Needs to age.

The trial. Orson Welles. I had to watch this movies twice to understand what I saw. I think it is a very good movie but not the first time. I am not sure if that makes it good or bad since no movie should be watched twice to be appreciated. However the movie is tough to get through but it increases in importance in your mind every time you watch it. The black and white, angles and acting is good. Orson does his voice over and grabs you. I think that perhaps in 10 years, this movie will have gained another level of ‘being great’ due to my life experience. Perhaps its a diamond that only can be made by years of patience. (1962)

Who, what, where?

The lady from Shanghai. Orson Welles. I admire Orson Welles but this movie is not that good. Well, allow me to be correct, if someone else directed this movie, nobody would care. But Welles directed it so it must live up to his reputation and it doesn’t. The story behind the movie is far more interesting, Orson having married Rita Hayworth, shot the movie for no fee, to pay for a bill for another production he was doing, Orson being blacklisted. etc. The whole murderplot in this movie comes directly (seriously) from a pocketbook and that could be the problem. Nobody actually gets the plot which could be actually the supreme goal of a proper film noir, but the audience demands some logic. Of course, acting, shots, editing etc is brilliant since it is Orson but the blueprint or plot for what he was trying to do was just not good enough to be Orson-ified. Imagine this movie with a great plot… (1947)