesthete in all of us, and a murderer and a saint. You don’t reconcile the poles. You just recognize them.
It’s impossible not to recognize the genius of Orson Welles. Even if his first film, Citizen Kane, was the only film he’d ever made, he’s still be considered one of the most formidable cinematic artists the world has ever seen. Great as Citizen Kane is, it isn’t quite the end all be all of his filmography, even though it may seem like it at times. I’ve greatly enjoyed tracking down all of the later films he’s made, even if some of them have a sense of unfulfilled promise about them.
Rankings and other assorted posts:
The Third Man review (one of his greatest performances!)
Recent Rewatch on Citizen Kane
His filmography:
Citizen Kane (1941)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
The Stranger (1946)
The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
Macbeth (1948)
Not yet watched or reviewed
Othello (1952)
Not yet watched or reviewed
Mr. Arkadin (1955)
Not yet watched or reviewed
Touch of Evil (1958)
The Trial (1962)
Chimes at Midnight (1965)
Not yet watched or reviewed
The Immortal Story (1968)
Not yet watched or reviewed
F for Fake (1974)
Not yet watched or reviewed
The Soul of the Plot 